Choose Fiber Cable Types - Allen-Bradley ControlNet 1786-RPFM Installation Instructions Manual

Choose Fiber Cable Types

Multi-fiber cables for backbone use are available with a wide range of fiber counts;
between 2 and 216 fibers. Rockwell offers the short distance (< 300 m) fiber cable
preterminated "zipcord" as a kit for use with the 1786-RPFS fiber module. You
terminate the medium and long distance (> 300 m) cable in the field.
The type of fiber cable you choose to use depends on the network environment.
Consult your installation professional to determine the best type of cable to use for
your environmental conditions. Refer to Publication CNET-IN001A-EN-P, The
ControlNet Fiber Media Planning and Installation
Guide, for details.
The following figure shows an example of a
multi-fiber backbone cable and two fiber interconnect
cable.
Figure 3 Cable Types
multi-fiber
backbone cable
What is termination?
Termination is simply the process of attaching a connector to the ends of our fiber
cable. This is done in a similar manner as the coax BNC is terminated to the end of
a coax cable. We terminate the coax network at the two ends of the network to
prevent reflections in the system. This is not required for fiber. We recommend that
you cover unused ports with a suitable protector cap to prevent dust and other
contaminants from damaging the fiber transceiver ports. The protector cap for fiber
is equivalent to the dust cap for a ControlNet Tap drop cable.
However, for a ControlNet drop cable we also provide a 1786-TCAP for unused
taps to make them electronically transparent to the network. For the Fiber repeaters
we recommend that a simplex jumper be placed between the transmit port and
receive port of an unused channel. This is somewhat similar to the 1786-TCAP for
the coax. See Figure 2 on page 10.
ControlNet Modular Repeater Medium Distance Fiber Module
zipcord
30689-M
Publication 1786-IN011B-EN-P - October 2000
11