Fiber Optic Test Equipment

Common used fiber optic test equipment includes fiber optic power meter, fiber optic light source, optical time domain reflectometer (OTDR) ,fiber fault locator and optical talk set. Optical power meter is used for absolute optical fiber power measurement as well as fiber optic loss related measurement. Optical light source is used with power meter to test the fiber system loss. Multimeter is an integrated unit of power meter and light source. OTDR is classic fiber optic test equipment, it is most easy to use but it is also one of the most expensive, OTDR could give you an overview of the whole system you test and it could test the whole system fiber length, joint point and loss. Fault locator’s name already express its function, it could be regarded to be part of OTDR and fiber fault locator is cheap.

When choosing the fiber test equipments, besides the function and quality of the instrument, you have to consider the specifications of the fiber optic system that you are going to test, for example, the working wavelength (typical is 1310nm, 1550nm and 850nm), fiber light source type, fiber optic glass type (single mode or multimode), fiber connection interface (like FC, SC) and the system capacity and possible loss range.Fiber optic test equipment working environment is also the factor you should consider, whether you are going to use the fiber optic instrument indoor or outdoor, the equipment working temperature, power supply, battery life. Portable fiber optical test equipment usually should be able to use battery as power, it is suggested to choose the test equipments that could also use very common type battery.