atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums Wiring - Telecom Carriers - Trunks & Services Cabling Telephones Systems Wiring Installing Preterminated Fiber

Hello,

I have a project were fiber is needed to link up remote buildings to the main server room. This project is in the desert for mine exploration. Now in normal circumstances I would just call a company and have them run the fiber for me except this project is in North Africa hundreds of km away from any civilization. We need to use the local workers to dig the trenches, put the conduits and install the fiber. There's no way for us to send out a specialist out there and no there's no local companies that can do the work for political reasons. The ground is very dry, about 1.5% moisture. It does rain pretty hard sometimes only in the months of June, July and August but the ground dries very fast. I would like to install copper to link up the buildings because it's fairly hard to break copper CAT6 compared to Fiber but for all the obvious reasons (power spikes, grounding, lightning), I plan on using fiber. At least with copper I can terminate it myself. What kind of preterminated fiber (singlenode/multinode and what size and how many strands) should I be using. Should I use ones made for direct burial eventhough I will be putting them inside conduits ? I suppose OSP fiber is tougher than what's used inside. What kind of precautions for installing ? Let's say I need 50 meters of fiber. Can I order 100 meters of OSP preterminated fiber and coil up the extra on each end ? I seen fiber coiled up inside the protective cases but that's for inside use fiber, what about outside use ? Should I put sleeves to protect the fiber inside the conduit ? What kind connectors should have on the ends ? I will probably be using Cisco switches on either end. I heard you can get preterminated fiber with eyes on the end of easier pulling. I've also read the cable should be burried at least 40 inches below ground. What kind of testing equipment should I use for testing the fiber ? I just want to test it once it's installed and if they have connection problems further along, I would like the onsite guys to have some tools to help diagnose the problem. The cables will be running near blasting sites. Can the vibration damage the fiber ? I'll also be ordering Nema4 cabinets because of the dust/sand issues for the servers.

Do you have videos for installing preterminated fiber (pulling techniques, securing, coiling) ? I could send the guys these videos. Once everything is installed on site, then I will go and hook up everything.

Thanks
fs483

Yes, you should use OSP fiber in the underground conduit.

The type, number of strands, and type of connectors will completely depend on the equipment to be connected at each end.

You will need at least 2 strands, but you should get more just for expansion capability.

You can mickey-mouse the install by just plugging the ends of the preterminated fiber into the switches, but it would be better to use a termination enclosure, mounted on the wall, and fiber jumpers to make the connection from the enclosure to the switch.

The fiber will come with a pulling sock on one end, make sure the conduit is large enough for it to fit, pull gently, and you should be good to go.

When we build our cables, we use a pull sock. They look like this:

This company used to do pretermed fiber with a pulling sleeve! Give them a call.

Be sure to use a swivel when you make this pull and try not to exceed 180 degrees total bend in the conduit run, also order the equipment that you plan on using and have it on hand when you order the fiber, that way you can be sure of the right type of connector ST/SC .

Might also be worth pulling a pig through the conduit just before you pull in the fiber in order to be sure that there is no debris laying in the pipe, oh just one more thing put a good size pipe in say 2" plus just to make the pulling easier...

Waht if you got the fiber installed inside that thick wall black water pipe, before it was shipped down to the site. This company in Winnpeg does preterminated fiber
https://www.priority.mb.ca/
But on the other hand own dollar is getting good!!

If you use pre-terminated fiber with a pull sock make sure that you are only pulling and do not try to push the fiber through.
If you try to push the fiber through the conduit while it has a pull sock on it chances are that the clips on the ends will get suck in the holes on the pull sock. This could result in the clips breaking and for someone who cannot terminate fiber it would suck to be in Africa and not be able to progress with your job because the clip on one of the ends broke.

I would also recommend that whomever is pulling the fiber through is very cautious of any tension they may feel on the line.

As for the conduit try to get something thick, that has the inside coated with that stuff that even rats wont eat, cause I can only imagine the stuff that might nibble on that in Africa. I cannot remember what the conduit is called with that stuff in it. Never had to put any conduit in, just used exsisting.

Jordan, please look at the dates of these threads. They are all several months old...

My bad, got too hyped thinking I could contribute something and skipped over the dates, eh maybe another day.

Not a problem, Jordan. It's an easy mistake to make. Welcome aboard and we look forward to your future contributions!

As an off shoot rant (Not aimed at you Jeff ) ... older members constantly tell newer members to use the search feature as most of the topics have already been discussed here. If you tell someone to use the feature, don't be surprised if they reply to old threads Plus, what's the harm in bringing up an older topic? All it does is encourage more discussion. The OP may have already solved their specific problem, but I'm always up for learning more about something. The points JordanF brought up are good and I'm glad he took the time to post them

(Done ranting.. :toast: )

Good point Robert I see nothing wrong with Jordon's post it adds to the discussion and as you point out it is searchable and were all here to learn

As long as you're adding something meaningful and pertinent to the original topic it's fine. It's the one's that add "me too" or "I saw that problem once" to a very old post that we try to discourage. Good point Robert. Did you search to see if that's been brought up before?

Hahaha, good one Bill!