Today we wanted to take a quick look at the Fluke FiberInspector FI-1000. This is a fiber inspection tool that helps ensure that fiber faces are clean. The FI-7000 is the version of this kit with the Fluke Versiv 2 that we will also use to test the unit. You may have also seen that we looked at the Fluke FiberInspector Pro FI-3000 a few months ago, so we wanted to show another option.
Fluke FiberInspector FI-1000/ FI-7000 Overview
The unit itself is designed to be almost like a pen form factor. It has a tip on one end and a cable on the other. It is certainly a different form factor than the FI-3000.
The unit has a number of replaceable tips that can be used to test different types of fibers. The tips simply screw on and take a few seconds to physically change out.
Perhaps the feature we used the most was the focus knob. The FI-1000 is basically a camera, so we can use this knob to set our focus point.
While the FI-3000 was designed to operate wirelessly, this unit is designed to be connected to the main Versiv 2 unit via USB.
The FI-1000 and the Versiv 2 are part of the FI-7000 kit.
Here we have the tip connected to a cable, and we dialed in the focus (using the focus knob) to see the face of the fiber connector. As you can see, there is some significant obstruction on the face so we at a minimum need to clean this one.
Using the Versiv 2 we can grade results and then store them so we can have a record of the work performed. For example, we can find a dirty cable, then clean it, and then record the work.
Final Words
Overall, this was a very fast-to-use unit. During our fiber installation, we mostly used the FI-3000 for the MTP runs. For the LC runs, the FI-1000 is quick to continually swap out cables to verify the connectors are clean.
Ensuring optical connectors are clean is an important part of the fiber installation process, so we wanted to show this off as another option. These are probably devices that you would only own if you were a contractor or work in a data center where you are checking fiber daily. For many others, this would be a rental item (most likely as the FI-7000.) Still, having a solution that can go through many fibers quickly is very important to get an installation done.
