Ideas to weather proof standard fiber cable

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Needs some ideas on ways to weatherproof standard fiber optic cable. Can not afford the outdoor fiber. Need to run like 140 ft in the air. Some ideas are: Heat shrink loom...yes this will work but cost more than the optic cable. Split plastic loom $24.00...not 100% waterproof but UV protection yes. Some kind of plastic tubing? Spray on coating? :\
 

chscag

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Standard Fiber is very difficult to weather proof especially if you have a long run of it. Even commercial outdoor fiber (which I've worked with) is difficult to keep up against weather and varmints. I would try the split plastic loom as a start. What is the fiber going to connect to and from? The most important parts to weather proof is the receiving and transmitting terminals.
 
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The ethernet to fiber converters will be inside on both ends. Dont understand why the outside fiber is so expensive..its got a polyethylene jacket on it. I picked up some converters real cheap, running copper that far theres a lightning risk and its been bad this summer. This is at home setup. Have wireless setup now ..still has drop out.
 

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The ethernet to fiber converters will be inside on both ends. Dont understand why the outside fiber is so expensive..its got a polyethylene jacket on it. I picked up some converters real cheap, running copper that far theres a lightning risk and its been bad this summer. This is at home setup. Have wireless setup now ..still has drop out.

I hate to even think what commercial fiber costs. I've laid as much as 5 KM in a single run only to have some Texas varmint chew through a small portion of it that we had to lay on the ground in order to enter the terminal. Yeah, that stuff and outside fiber is expensive. But you can't beat fiber for its resistivity to lightning strikes and any kind of RF interference.

Commercial fiber has two jackets, one outer and one inner. And depending on whether it's single mode or dual mode, it may contain several more layers. I don't know about standard outside fiber but I suspect it too may have an inner jacket to protect against weather.
 
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The real good stuff you bury in the ground with out conduits has a metal layer under the polyethylene. The regular outside stuff has waterproof material around the inside fiber or Tight Buffered under the polyethylene. The stuff I priced was like $278. for 160 ft. You can get it with out connectors by the foot for 99 cents. I dont have the tools to put on connectors and that was like a hour workshop like years ago. If I could bury the standard stuff in a conduit I would...have to go over an alley way. Trying to do this on a shoe string...the 2 new adapters cost me $11.00.

There was like 4 lighting house fires tonight in my metro area..scary stuff. I think its the AC units in the attic..maybe thats not such a good idea after all.
 

chscag

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There was like 4 lighting house fires tonight in my metro area..scary stuff. I think its the AC units in the attic..maybe thats not such a good idea after all.

:) Here in the Dallas - Fort Worth area we get thunderstorms that sound like WWIII. Air handlers in most homes are either on the outside or on the roof (in some older homes).

I attended a week long school (US Government paid) on attaching terminals to fiber and also splicing fiber. I got pretty good on attaching the terminals but the splicing part takes patience and a lot of trial and error. :) Been some years though, I don't think I could do it without a refresher.
 
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If I do this Im buying the cable with connectors attached. Looking at Suflex aviation sleeving as the waterproofing idea. Problem is the sleeving has to be large enough to pull the connectors throw...as the slit loom would fit the cable size tightly. I asked this same ? on a Cisco networking site..got some good insights...but they thought I was a little crazy. Just buy the outdoor cable...ya right. I think theres a way around fixed concepts...thats how I find Macs on the street and in dumpsters.
 

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