It’s coming up to our favourite time of year. Festival Season
Turning up to an event knowing your cabling is good to go can remove a lot of doubt and 
ensure connectivity success first time round. So is your connectivity cabling fit and ready for action? If you have not had a chance to check it over during winter, not to worry, it’s not too late to get your cables certified, repaired or replenished.
Here’s the top 5 cabling issues we see and fix:
1. Inspect, Test & Certify
Issue: The cables have been used throughout the year, but either there is not a facility or enough time to do in house testing and repair work. You would like the inventory to be retuned to factory performance levels.
Solution: Firstly a visual inspection is made and any damage is noted, then fibre ferules are cleaned before running an attenuation test across all cores. Provided this passes the cable is packaged with its test r
esults and shipped. If any connectors fail testing, a polish, or repair, will be needed.
2. Connector Polish
Issue: On testing the connector shows a ‘fail’ i.e. the return loss is outside the pass parameters. This can result in an intermittent or failed network connection.
Solution: A connector polish can sometimes resolve this, as it removes scratches and debris from the end face. If the fibre is too badly pitted, it will need to be replaced…
3. Connector Replacement / Repair
Issue: sometimes accidents happen and we have seen Neutrik opticalCON boots destroyed, and standard connectors pulled off.
Solution: This is rarely terminal, if the cable is undamaged it can be re-terminated with new connectors. The same inspection/polishing/testing
process is followed.
4. Fibre Breakage 
Issue: This one is more serious, the cable has been cut either deliberately (to remove from a rats nest of other cables) or accidentally (friction burns can cut through the outer sheath).
Solution: Once the damaged portion is removed, the two remaining segments can be made into two assemblies. This is especially handy if the assemblies have a more expensive connector such as an expanded beam or Neutrik opticalCON. A new reel can be provided for the newly created assembly.
5. Change of Connector
Issue: You no longer have a use for the currently installed connectors as the end equipment has changed, but you want to save money and reuse the cable and reel.
Solution: Often the cable can be reused if in good condition and it is cheaper to recycle than buy new. We would start by testing the current cable to ensure there is no internal damage that would affect its performance and visually inspect the sheath. If it passes, then provided the cable is suitable for the connector required, the new connectors can be attached.
If you’d like help to certify, repair or replenish your cables, get in touch with the experts at Universal Networks to find out the best option for you.