Tried fiber fusion over mechanical connectors for a big job in Denver

We had a 96 strand run going into a new apartment complex and I was about to use mechanical splices like always. My buddy convinced me to use the fusion splicer instead and the loss readings were night and day. Out of 96 splices we had a single redo versus at least 10 cleanup splices with mechanical. Has anyone else had that big a gap in performance switching methods?

3 comments

3 Comments

sean78214d ago

Asked a buddy of mine about this real quick, he does a lot of work up in the Pacific Northwest on those big condo towers. He said his first fusion splice job was a nightmare at first because he was using a cheap ribbon splicer that kept misaligning the fibers. He had to redo like 15 out of 48 strands before he swapped to a fixed V-groove model, and after that he only had one bad splice for the rest of the 96. Said the difference was all in the equipment, not the operator. He still keeps a mechanical kit in his truck for emergencies but uses fusion for anything over 24 strands now.

william_torres14d ago

My first big fusion job was a 144 strand termination in a downtown Phoenix building and I saw the same thing. We had maybe 2 bad splices out of all 144 compared to the usual 15 percent redo rate with mechanical. Were you using the fixed V-groove fusion splicer or the cheaper ribbon style for this Denver job? That single redo you mentioned makes me wonder if it was an operator mistake or an actual equipment issue.

grantmartinez14d ago

Man that sounds rough, I feel for you guys dealing with cheap gear on a big job like that. Glad you got it sorted out with the V-groove though.