Fiber Optic Cable for a Wind Farm? What cable to use?

Recently we've been been moving fiber optic cables into the green energy market and in a previous post we got into it regarding Solar Power Towers . The long term view from the US department of Energy is a commitment to renewable energy, so not only will you see the expansion of these solar power towers but also wind farms.

Are wind farms a new thing? No, the San Gorgonio Pass Wind Farm development began in the early 80's. You figured a standardized fiber optic cable type by now would have been established but it doesn't appear that way. I looked into Corning, AFL and General Cable and I don't see any type of fiber optic cable designed for this specific application.

So what fiber cable is going to be a good fit for your wind farm application? I'm going to put money down on a tight buffered indoor/outdoor cable.



Why not! The majority of the cable is not exposed externally, cable runs from the top in the pole to the base then runs underground with other cables. The most commonly installed cable for cell tower applications is the indoor/outdoor tight buffered construction. Because it runs vertically you don't want a loose tube and since it has no aluminum, copper or any metal your don't have to worry about interference from the electrical cables from the wind farm.

The data rates look to be 10/100 so a 62.5 multimode cable will cover you up to around 2 kilometers, anything over that singlemode get's involved. I don't think the fiber cable should be a complicated part of this type of installation. Fiber cable from a cell tower, data center, home, wind farm all does the same thing by getting a signal from point A to B.

I'm going to work on getting my foot in the door at the San Gorgonio Pass Wind Farm since they're right down the street from me, I could be wrong and maybe it's a completely different cable. I'll work on verifying the cable that's being installed and if you work at a wind farm please comment! It'll be much appreciated.

"By Mercy Salinas"

Fiber optic cable assemblies for Stadium and Arenas

The standard of HD-SDI, 3G HD-SDI and so on has put more stress on broadcasting cables than ever and certain locations of these arenas are removing their coaxial cable system and replacing it with fiber optic cable to meet the high bandwidth demands and distance demands that these signals have to travel.

With so many different types of fiber cables what cable construction might best suit a particular location? Our permanent install snake is commonly used where a permanent fiber cable is needed.

These cables are assembled at your request so a singlemode or multimode, length, connector type, channel count is never a problem for your installations location.

If you have a different cable construction type your looking for we also have broadcast deployable, interlocking armored and other cables that can suit your cable location.

If you have any questions you may contact Mercy Salinas at 888-797-3697 extension 232.

Is Football here yet!

Thanks! 

"By Mercy Salinas"

Direct burial cable for security camera system wiring installation

For most camera wiring installations the pathway of your signal cable is indoors and a small part of that cable run may be exposed outdoors. That's why most cctv camera cables have a general purpose with a sunlight resistant rating to them. But what if you need to extend that cable to a pole far away and you need to bury the cable run?

You'll need a direct burial cable. Let's check out one of our most popular cables for this type of application.



It's important to install a quality cable for a few reasons.

The jacket construction will last for a very long time, the lifetime of a quality cable should last the lifetime of a few security cameras at the location.

Quality copper and a true copper center conductor will allow for a signal to travel a long distance. Since your looking for a direct burial cable your probably doing long cable runs. Low end cables are passing off copper clad aluminum as a bare copper conductor, it's very hard to see but you might find out the hard way. And you wonder why it was so cheap, next thing you know you have a poor signal and the camera image won't come up.

Just a quick tip, if your installing IR cameras at a long distance you probably should install a 24V camera and power supply. You don't want those IR's to turn on in the evening and lose your image signal.

"By Mercy Salinas"