The Importance and Usage of Fiber Optic Cleaner

Why cleaning the end face of optical fiber is important?

The communication system makes extensive use of optical fiber connectors, which are susceptible to contamination during maintenance. When there is dirt on the end face of the optical fiber, the loss value of the optical fiber is greatly increased, affecting the quality of optical signal transmission. According to statistics, more than half of the optical fiber network failures are caused by the contamination of the optical fiber end surface.

There may be many reasons for the staining of the end face of the optical fiber. The most common ones are: impurities contained in alcohol, oil stains on fingers, dust and condensation residues of water vapor in the air.

Don't underestimate these pollutants. A 9-micron dust is difficult to see without a microscope, but this particle can completely block the fiber core of the optical fiber, thus affecting the quality of the optical signal, resulting in a decline in the performance of the communication system and causing hidden dangers to the stable operation of the network. In serious cases, it may lead to the paralysis of the entire optical network system.

Therefore, cleaning the end face of optical fiber is the most basic and important step in the investigation of optical fiber installation or abnormal problems.

How to clean the optical fiber end?

The dirt on the end of the optical fiber is not easy to remove without professional tools. So first of all, let's take a look at the artifact of cleaning the optical fiber end face - the optical fiber cleaning pen!

The optical fiber cleaning pen is an instrument which is widely used to clean the optical fiber . It has a great function that can remove grease, dirt,and other debris from its end surface.

The optical fiber cleaning pen consists of three parts: adapter, dust cap and cleaning pen.

Cleaning pen: clean the fiber optic cables' head which is inside the flange.

Adapter: clean the jumper's optical fiber head.

Dust cap: ensure that the optical fiber cleaning pen itself is clean and not polluted.

The operation method of optical fiber cleaning pen is simple, but it should be noted that different cleaning objects have different usage methods.

The operation steps of using an optical fiber cleaning pen to clean the internal optical fiber head of the flange are as follows:

1.. Unplug the optical fiber cleaning pen’s adapter.

2. Insert the cleaning pen straight into the flange, press the cleaning pen to the end in the direction shown in the figure, that is, to complete a cleaning.

3. To ensure the cleaning effect, it is better to press twice.

Caution

Although the use of the optical fiber cleaning pen is simple, you can clean the end surface of the optical fiber with a single click! However, the following points should be paid attention to during use:

It is forbidden to clean the optical fiber port when there is output light, otherwise the optical fiber end may be burned.

It is forbidden to touch the cleaning pen with your hands.

Immediately after using the cleaning pen, fasten the adapter and dust cap to prevent the cleaning pen itself from being contaminated by dust.

If the fault cannot be eliminated after cleaning many times with a cleaning pen, you can use the optical fiber end face detector to observe the state of the optical fiber head, or directly replace the optical fiber.

The cleaning pen has a fixed number of uses (about 400 times). The color of the cleaning pen observation window is white to indicate that it has not been used up, and blue to indicate that it has been used up.