fiber ethernet question

My apologies to everyone, I totally misread the original post.
the writing you are talking looks like Japanese, maybe Chinese and I may be wrong.
james

OP here.


Thanks for all the responses. I think have a better understanding. Basically, the switch connects to a fiber patch panel via easy-to-work-with patch cable. Customer typically brings their hard-to-work-with fiber into the patch panel. So how are connections made inside the patch panel? Crimped, fused, or ??



Can somebody point me in the direction of a cost-effective DIN rail mountable fiber patch panel?

I found https://www.fiberopticlink.com/prod...ingle/slimline-nano-patch-panel-configurable/ but not sure if I'm on the right track.



In this example, who would typically provide the pigtails?



My main panel will actually have 3 fiber connections. One to the customer DCS, one to the HMI panel, one to customer network.


Not sure if it is best to make all 3 fiber connections in a single patch panel or to have 3 individual ones?


My HMI panel will have a single fiber connection.


Thanks for the help thus far.

I think the light bulb in my head came on.



It appears that fiber cables often have multiple cores so a patch panel provides a way to separate the cores into individual signals.

agarb said:

I think the light bulb in my head came on.



It appears that fiber cables often have multiple cores so a patch panel provides a way to separate the cores into individual signals.

Click to expand...

And if you go from the drawing, the client wants a 4-core fibre?

Generally, you will specify more cores than are needed and terminate the spares.
It would be better to get someone with the proper terminating kit to terminate the fibre for you.
The patch leads are off-the-shelf items.

James Mcquade said:

My apologies to everyone, I totally misread the original post.
the writing you are talking looks like Japanese, maybe Chinese and I may be wrong.
james

Click to expand...

Congrats on being possibly the first person to admit wrongness on the internet. Props to you good sir!

https://www.industrialnetworking.co...mpact-DIN-Rail-Mount-Fiber-Optic-Patch-Panels.

The writing is complex chinese so Taiwan or Hong Kong?

The customer is correct. You need patch panel (OJ as they call it). It's not a good idea to terminate the fiber directly.

As other stated, local contractor typically installed the fiber between the patch panel. However, there are pre-terminated fiber you can buy now. You could just buy that and sent with the project plus the fiber patch panel.

https://www.blackbox.com/en-us/solu...ure/pre-terminated-fiber-optic-cable-assembly

If you provide the cables, just be sure all the connector works from end to end.

Typical fiber cable are anywhere from 6 pairs (12 fibers) and up, so you would hook up fiber fiber from patch panel to patch panel then hook up devices using patch cable.

harryting said:

The writing is complex chinese so Taiwan or Hong Kong?

The customer is correct. You need patch panel (OJ as they call it). It's not a good idea to terminate the fiber directly.

As other stated, local contractor typically installed the fiber between the patch panel. However, there are pre-terminated fiber you can buy now. You could just buy that and sent with the project plus the fiber patch panel.

https://www.blackbox.com/en-us/solu...ure/pre-terminated-fiber-optic-cable-assembly

If you provide the cables, just be sure all the connector works from end to end.

Typical fiber cable are anywhere from 6 pairs (12 fibers) and up, so you would hook up fiber fiber from patch panel to patch panel then hook up devices using patch cable.

Click to expand...

Good eye on the complex writing.


I found an economical DIN rail mountable patch box that has 3 duplex LC connectors on the front. I'm ordering a short fiber pigtail for the backside of the front panel that they can splice into their cable. I'm not really sure if the pigtail is necessary but cost is only $25 so I'm going to include it.

We use mainly BlackBox patch panels and use Corning UNICam for terminating the fiber. The contractor should be responsible for this as it won’t be economical for you to terminate the fiber unless you have a large tooling budget for the project.

Maxkling said:

We use mainly BlackBox patch panels and use Corning UNICam for terminating the fiber. The contractor should be responsible for this as it won’t be economical for you to terminate the fiber unless you have a large tooling budget for the project.

Click to expand...

Yes, they will be responsible for terminating the fiber.

agarb said:

Good eye on the complex writing.


I found an economical DIN rail mountable patch box that has 3 duplex LC connectors on the front. I'm ordering a short fiber pigtail for the backside of the front panel that they can splice into their cable. I'm not really sure if the pigtail is necessary but cost is only $25 so I'm going to include it.

Click to expand...

As a general rule, I prefer to keep multicore fiber optic cables and patch panels out of my control panels. The fiber panel should be wall mounted near the control panel(s) (with a loop or two of spare cable strapped to the wall around the enclosure, just in case a re-termination is ever required) and only patch cables should enter the control panel. The clutter created by doing fiber distribution inside a control panel is a nuisance and a waste of space in my opinion, and the most fragile part of the fiber optic cable (fanout kit and field terminations) is exposed to plant personnel working inside the panel. Suffice it to say I've had some bad experiences over the years.

It is not uncommon to terminate the multi-core cable inside the FO enclosure with ST style connectors and then use a conversion patch cable to connect to equipment with LC, SC (or other) ports, since ST connectors can be easier to terminate in the field and it's quite common for vendors to stock parts and for maintenance crews to have tool kits for working with ST connectors. They've been an industry standard for a long time.

That said, when I first started installing control systems with FO communications back in the early '80s the old screw type SMA connectors were the most common that I encountered, and they're rarely used any longer. ST connectors will probably continue to become less popular in the coming years, since the newer connectors are so much smaller. There's a huge base of ST connectors installed out there though.

Bit_Bucket_07 said:

As a general rule, I prefer to keep multicore fiber optic cables and patch panels out of my control panels. The fiber panel should be wall mounted near the control panel(s) (with a loop or two of spare cable strapped to the wall around the enclosure, just in case a re-termination is ever required) and only patch cables should enter the control panel. The clutter created by doing fiber distribution inside a control panel is a nuisance and a waste of space in my opinion, and the most fragile part of the fiber optic cable (fanout kit and field terminations) is exposed to plant personnel working inside the panel. Suffice it to say I've had some bad experiences over the years.

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Thanks for the practical advice. The enclosure I'm buying can also be wall-mounted but I think the customer wants it in the panel. They can put it wherever they desire; they're the ones that have to live with it.

agarb said:

Thanks for the practical advice. The enclosure I'm buying can also be wall-mounted but I think the customer wants it in the panel. They can put it wherever they desire; they're the ones that have to live with it.

Click to expand...

The customer should pull an extra fiber run and leave a coil above the panel from when they break it

agarb said:

Good eye on the complex writing.


I found an economical DIN rail mountable patch box that has 3 duplex LC connectors on the front. I'm ordering a short fiber pigtail for the backside of the front panel that they can splice into their cable. I'm not really sure if the pigtail is necessary but cost is only $25 so I'm going to include it.

Click to expand...

You may want to check with them to determine what connector type they want on the patch panel. I'm still leaning toward OJ being them specifying OptiJack connectors.

shawn_75 said:

You may want to check with them to determine what connector type they want on the patch panel. I'm still leaning toward OJ being them specifying OptiJack connectors.

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Thanks for the help. It has been clarified that OJ represents "Optical Junction".