Ask the Expert: Customers Save Time with Optic Cable Cleaning

Just to ensure folks keep an eye on all the devices that could potentially benefit from giving it regular maintenence in the datacenter, could you address specifically what devices does the Optic Cable Cleaning initiative apply to?

Well the issue is really at the physical layer of any optical network, so ANY device that connects via a fiber cable is potentially affected.  That applies to Fibre Channel, Ethernet of even telecom's.  The fibre cable into you home can be affected. a lot of fiber Broadband is actually copper to the home these day but you get the picture.

Indeed Bill that is an important clarification any fiber end point in a fiber network is at risk from contamination.  As you say that includes the cable ends and the patch panel terminations.

LOL you joke but…   I went to a well know hosting company once, to talk to them about contamination and demo the effect of cleaning.  The data center manager said what is wrong with a quick rub on my shirt, it is good quality cotton!  Fortunately I did have an inspection tool with me and so we tried an experiment, needless to say his clean white cotton shirt was not as clean as he thought it was. 

On the replies above  Sergey Kamenetskiy  showed us the tool he uses (Cletop) for dry cleaning optic clables at his place of work. Also John Colburn told us a little bit about other tools such us the lint free squares for dry optic cleaning. Could one of you please enumerate what other types of cleaning kits are out there that could accomplish good results?

There are many manufactures of the cleaning tools, it largely depends on the application and as discussed, where in the network you are cleaning.  So you can get universal tools, we sometimes call “wand cleaner” (top picture) these can be used to clean SFP, Cable end face or patch panel (female connector).   These can be sealed units so you get so many cleans then dispose of them.  You can also get them with a reloadable cartridge (second picture).  Then there is the cartridge cleaner, like the one we have already seen, another type is shown below ( picture 3).  This is really dedicated to cable end faces and presents a flat cleaning tape, normally exposed by a trigger action so a pristine clean surface is presented each clean.  Then there are wet solutions seen in pictures 4&5, in 4 we see a self-contained pot where the cleaning cloths are impregnated with the cleaning solvent. In 5 we see a bottle of solvent that will require standard lint free cloths a displayed in Bill’s video demo.  Wet solutions are for more stubborn dirt and grease contamination.  The last picture shows some cleaning sticks these can be used to clean SFP and patch connections (female), they can be used with the solvent also , so wet or dry.  The golden rule is ALWAYS finish with a dry clean if using both wet and dry techniques as the wet clean can also leave some solvent residue behind.

Does that answer the question I knwo its a little generic.

but but but John ..where is the Windex   hahah

We have found several affordable cleaning kits offered on the Net.  Use the cleaning kit that may work best for you in your datacenter.  Here are a few examples:

• AFL Global - FCP2 Field Portable Connector Cleaning Kits
  • https://www.aflglobal.com/Products/Test-and-Inspection/Fiber-Optic-Cleaning/FCP2-Field-Portable-Connector-Cleaning-Kits.aspx

• Noyes FCP1 Connector Cleaning Kits
  • https://www.aflglobal.com/Products/Test-and-Inspection/Fiber-Optic-Cleaning/FCP1_Connector_Cleaning_Kits.aspx

• Sticklers - MCC-FK03 Fiber Optic Cleaning Kit
  • http://www.sticklerscleaners.com/products/product/sticklers-fiber-optic-cleaning-kit/

• Chemtronics - CFK1010 Fiber Optic Cleaning Kit
  • https://www.chemtronics.com/p-786-i-m-fiber-optic-cleaning-kit.aspx

If you use a cleaning kit today, what is it?

Hi John, reminds me of a great presentation I saw showing what a fibre cable looked like after being cleaned with several different methods.  The best was "Using My Jeans".  The picture showed the equivalent of boulders sitting on the face of the optic.

Thanks for the reference point, John.  The same could be said for the cables that get dropped on data center floor and kicked around before being reconnected to the optic. 

We clean the Rx and Tx of the SFPs every time we place a patch cable. Also we clean the cable itself whenever we start using it. Even when we unplug and plug it in shortly after we clean both exposed sides.

We don't use a scope, because those are way too expensive and redundancy (2 HBAs in 2 fabrics) helps us minimizing downtime.

So far cleaning proves to be easy and relatively low cost.

I've seen less outages in customer's environments, so I can safely say that cleaning sure seems to help.

Bill,  I think this is the picture you're referencing.  Relatively speaking, "boulders" is a good description 

Bill,  I

Yes, that's the one Scott.  You need a frontend loader to move those dirt particles.

LOL and any one of those "boulders" migrate to the core and its LIGHTS OUT for this connection.