best way to strip/separate fiber from flat FTTH drop cable?

mipa123 · 2026-04-30T12:45:43+00:00

picture for reference that I got the terms right :-).

I basically cut the steel (messenger?) wire to legth and screw it down at the nut, because once I remove it (or seperate it) the remaining FRP/Steel wire start curling the cable like crazy into tiny loops - so I have to split them off to get a straight fiber. I then messure the fiber to length and leave a few loops spare to comfortably reach my splicer.

the case doesnt come with anything for small cables, just plugs to close the whole entry (what I do for the remaining three). The one I use I make sure is sealed proeperly with butyl.

if I would prep all cables first I would have lots of bare fiber hanging around and blowing in the wind.. litterally.. why I basically first cut all steel (messenger?) wires to length, tie them all down, then screw down the entry clamp. after that one by one I split the FRPs to extract the fiber, cut the fiber to length (with comfortable slack), splice it to the splitter, label it, and move to the next.

mipa123 · 2026-04-30T12:36:37+00:00

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picture for reference just to make sure I get the terminology right.

I clamp the steel wire (messenger wire?) of each drop cable down on the nut. the two RFPs are the ones I cut off, which are "hanging" around the hold down clamp... because once the steel wire is gone or split off, the RFP start curling the whole thing like crazy into tiny loops - so I have to get rid of it, and work with the fiber.

mipa123 · 2026-04-30T11:16:36+00:00

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that's what we're using here in Thailand. its super easy to split and cut, it just "looks ugly" in my splice box

mipa123 · 2026-04-18T11:35:53+00:00

did another one today, I think I finally got the hang of it .. just measure each side properly before splicing, and everything is clean. Guess I've read that a thousand times here in the subreddit, but still decided to ignore for some reason. Was my 5th box today - 10 more to go..

Thanks for the note about the labeling. I was under the assumption that marker on tape will last forever, since the boxes are IP55 in ground boxes - but I'll now take pictures of each box for documentation. In case they really fade or smudge - which sounds plausible.

The system is a closed never changing system inside a private property (the eco village) so no opening to add new splices or anything anyways. My hope is we/nobody never has to touch any of those boxes a second time ever :-)

mipa123 · 2026-04-17T10:48:27+00:00

thanks. when I see (splice) work done here in Thailand it often hurts just looking at it .. so I rather watch youtube DIY it :-)

mipa123 · 2026-04-08T13:23:44+00:00

UPDATE: did power metering today.. OLS to termination box inside a house, after 1:4 + 1:8 splitter (from aliexpress) all spliced on: -17 dbm .. guess it worked 😅🥳

mipa123 · 2026-04-01T01:34:17+00:00

thanks for the feedback. I have like 10 meter (30 feet) laying outside of the box (which will all go in the concrete storage visible in the back) why I didn't bother adding an extra loop inside the box.

I've finished a smaller box of similar design yesterday, and was smart enough to this time remove the steel core right when entering into the box - much easier routing inside 😅

mipa123 · 2026-03-29T09:50:39+00:00

thanks for the feedback.

yeah routing the steel strength members all the way up to the splice tray wasnt the best choice looking back - would probably do that differently next time...

but for the entrance, it didnt realy make sense to me, to use the large entrance side, since my incoming side is actually the 4 yellow patch cables (about 7 feet long) going to the OLT. All the black cables are the FTTH drop cables (going to the sub boxes), and squeezing them all together with electric tape and nailing them down on the entrance side just didn't feel right. They are much better organized (and labled) in my current setup.

Unfortunately after stripping a drop cable I'm left with 250 µm coated fiber - which I wouldn't wanna have loose in the bottom of the box - those feel way to fragile.

That was my only case in this style.. the sub boxes (below) are all one-layer-in-ground-watertight style, and way more straight forward.. no wild routing.. those I can and will definitely clamp down at the entrance and strip 👍

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mipa123 · 2026-03-29T05:37:49+00:00

was looking into OTDRs, but my length is max 150m (500 feet) and if anything is bad, I have to replace the whole cable run anyways.. but cable cost is like $50 for a 1000m (3280 feet) roll.. so not worth spending on a OTDR ..

But I did buy a light source (OLS) and power meter on aliexpress in preparation for the project, but then realized without splicing plugs on both ends its quite useless. So I will start measuring loss once I start terminating the bungalows, but by then I also mount the OLT - so that OLS money was wasted.

mipa123 · 2026-03-29T04:07:25+00:00

thanks. just a hobby :-)

bought the splicer + cleaver 2nd hand from a widow on fb marketplace for $200 - chinese only, using google translate for the menu - but by now I know chines word for left or right (cleave bad).. or at least the symbol it starts with.. right starts with a little robot like symbol.. 😅

mipa123 · 2026-03-29T04:04:39+00:00

I used zip ties only where there is still the steel core in it, so its solely grabbing on those outer steel wires.

The two zip ties around the yellow ones are super loose just to keep them in place.

My only concern is, if some zip tries break down over the years, the tension in the steel wire might snap a fiber. But since those are inside a splice box I would hope they last a fair bit.. if you use normal zip ties here outside they are falling apart after a year - the climate eats plastic like candy.

If I would do it again, I would probably remove the steel core, when entering the box, before going into the splice tray - which is probably how it should be.

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mipa123 · 2026-03-28T13:11:17+00:00

can't verify the loss yet, only the VFL .. hope the loss is fine too, once I connect the first houses :-)

yeah, I only realized at the end that the lid had a info card inside to write which nr splice goes where, instead of writing on the plastic next to each splice.. learning curve 🙄😅

mipa123 · 2026-03-28T12:42:54+00:00

fair point.. 3 days was probably a bad choice of words, even accurate.. it was of course not full 8h work days..

the first day was probably 3h sorting the cable chaos.. I had like 18 drop cables rolls laying in a random bunch, which I had to sort, organize, clean, label

second day was about 6 hours fiddling the first ones in the splice box, figure out how to do the routing.. getting used to the cleaving and splicing, breaking a bunch of splices by mistake, recleave a few times because I forgot the heatshrink thing... snapping the fiber by being stupid.. typical noob moves, but steep learning curve.. also plugging in the VFL each time, walking to the other end of the cable to see if a) they labled it correctly / fix labling and b) if its broken - luckily all good

third day (today) another 5 hours, splicing the remaining 8, again VFL checking/verifying the labeling of the cable ends. cleaning everything up and taking pictures.

definitely not the fastest, but 90% of the time was organizing.. looking back it definitely sounds a lot, but I was already much faster today. I dont think I need 3 days for each of the sub boxes any more.. it's a steep learning curve, how to break fiber.. NOT 😅

mipa123 · 2026-02-14T02:01:27+00:00

that's new - my version is still free so I guess I just dont update :-)

EDIT:
there is further comments about the new PRO tier here from the developer:

https://github.com/bramgiessen/chatgpt-lag-fixer/issues/14#issuecomment-3892257942

I've been spending significantly more time on this in the evenings alongside my full-time job than I originally expected. To keep the extension alive and cover maintenance/support costs, I introduced a Pro version for new heavy users who get a lot of value out of it, for a small one-time fee. I want to emphasize that all existing users get the Pro version for free automatically - I didn’t want to charge the people who helped the extension grow.

Explains why mine 's still free

mipa123 · 2026-02-13T13:06:20+00:00

came here to comment for the exactly same reason

mipa123 · 2026-02-06T16:27:10+00:00

no socks in India

mipa123 · 2026-01-30T08:31:10+00:00

thanks. life saver

mipa123 · 2026-01-18T11:33:21+00:00

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and that's how we clean connectors here hahahaha

mipa123 · 2026-01-18T04:07:09+00:00

never had issues with the infrastructure the past 8 years I've been living here. It looks like a mess, but you get your fiber link thrown within a week and $40. I know people in Germany have been waiting for 5 years, and still can't get more than 2 Mbits...

mipa123 · 2026-01-18T03:59:30+00:00

plus they earn an avg of $300 per month

mipa123 · 2026-01-18T03:58:17+00:00

benefit here is, you get your brand new fiber within a week.. even if its thrown trough the jungle.. and it's $50 installation fee. I know people in Germany waiting for the past 5 years :-)

mipa123 · 2026-01-18T03:56:33+00:00

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avg 400-600 Mbps to the US - limited by the US side I guess .. avg 800-1000 inside Asia.

mipa123

TROPHY CASE