Fiber Optic Cable Installation Checklist

As electrical professionals most of us take fiber optic fo safety for granted.

Fiber optic cable installation checklist.

Best practices for optic cable installation this article focuses primarily on placing fiber optic cables in ducts through vaults or manholes. If not contact your cable provider for assistance. Never exceed recommended bend radiuses during or after installation. Understanding the safety hazards that go with fiber optic cable is critical for those who install or maintain fiber optic systems.

This architecture is called centralized fiber optic cabling backbone cables typically contain larger numbers of fibers than horizontal fiber optic cables and may contain singlemode fibers as well as multimode fibers. Mark cable as fiber optic cable. Check your phone s compatibility with fiber optic connectivity since older models won t work with fiber optic cable. If they don t you ll need to buy new phones that are compatible with fiber optic technology.

Similarly make sure your set top box is set up to work with fiber optic cable. Do not exceed recommended tensile loads. However much of the content is also applicable to aerial and direct buried installations. These guidelines help improve operations by minimizing the risk of failure due to inadequate planning mishandling of fiber cabling improper testing and reducing installation time.

Fiber optic cables are also sometimes installed with what is known as dark fiber dark fiber is extra fibers in the cable that aren t initially used. As the amount of internet traffic in an area increases dark fibers can simply be turned on to provide additional capacity rather than having to dig up the cables and lay bigger ones. Mark cable as fiber optic cable in all locations in which it can be easily reached. Implementation of these outlined fiber optic cabling installation best practices will ensure the best environment for proper functioning of your cables.

These checks should be performed as received before installation after installation after splicing and after connector installation. Similarly we don t think about personal or property damage due to fire because it isn t a source. Since fiber optic cable carries no electricity we don t worry about electrocution. Fiber optic cable installations with some foresight and care can be done in such a way as to secure maximum cable performance.

The fiber optic association the non profit group that brought you the 10 fiber safety rules you can t ignore also offers for free a comprehensive checklist to assist those responsible for overseeing a cabling installation project the checklist is not fiber optic specific. Installation guidelines include the following. In an optimized fiber optic network cables go directly to the work area with only passive connections in the links. The foa reference guide to fiber optics installation checklist planning for the installation is a critical phase of any project as it involves coordinating activites of many people and companies.