Cleaning Fiber Optic Connectors

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Cleaning Fiber Optic Connectors

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The myths' and excuses

• I never clean inspect the transmit cards
• It takes to long to clean
• I just blow the dirt off with my breath
• My shirt has been effective for years
• I like to use a lot of Alcohol (IPA) when I clean
• No one wants to buy cleaning supplies
• It is not my job to clean the connector I am
  plugging into.
• I do not need to clean because it came clean from
  the manufacturer with a dust cap on it.

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The myths' and excuses

• This old network has worked fine for years
  without cleaning inspecting.
• My techs do what they want, I have no control of
  what they do.
• My way is easier than yours and doesn't take as
  long.

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The reasons you should clean inspect

• Today's networks are more sensitive to ORL
  Problems
• Poor quality of service being sold
• Transmitter card damaged due to ORL
• Down time and costly dispatches
• Problems to network upgrades OC48 to OC192 40G
  ROADM networks.
• Angry customers!!!

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Just because you cleaned the connector doesn't
mean its clean. WHY?

• Inferior methods and products (Non Approved)
• Not inspecting
• Poor cleaning methods can actually damaged the
  connector.
• Lack of training
• Not cleaning inspecting both connectors before
  mating.

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Understanding Soils

• Ionic Soils
• They are most typically represented by a
  finger print
• An ionic soil could also be dried water caused
  by moisture from excess solvent such
  as IPA (Alcohol)
• Non-Ionic Soils
• They are contaminants that bond
• Examples are Buffer Gel, Dust, Lubricants, oily
  soil, dust, hand lotion.
• Contamination from dust caps
• Moisture from excess solvent that has dust or
  oily residue
• Soils can be generated by
• Touching the end face
• Incorrectly cleaning the end face with too much
  solvent
• Static Charge Accumulation from dry cleaning
• Merely exposing an end face to open air!
• Not using dust caps
• Out gassing of plastic

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Connector Cleaning Methods

• 99 Alcohol (IPA) and Kim-wipes
• Cassette cleaners (Dry Cleaning)
• Canned Air
• New Method Combination Cleaning (wet dry)

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99 Alcohol (IPA) and Kim-wipes

• Isopropyl Alcohol is hygroscopic
• This means it attracts moisture from the air.
• This attracted moisture can have contaminants
• These contaminants are deposited on the end face,
  of the ferrules and can cause cross contamination
  of the connection

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99 Alcohol (IPA) and Kim-wipes

• 99.9 IPA attracts moisture faster than lesser
  grades!
• IPA continually seeks a 65 solvent/ 35 water
  equilibrium
• IPA does not clean non-ionic soils
• Buffer-gel, grease, dusty oils and hand lotions
  are examples of non-ionic soils that are always
  present in Outside Plant applications.

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99 Alcohol (IPA) and Kim-wipes

• Excessive alcohol was used on this connector
  resulting in slow drying time leaving
  contaminates on the end face of the connector.

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Cassette cleaners (Dry Cleaning)

• Cassette cleaning is easy to use.
• Cassette dry cleaning only
• It is difficult to remove severe contaminates
  using dry cleaning only

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Canned Air or Dusters

• Canned air is not effective in cleaning
  connectors.
• Canned air blows dust and contaminants into the
  air contaminating other connections and
  components.
• Can be useful for blowing dust out of an adapter
  without any connectors in it

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Video Probes

• Example of a Hand Held Video Inspection Probe

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Video Probes
PC Based Video Probe
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Video Probes Inspection Tools

• Bench Top
• Inspection Tool

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Additional Notes and Precautions

• DO NOT inspect end faces with hand held direct
  viewing microscope if the other end of the fiber
  is connected to an active laser source. This
  could cause serious eye damage or permanent
  impairment.

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Combination Cleaning Products
PX MX clean both ionic Non Ionic soils
breaks a static charge.
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Combination Cleaning (wet dry)
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Cleaning Fiber Optic Connectors

• The importance of cleaning fiber connectors

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Combination Cleaning (wet dry)
Before Cleaning Oil Dust
After Cleaning Wet Dry Method
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Cross Contamination
Clean Connector before being connected to dirty
connector 2
Dirty connector before being connected to clean
connector 1
Connector 1 after being mated to dirty
connector 2
Connector 1
Connector 2
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Dry Cleaning Severe Soils
End face of connector coated with a Sharpie,
Permanent Marker Photo 1
Connector cleaned with a reel cleaner dry method.
Notice scratching caused by dragging contaminants
across the connector Photo 2
Same connector cleaned using the wet dry method
using PX solvent. Photo 3
Photo 1
Photo 2
Photo 3
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Burnt Connector
Burning will happen at power levels higher than a
15 dBm
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Cleaning Connectors in a Bulkhead Adapter
Dab 2.5mm Swab two times into PX sprayed on the
QbE. DO NOT over saturate swab with PX or spray
swab directly with PX. Firmly insert swab into
adapter and rotate in same directions several
times. Repeat using a dry swab. This is the wet
dry method using swabs.
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Bulkhead Adapter Cleaning

• Inspect the adapter.
• Select the proper sized swab.
• Insert into adapter, cleaning out any debris
  inside.
• If a solvent was necessary the adapter should be
  carefully cleaned and dried with another dry
  swab.
• Use air to blow out any loosened particles.
• Inspect the adapter.

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Clean Alignment Sleeve on Adapter
Lightly moisten the side of the 2.5 mm swab in
PX. DO NOT Over Moisten
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Clean Alignment Sleeve on Adapter
Push the swab through the adapter turning in one
direction.
Pull the swab out turning in one direction,
collar will trap and remove dirt.
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Connector Insertion Loss Connector Reflectance
Insertion Loss (IL) Is the dB loss of
a component such as the connection of two mating
connectors. Insertion Loss is the difference
between the power entering and leaving a device
at a particular output wavelength. Reflectance Fr
esnel Reflections happen at discrete interfaces
such as connector connections, adapters, and
mechanical splices. Proper cleaning and the use
of UPC and APC connectors will reduce Fresnel
reflections.
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Loss ORL Testing
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Additional Notes and Precautions

• There are no short cuts to proper cleaning. Any
  attempts to skip over cleaning steps may cause
  permanent damage to connector end faces and will
  cause degradation of system performance.

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Conclusion

• Alcohol is not the best cleaning agent it can
  only clean ionic soils.
• PX will clean ionic and non ionic soils and
  breaks a static charge.
• Combination cleaning produces the best results.
• Cleaning is one of the most important things you
  can do.
• It is not clean unless both connectors have been
  inspected and cleaned. Inspect Clean Inspect
  Connect ICIC method
• Improper cleaning will create an unstable network
  causing unnecessary dispatches and customer
  dissatisfaction.
• The cost of network failures will far outweigh
  your initial cleaning expenses.

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Any Questions?
John Lastowka All-Tech Communications, LLC Suite
224 20A North West Blvd. Nashua, NH 03063 Office
603-429-1982 Cell 603-759-9174 Fax  [phone]
e-mail jlastowka_at_atcllc.biz Web
http//www.atcllc.biz  
Bob Menard All-Tech Communications Suite 224 20A
North West Blvd Nashua NH 03063 Office 
207-363-4334 Mobile [phone] Fax    
603-429-1276 E Mail  bmenard_at_atcllc.biz Web
http//www.atcllc.biz