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Pre-installing FTTR cabling during the renovation of a new home presents the ideal opportunity to achieve “True Whole-Home Gigabit” connectivity. To ensure smooth fiber routing through the conduits and stable equipment operation in the future, please strictly adhere to the following physical installation guidelines:
Conduit Specifications and Layout
- Conduit Diameter Requirements: It is recommended to use PVC electrical conduit with a diameter of 20mm (3/4-inch) or larger. Because a larger diameter allows for the accommodation of multiple OFC fiber cables or backup network cables, while also minimizing friction when routing through bends.
- Routing Planning: Employ a “Star Topology” layout; specifically, run independent, direct, and concealed conduits from the home’s low-voltage distribution box to every room requiring network connectivity (e.g., bedrooms, studies, and the living room TV wall).
- Provisioning of Pull Strings: Upon completion of the conduit installation, it is imperative to leave a high-strength nylon pull string (fish tape) inside each conduit. This serves as a critical aid for installation and maintenance personnel when pulling fiber optic cables through the conduits at a later stage.
Bend Radius and Turning Angles (Critical Importance)
- Wide-Radius Turns: Optical fibers are highly sensitive to bending. At turns within concealed conduits, the use of 90-degree right-angle elbows is strictly prohibited; instead, wide-radius bends must be utilized (a bend radius of at least 10 times the conduit diameter, approximately 150 mm or greater is recommended).
- Limit on the Number of Turns: A single conduit segment (between two outlet points) should not contain more than two 90-degree bends. An excessive number of turns can subject the optical fiber to excessive tensile stress during the pulling process, potentially leading to breakage.
Low-Voltage Box (Main Node) Requirements
- Capacity/Size: Given that the FTTR main optical modem is relatively large and requires a power supply, it is recommended to pre-install an oversized low-voltage box (refer to dimensions such as 400 x 300 x 120 mm or larger).
- Power Supply: The low-voltage box must include provisions for at least two 5-hole power outlets to provide power for the main optical modem and any potential network switches.
- Heat Dissipation & Ventilation: As optical equipment generates a significant amount of heat, it is recommended to select a low-voltage box featuring a plastic fiber surface mount box (to avoid Wi-Fi signal shielding) and ventilation holes for effective heat dissipation.
Room-Side (Sub-Node) Requirements
- Faceplate Back Boxes: A standard 86 type fiber rosette box must be pre-embedded at the network port location in every room.
- Reserved Cable Length: After the conduit passes through mini fiber box, approximately 0.5 meters of OFC fiber cable must be reserved inside the box to facilitate subsequent splicing and mini fiber box installation.
Plastic Mini Fiber Box 2 Ports
Plastic Fiber Rosette Box 4 Ports
FTTR Invisible Fiber Surface Mount Box
Hybrid Cabling Recommendations (Backup Strategy)
- Dual Fiber-Ethernet Redundancy: Although FTTR utilizes fiber optics, we strongly recommend to embed an extra Cat 6A Ethernet cable simultaneously, in addition to embedding the fiber optic conduit.
- Purpose: This Ethernet cable serves as a reliable last resort in the event that the OFC fiber cable wire becomes damaged, or you may decide in the future to switch to a traditional Mesh/AP networking setup.
Recommended
Prior to the plumbing and electrical inspection, we suggest performing a “pull-through” test using a guide wire inside the conduit to verify that there are no blockages caused by cement mortar.
