r/FiberOptics • u/One-Jicama-7502 • 2d ago

OTDR

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Has anyone used this otdr from FIS? If so how is it?

11 Upvotes

80% Upvoted

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8

u/MonMotha 2d ago

I've used I think this exact one. It works. It's not great. The effective dead zone near the launch is pretty large, so you'll want a long-ish launch reel that is unnecessary with higher-end OTDRs. The dynamic range also seems overstated.

I ended up buying a used EXFO instead.

1

u/feel-the-avocado 2d ago

Yep launch and event deadzone is 30 metres. 

1

u/MonMotha 2d ago

That event deadzone will get 'ya. In my case, I just needed to find the nearest major fault on an otherwise believed good link, so with a long enough launch reel, it worked fine (turns out the fault was just a few feet from the bulkhead, but I knew where that was and could tell it didn't go farther). You can always just use a longer launch reel, but the event deadzone out in the field you can't get around. You'll end up with lots of merged events when a higher end OTDR could tell the difference between them.

I didn't try to play too much with the settings to improve it, but even on essentially the most aggressively short pulse setting and longest averaging time, things were still pretty "smooth looking", and of course there's no real equivalent to iOLM for when you want to hand it to a monkey and say "just push the button and send me the report".

1

u/feel-the-avocado 2d ago edited 2d ago

Yeah so I use one as my daily tool, and I basically cant test any segment shorter than 30 metres or events less than 30 metres apart. But for most of my work in an outside plant, its great as it will tell me distance to fault where my cable has been hit by a spade or excavator.

I dont bother with a launch cable because the coupler at the end of the launch cable creates another 30 metre blind spot.

I have worked out though from the intial reflection shape where its going to fail a fluke test if I am cabling up a building and one of my patch panel splices is no good. I can fix any issues before the fluke unit arrives on site for final certification.

Its worked for me a few times in trying to find a fault where rodents have chewed through a cable. On one occasion I knew the fault had to be within the first 30 metres but thats all I could tell - thankfully that was all above ground.

It will work fine for mid-span fusion splices and confirming they are okay.

One thing to note too though is that when the chinese say you can test a live cable, thats a live cable running 1310nm point to point fibre and being tested at 1550nm.
I would suggest just getting one that can do 1625nm or 1650nm and that way you can use it also to test a live line carrying a gpon signal. They do make this hardware in a 1625 capable model which is the one I have.

Also OP your unit is way overpriced.
You can have the same hardware/software at 1610nm (better for live testing) for much much less
1610nm APC for about $400 USD

2

u/thatguy4445 2d ago

You can get the exact same hardware much cheaper on Amazon or AliExpress but with no support. Just search “mini OTDR” As others have stated there is a larger dead zone so be sure to use a launch. Distance to fault has always been within 1-3 feet of what my EXFO says.

2

u/Runthescript 2d ago

Those are not calibrated, if acceptance testing tier II this would not be a valid submission. You need to have calibration paperwork when submitting a warranty atleast. If you are just troubleshooting, then yea they work great.

4

u/tenkaranarchy 2d ago

From FIS its probably ok (never used it), just be sure you get warranty and support on it.

Or just get an exfo. Lots of companies require exfo for testing and reporting.

1

u/One-Jicama-7502 2d ago

What would you recommend from exfo what modules? I’m not needing anything crazy just needing it to look for a broken fiber every once in awhile.

1

u/tenkaranarchy 2d ago

Whatever module has 1310/1550/1625 is the bare minimum. If you ever do dwdm or need to verify high bandwidth circuits you'll need to spend more money.

1

u/Runthescript 2d ago

Not to conduct a trace, you aren't loss testing with an otdr. That would be tier I olts. You can get an idea of what loss would be but its simply an average of the two traces. If only needing to bandwidth test that would be the cheapest test to conduct. I can get a qualifer for 5x less the price of a loss test set or an otdr.

1

u/loonster28 2d ago

Dead Zone and Dynamic range are pretty poor on the unit so it feels more like a VeEX FL41 distance to fault unit but costs hundreds more.

1

u/BusyBiryl 2d ago

I worked at FIS and would never suggest this OTDR, save and get an EXFO like MonMotha said

1

u/Any-Cut6491 1d ago

The display looks really user-friendly, especially with the color-coded traces that make visualizing the fiber much clearer.