Cabling Installation Hints PDF

Cable Installation Tips Campus Network Design & Operations Workshop These materials are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) Last updated...

Cable Installation Tips Campus Network Design & Operations Workshop These materials are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) Last updated 17th October 2023  Cabling Installation Hints UTP Copper Installation Outdoor Conduit Planning/Installation Fiber Optic Cabling Installation Network Racks  Unshielded Twisted Pair Cable Construction – 24 AWG, 4-Pair cable – Be aware: counterfeit/fake cable is common in Asia Installation Mistakes – 90 Meters maximum installed cable distance – No more than 1cm unsheathed cable at terminations – Termination should be in jacks, not RJ45 plugs – Labeling should include both ends of wire run https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_wire_gauge Various types of UTP Jacks  Beware of Poorly Done Terminations Remember, only 1cm of unsheathed cable No Yes  Patch (or Jack) Panels Always terminate cabling in patch/jack panels at rack locations Properly Terminate Jack Panels  Unshielded Twisted Pair Cable (UTP) Always terminate in a Jack Panel and in device plates Labeling is a key to reducing work later Pull more than one cable  UTP Cable Tools Tone and Trace Tool RJ45 & RJ11 cable tester Punch down tool RJ45 & RJ11 crimp tool The tone and trace and RJ45 tester are required If you are going to install your own cabling or make your own ethernet patch cables then you need the punch down and crimp tools  Underground Conduit Often used to route cabling between buildings Not simple to design and very easy to make mistakes which make conduits hard to use Common mistakes – Not enough conduit – Conduit too small – Missing pull rope – Too many bends between places you can pull  Underground Conduit Rules No more than 200m between pull points Reduce distance by 50m for every 90 degrees of bend Do not exceed 270 degrees without a pull point Survey the site, do the layout, place hand holes  Underground Conduit Hints Bigger conduit better than little conduit – Recommended installation: at least one 100mm or two 50mm conduits to each building Conduit for fiber optic cable is different than water pipe. Always install a pull rope in all conduits, including empty ones Label the Conduits  Planning Underground Conduit Get a map of your campus (can use google earth if you don’t have a map) Layout conduit paths Plan for vaults Don’t forget to think about future expansion A Simple Campus A Simple Campus Conduits on Small Campus Conduits on Small Campus  But What about Vaults? Things to Consider – The conduit distance and number of bends Vaults (Hand Holes) provide a pull point, so they reset the 200M rule. How do you come out of building? Do you have a 90 degree bend at the transition? – Places where you might branch and go different directions – Future locations Suggested Vault Placement  But What About Hub and Spoke Configuration Typically, underground conduit is installed in a very linear fashion – This doesn’t help with redundancy. A single cut can take out your entire campus network – Think about alternate paths and install two fiber cables to each building, one from each direction – Redundancy is something to consider after you’ve gotten a network installed and operational Underground Conduit Some Regions Use Roll Pipe Conduit versus Water Pipe  If you use Roll Pipe The same rules apply on length and the number of bends – No more than 200 meters – No more than 270 degrees bend – Reduce distance by 50 meters for every 90 degrees bend Getting Conduit out of Building Examples of correct conduit connections  Don’t Bend Fiber Too Tight Fiber has bend radius issues Keep bends > 10x cable diameter Diameter = x Radius = 10x  Buried Conduit Trenching At Least 80cm  Conduit Fill USA National Electric Code recommends only 40% of the volume of a conduit can be filled For low voltage cabling this is important for installing extra cables. If the conduit is too full you can damage existing cables by pulling cable past others. Pay attention to how full conduits are to help avoid damaging cables. Labeling Conduit and Cables  Seal Conduits Conduit plugs prevent water from using conduits as a water pipe Seal conduits with cables in them This also prevent rodents from using the conduits as a path into your buildings  Fiber Optic Cable Installation Installing your own fiber optic cable is very possible It requires specialized training and lots of experience Probably best to utilize contractors to install cable  Indoor versus Outdoor Fiber Always use outdoor rated cable outside of buildings – It must be warranted for outdoor use by the manufacturer Loose tube versus tight buffer – Loose tube is typically cheaper, tight buffer is easier to terminate Armor versus all dielectric – Armor protects against rodent damage – Armor requires grounding Indoor Fiber Packages Outdoor Loose Tube Armored Cable 96 Fiber Loose Tube Outdoor Non-Armored Loose Tube vs. Tight Buffer Loose Tube: several fibers 250 micron in a buffer tube, gel filling, more compact, fragile, outdoor, very water resistant. Tight Buffer: one fiber in a 0.9mm buffer, no gel, bigger, sturdier, in/outdoor.  Fiber Termination Tight buffer fiber can be terminated directly with a connector although this is not recommended for single mode fiber – You probably can hand terminate single mode fiber for a campus installation, but this is not recommended Single mode fiber should be terminated by fusion splicing a factory pre-polished connector onto the individual fiber strands – This works for both loose tube and tight buffer cable – Best practices are to place splices into a splice tray Fusion Splicing Fiber Fiber Optic Splice Enclosures Fiber Optic Splice Trays  Fiber Optic Testing Tools Visual Fault Locator Optical Light Source Optical Power Meter The visual fault locator is required and they are cheap. It is tone and trace for fiber. The light source and power meter aren’t required, but are useful as it is used to measure the optical loss through fiber cabling.  Fusion Splicer Fusion splicer: – Used to join (splice) fiber optic cables To terminate single mode fiber Installing new fiber runs To repair fiber cable cuts Picture shows example of a simple portable fusion splicer, as sold on eBay Not required unless you are installing your own fiber cabling  Additional Fiber Testing Tools Optical Time Domain Reflectometer 150m spool of fiber in a “launch box” for OTDR These are used to take a “picture” of a run of optical fiber to find places where the fiber has been partially damaged or where you have dirty connectors Only required if you install your own fiber cable  Labeling Fiber Cabling Identifying Fiber – Label at each end, strand count, type and destination – Label slack loops, Where from? Where to?  Fiber Slack Loops You need to install fiber with extra lengths stored along the path – These are called slack loops – 10m slack every 100m of distance – 20m slack at each end Slack Loops in the USA Small Vault Slack Loop Slack Loops in Thailand How Do You Repair a Fiber Cut? One Fiber Cable Building Cable Cut Another Building  Easy, If you Have Slack One Fiber Cable Building Install Vault at Cut Location, Pull Slack from adjacent slack Loops, and splice the cable Another Building  Fiber Optic Connectors Single mode fiber should only use SC or LC connectors – Best practice is to fusion splice a factory built UPC pigtail only installed fiber cable Type of fiber can be indicated by connector bodies – Blue denotes Single Mode – Tan or Beige denotes Multi-Mode – Metallic Connectors can be either Single Mode or Multi-Mode. Check cable color or packaging. Connector tip Flat: air between surfaces, back reflection -14dB Physical contact: slanted end, no air, back reflection -40dB Ultra Polish Connector: more polishing, back reflection - 55dB Angled Polish Connector: back reflection -70dB, analog signal  Fiber Patch Cords Multi-mode: – OM1 62.5µ is recommended to be Orange (possibly other colors as well) – OM2 50µ is Orange as well – OM3 & OM4 50µ are recommended to be Aqua (blue) Some “OM4+” vendors use Violet (OM4+ is not an official designation) – OM5 50µ is officially Lime-Green Single-mode: – OS2 cords are always yellow Lengths from.5m to 30m  LC and SC Connectors on Patch Cords Simplex and duplex LC (small RJ45-like tab) and SC (square) single mode connectors (blue) on single mode (yellow) cable  Fiber Patch Panels Wall Mount Fiber Optic Panel Rack Mount Fiber Optic Panel  Network Racks There are a number of different types of network racks – Free standing or wall mount – Enclosed or not enclosed – In US and Europe, network racks tend to be in rooms dedicated for that function – Buildings with concrete walls makes it better to use more and smaller (wall mount) network racks Wall Mount Network Rack Free Standing Network Racks  Instructions to Contractors Please refer to the web site for this workshop to retrieve a document that gives complete instructions to contractors for – Category 6 cabling – Single Mode Fiber optic cabling – Installation of underground conduit and vaults Download and edit this document to meet your needs Questions?