Fiber Connector Styles

A variety of optical fiber connectors are available but sc and lc connectors are the most common types of connectors on the market.

Fiber connector styles.

Fiber patch cords are not as straight forward as their copper counterparts there are multiple connector types to consider when building and maintaining a physical network. The st connector was one of the first connector types widely implemented in fiber optic networking applications. What are the types of fiber connectors. We also carry bulk cable and connectors for on site termination projects.

Some date back to the early days of fiber technology and have now become obsolete while others are on the cutting edge. Fiber connectors are therefore generally used where flexibility is needed at termination points when an optical signal is routed. The connector ferrule is plastic and contains 12 or 16 fibers in a row. Examples would include connections from receivers to equipment pigtails or normal termination or when re configuring systems.

Originally developed by at t it stands for straight tip connector. There are many styles of ruggedized connectors mostly developed for tactical military use but are. Typical connectors are rated for 500 1 000 mating cycles. Showmecables offers both single mode and multimode fiber optic patch cables with all types of connectors available.

St connections use a 2 5mm ferrule with a round plastic or metal body. As lc fiber connector is a small form factor foc that uses a 1 25 mm ferrule. Mpo is a 12 fiber connector for ribbon cable often called an array connector. Remateable connections are made possible by fiber connectors.

The versions with 12 fiber rows can theoretically have 6 rows but more than two are rare. The most commonly used connectors today are st sc fc mt rj lc connectors while plastic foc opti jack lx 5. Patch cables range from 1 to 50 meters 3 28 to 164 feet in length with custom options available as well. The main differences among types of connectors are dimensions and methods of mechanical coupling.

The connector stays in place with a twist on twist off bayonet style mechanism. In this article we are going to describe the commonly found fiber connector types and polish types.