[MO-US] Fiber tipping assistance

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koyetsu

New Member
Feb 28, 2021
21
12
3
Had a 12 Fiber OM4 cable ran today with no tips. Looking to put MPO connectors on them for QSFP+. Plan is 1 end will go into a QSFP+ on an ICX6610 and the other end will either goto a 40GB uplink or split to 4 10GB i do not have the tools or knowledge for this. i will pay for parts and throw money or hardware your direction if you have the knowledge and tools and assist me. I assume i need 12 fiber MPO connectors. Will wait for reply to confirm.
 

Mithril

Active Member
Sep 13, 2019
354
106
43
Had a 12 Fiber OM4 cable ran today with no tips. Looking to put MPO connectors on them for QSFP+. Plan is 1 end will go into a QSFP+ on an ICX6610 and the other end will either goto a 40GB uplink or split to 4 10GB i do not have the tools or knowledge for this. i will pay for parts and throw money or hardware your direction if you have the knowledge and tools and assist me. I assume i need 12 fiber MPO connectors. Will wait for reply to confirm.

Not exactly sure what you mean here. You had bare 6-pair fiber run (as in no finished end/connectors AT ALL) ? AFAIK field termination without a splicer for MPO isn't a thing, so the best bet would be splicing MPO pigtails (or some expensive "easier" option) on it with a fiber splicer. From what I know the price for one (and accessories) is not "do one job" level. Can you get a picture of one/both of the ends in case I'm misunderstanding?

Looks like I may be wrong, but what I can't find is how expensive it would end up being (tools and consumables) to do so.
 

koyetsu

New Member
Feb 28, 2021
21
12
3
yes it's a raw 6 pair om4 fiber. in fact it's still on the spool at one end cause the left it. I know that the tools are expensive and i'm not sure what i'll need that is why i was looking for someone that does know and has the tools
 

Mithril

Active Member
Sep 13, 2019
354
106
43
So, from what I can tell LC "field termination" connectors are a good deal simpler, and can be had for ~5-10USD per connecter (simplex, so 12 per end). Assuming this is multimode, there are some that can be done *without* splicing, but will still need some specific hand tools to do it correctly. Depending on the length of the run and the possibility, it may honestly be cheaper to get some MPO from ebay and pull that instead.

As far as prices by a professional, most of them are "email us". One place I found has a lovely note that unless you spend 6 grand in total, simply moving the truck to you costs 1,750. Besides that it is 275 "per point" up to 4 splices, and I'm honestly unable to correctly parse the pricing above that (it may be 225 "per point" and 27 per splice?).

Considering a *good* fusion splicer alone is well over a grand and for most people would have a low return of investment, I would expect the number of forum members who own one is a "I can count that on one hand" figure.

Sure, maybe you can find "someone" to do it for cheap, but have fun testing/proving if they did a good job. Point being, the absolute cheapest way to DIY would be the LC field termination connectors, and if you managed to pick up say 30 for 5 bucks each (spares in case of mistakes) thats 150 bucks, figure another 50 in "must have, works enough" tools. Meanwhile you could get an OM3 50M MPO-MPO cable for 80 bucks on ebay. at sub 100M in total length OM3 will do 100G just fine.
 
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Layla

Game Engine Developer
Jun 21, 2016
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Agree that unless the fiber run was hundreds of meters or more and/or cost a ton to install the first time, it seems much more economical to buy a pre-terminated length and re-run the fiber (or splice LC connectors if you must splice).

Unless you get really lucky and that one forum member with a fusion splicer lives in your town :)
 

Tcalp

Member
Oct 15, 2020
52
19
8
I would seriously consider re-running the cable. The likelihood of finding someone local for something like this, unless you know people in the field personally is pretty much niltch.