FIBER OPTIC COLOR CODING

Color code, used in fiber optics, resembles that of copper. the major difference is 12-color sequence as oppose to 10-color for copper. The sequence of colors is the same, with addition of two colors - Rose (11-th) and Aqua (12-th).

 

Fiber color codes are specified by TIA/EIA 598-A. in loose tube cables, this color code will be used for tubes as well as fibers within the tubes and subgroups

For cables that consist of more than 12 strands, the color code repeats itself. Each group of 12 strands is identified with some other means such as:

    - Multiple buffer tubes each with 12 or less strands either numbered or colored following the same color code, e.g., 1st tube is blue, 2nd is orange, etc.

    -   24 strand groups with the color code repeating with some variation, e.g., the 1st group of 12 strands are solid colors and the 2nd group are solid colors with a stripe or some other identifying mark.

FIBER OPTIC CABLE JACKET COLOR

 

For outdoor aerial and burial type cables, the jacket color is usually black polyethelene for both multimode and singlemode cables to prevent UV radiation damage.

For indoor cables, the outer most fiber cable jacket may be any color but the de facto industry standard is:

·        Orange for multimode fibers

·        Yellow for singlemode fibers

This is also generally true for fiber optic patch cords.