Fitel S148 Fiber Optic Fusion Splicer - Teardown

[tesla500]

I got this Fitel fiber optic fusion splicer recently for $20 - quite a steal! This is a device that uses an electric arc to fuse fiber optic cables together.

Here's a couple of videos on it:

Overview


Teardown

[wkb]

Nice piece kit for 20 bucks 

To give some background on the fiber menu you showed in the video:

MM = multi-mode fiber
SM = single-mode fiber

SM is typically used for long(er) distance connections, up to 100-s of km.    MM is up to a couple 100 meters. 

On MM you normally see optical drivers at 780 or 850nm wavelength, this is dark red to the eye (but don't go and stare into laserbeams please...)

on SM you see 1310 or 1550nm wavelength drivers, this is infrared.  Even while invisible to the naked eye, DON'T ever look into them, or into a laser that might carry laser light.  SM fibers often carry considerable higher optical power than MM.  You have 2 strikes on a high-power laser, one for each eye...

OK.. that said something about the diameters listed.

50/125 means a 50micrometer inner glass core, covered in a 125micrometer cladding.  This is MM fiber.  MM fiber can be graded index, or step-index.  The difference is the 'abruptness' with which the optical index changes going from the core to the cladding.

50/125 MM you see being used for FibreChannel and Ethernet type connections.  62.5/125 MM is older style cable, they were used for FDDI rings and the like.  9/125 is SM cable.   Oh, SM is much trickier given the very small inner core, 9 micron is really quite tiny.

Enjoy the toy!

[Wartex]

    MM is up to a couple 100 meters. 

I don't know where you read that, MM fiber can easily go 2km at 100 megs, 3km at 10. You get into hundreds of meters at 1 to 10 gbit.

SM typically can do 17-23 km and then you need an amp. With X2 equipment you can do 80 km max and then you need an amp. Definitely not hundreds of km.

[wkb]

    MM is up to a couple 100 meters. 

I don't know where you read that, MM fiber can easily go 2km at 100 megs, 3km at 10. You get into hundreds of meters at 1 to 10 gbit.

SM typically can do 17-23 km and then you need an amp. With X2 equipment you can do 80 km max and then you need an amp. Definitely not hundreds of km.

I don't read that, I work with that 

I never wrote that SM can do 100 of km without amplifiers..  EDFAs etc come to mind here.

MM in FC world tops out at 100s of meters, not in km.  100Mbit is a toy speed these days IMHO    So, 100 of meters for real stuff.

[Wartex]

I don't read that, I work with that 

I guess Corning spec sheets are all wrong...

I never wrote that SM can do 100 of km without amplifiers..  EDFAs etc come to mind here.

By the same pattern you can say it does tens of thousands of KM, like oceanfloor cables.

MM in FC world tops out at 100s of meters, not in km.  100Mbit is a toy speed these days IMHO    So, 100 of meters for real stuff.

100 Mbit is far from toy speed in North America, and it can carry a lot of 64 kbit voice. Here if they get 6 mbit for under 50 bucks on crappy DSL they are lucky. 100m fiber is very expensive here. My local incumbent telco started offering 170/30 mbps SM single strand just this year. I have a lot of customers who easily have 1 km MM links between buildings in the city.