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Noob fibre question, I suspect.
A while ago while there was a trench open between my house and an outbuilding, I took the opportunity to lay a 15 metre length of armoured OM1 fibre (4 core, LC-terminated). I'd intended to use media converters at each end and cat6 for the rest of the infrastructure, the fibre being just to avoid dealing with lightning protection.
Now I'm in a position to finish the link, and I've changed my mind: I've got a switch with SFP ports in the house, and I'm thinking of using a similar one in the outbuilding, so I'm thinking of going fibre all the way. However, this will require a 10 metre extension in the house, and perhaps up to the same again in the outbuilding.
I'm aware that the overall length of the completed link will be perilously close to the maximum length for 10g over OM1 (33 metres). I'd like the option of 10g even if I don't use it straight away.
So, my questions:
- Can I use OM2/3/4 for the parts of the link in the house / outbuilding and join them to the OM1? (Initial enquiries suggest not because the fibres have different diameters.)
- What effect do couplers (I'm assuming good quality ceramic ones) have on the link, and in particular on the maximum achievable 10g distance if I'm close to the edge?
Thanks!
Thanks. So OM1 should be able to sustain 10g over up to 33m, but the degradation is gentle beyond that rather than suddenly renegotiating to 1g or anything? – cooperised – 2018-01-27T09:26:25.700
And... any idea of the magnitude of effect I should expect from the couplers? Any nice handy rule like "it's equivalent to adding N metres of fibre"? – cooperised – 2018-01-27T09:27:41.363
2@cooperised: I think the research terms are "insertion loss" and "fibre budget calculator". The coupler's spec sheet might have the former mentioned. – user1686 – 2018-01-27T13:05:56.363