FiberPatrol Site Planning & Installation Guide
Page 47
3.
Once the holes are drilled, use compressed air to blow out any residue.
4.
Fit a P-clamp over the sensor cable and pinch the ends together with your fingers so the 2
holes line up.
5.
Use lineman pliers to squeeze the bracket together at the sensor cable end of the clamp.
6.
Fit a 3/16 in. X 1 1/4 in. Tapcon screw through the 2 holes and fasten the P-clamp to the
mounting surface with a 1/4 in. power driver.
Do not over-tighten to avoid stripping or shearing the screws. The sensor cable should be
manually tensioned as it is being clamped and fastened to keep it straight and taut. Installed
sensor cable must not sag or touch the surface.
Sensor cable verification and test
Before making the splices to the connection module in the equipment room and the end modules
do a continuity check of all spliced fibers and OTDR test the two sensor fibers (S1 and S2).
Continuity test
Use a visual fault locater (VFL) to verify continuity in S1 an S2, as well as any dark fibers that were
field spliced during the cable installation.
OTDR test
Before splicing the sensor fibers to the connection module and the end module test the two sensor
fibers from both ends of the cable with an OTDR at the following settings:
wave length = 1550 nm
pulse width = 100 ns
average time = 2 min.
splice loss
0.05 dB (typical)
range
cable length
Calculate the average loss per km from each end of the sensor cable and use the higher reading.
The maximum cable loss must be 0.3 dB per km or less.
Control equipment installation
The FiberPatrol electronic control components are designed to be installed in an EIA 19 in.
equipment rack. The rack requires a mounting depth of 20 in. (51 cm) plus a minimum 2 in. (5 cm)
of front space between the equipment and the rack doors and at least 6 in. (15 cm) of rear space
for cables and ventilation. The overall depth of the rack must be a minimum of 28 in. (71 cm). Both
the front and back of the equipment rack must be accessible for a technician to make the cable
connections and to access power switches and reset buttons. The FiberPatrol electronic control
components require 6 contiguous rack units (RU) beginning at least 12 in. (30 cm) above the floor.
The sensor unit occupies 4 RU, the fiber connection module 1 RU, and the optional rack-mount
keyboard/monitor/mouse 1 RU.
Note
Mark the desired hole depth on the bit with a piece of colored tape.
CAUTION
Critical losses in the sensor cable discovered by OTDR testing must be
investigated and rectified before making the connection module and end
module splices.
