Common Fiber Patch Cords

The fiber patch cord is the most used component to conneting the devices in fiber links. You can quickly know the type from the color codes.

Color Codes of Fiber Patch Cords

Orange is typically OM1 OM2 MMF, OM1 with 62.5um width core and OM2 with 50um width core. Newer OM3 OM4 patch cords are typically teal and 50um in width and can carry signal further due to the beams of light not bouncing around as much inside the smaller core. More bouncing equals greater signal loss over distance. OM1/OM2 actually in reality limits your distance on 1Gb links which has higher insertion loss and most newer OM3+ cable is available as a high bend radius variant that is great for patch cords on shorter runs and squeezing a bit more mileage out of your link budget.

SMF is typically yellow and 9um in width. It is used for much greater distances than MMF, again because of the bouncing of signal in the width of fiber. They also tend to use higher power optics in SMF.

The Production Process of Fiber Optic Patch Cords

1.Pretreatment of fiber optic. Peel fibers by using technical instrument, the main propose of it is to peel the fiber jacket.
2.Installment of Fiber ferrule. Fiber ferrule is an important part of fiber optic patch cables, so when installing fiber ferrule, the quality of it should be concerned.
3.Preparation of grouting glue.Get the glue ready since fiber stub need to be grouted later.
4.Gel injection of fiber ferrule. The standard of a good gel injection is that a little glue can be seen at the front end of fiber ferrule.
5.Solidification of colloid. Insert the fiber into fiber ferrule which has been injected gel, and then put it in curing oven to be solidified. Usually, the temperature of solidification is 80 to 90 degree.

When buying fiber patch cord, you should not only consider the quality itself, but also choosing the right fiber type(single-mode, multi-mode), the connector type on two ends(LC, SC, FC, ST, MPO,...), simplex or duplex, cable jacket and length. Sourcing all the fiber patch cables at B2B marketplace en.OFweek, wide selection from thousands of patch cable suppliers & manufacturers.