Old timer told me to stop using gel on fiber connectors and he was right

I had a guy who's been doing this since the 90s watch me terminate some single mode in Austin last spring. He said I was using way too much gel and it was actually making my loss numbers worse. I thought he was just being old fashioned but I tested it both ways on 20 connectors and he was right every time. My return loss went from -35dB to -45dB after I switched to barely any gel. Anyone else have an old installer teach them something that went against what they learned in training?

3 comments

3 Comments

paigewood14d agoMost Upvoted

Wonder if the old timer's test rig was calibrated right or if it just happened to be cleaner connectors.

ericjackson14d ago

That part about your return loss jumping from -35 to -45 really caught my eye. People forget that gel isn't just there to clean things, it's actually a contaminant if you use too much. I think the real issue nobody talks about is that training materials are written by people who sell the gel and the connectors, so they teach you to use a ton of it. The old timers learned by trial and error, not from a manufacturer's pamphlet. They figured out that less is more because they had to pay for their own mistakes back then. I've seen the same thing happen with cleaning wipes and alcohol, where people soak things down and end up leaving residue that messes with the light path. Your test with 20 connectors is the kind of proof that beats any book learning.

josephf106d ago

Bet they learned that trick the same day they paid for a new connector out of their own pocket.