Kits clean up on fibre testing

Microscope quickly aligns the inspection probe with either fibre ports or patch cord connectors to greatly increase the speed and efficiency of fibre inspection.

Three fibre optic kits from Fluke Networks promise faster and safer installation, testing, troubleshooting and operation of fibre links than with older methods.

All three kits offer video inspection of fibre end-faces using the FiberInspector Mini, a 200x microscope that quickly aligns the inspection probe with either fibre ports or patch cord connectors to greatly increase the speed and efficiency of fibre inspection.

FiberInspector Mini also offers increased safety for the user, as the video camera blocks all harmful laser light transmitted by the fibre, showing the end-face on a palm-sized video screen.

FiberInspector Mini works for both multimode and single-mode end-faces, ports and patch cords.

"By far, the most common problem I see with fibre links is end-face contamination", says Larry Johnson, President of The Light Brigade, the industry's leading fibre optic training company.

"And the problem is getting worse".

"Contamination and end-face damage increase attenuation and reflectance".

"At higher datarates, fibre links are even less tolerant of signal loss".

"Proper cleaning techniques are essential, and safe end-face inspection is critical".

The new kits let installers and network managers perform cleaning and loss testing as well as fast, safe inspection.

Elements of the FiberInspector Mini and Cleaning Kit include a fibre optic solvent pen which uses a plastic-safe solvent with superior cleaning properties to isopropyl alcohol.

Also included are fibre optic cleaning cards and a fibre optic cleaning cube, both of which provide cleaning and wiping surfaces that are safe to fibre end-faces, and two sizes of fibre optic swabs for cleaning inside fibre ports.

The kit includes a rugged carrying case, and all items are also sold separately.

Two other new kit configurations let users verify loss and power levels for both single-mode and multimode fibre using SimpliFiber optical loss test sets.

The SimpliFiber test sets operate at 850, 1300, 1310 and 1550nm.

The meter features the ability to save a reference power level, allowing a direct display of fibre loss.

The new FiberInspector Mini Cleaning Kit (FT525) includes FiberInspector Mini and an assortment of fibre-optimised cleaning tools in a rugged carrying case.

The Multimode Fibre Verification Kit (FTK350) includes a multimode optical loss test set (light source and power meter), FiberInspector Mini, VisiFault Visual Fault Locator and carrying case.

The Complete Fibre Verification Kit (FTK450) adds a single-mode optical loss test set (light source and power meter) to the elements of the multimode kit.

All are available for immediate delivery from Fluke Networks sales channels worldwide.

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