Fujikura 42S series of fiber optic fusion splicers

Brief description of the series

The inexpensive Japanese Fujikura 42S series of fusion splicers is ideal for access networks, PON, FTTx, SCS and local fiber optic communication lines. All splicers in this series align fibers using active (moving) V-grooves, which provides excellent characteristics: average splice losses are 0.03 dB for single-mode fiber and 0.01 dB for multimode. Fujikura 42S series splicers are unpretentious and reliable, they operate stably at low temperatures, heat, humidity and wind. The service life even in the harshest conditions exceeds 10 years.

The Fujikura 42S series includes three models that differ in cleaver and target region. The Fujikura 42S Plus model (set) comes with an automatic Bluetooth cleaver CT50 and additional accessories. The Fujikura 42S Standard model (set) comes with a classic cleaver CT16. The Fujikura 45S model is designed for the American region and is not sold or serviced in Ukraine. For detailed differences between the models in the series, see the interactive table. A full description of all characteristics can be downloaded below on this page in the Documentation section.

All models of the series

The Fujikura 42S series consists of three models, shown in this interactive table. To see all the characteristics of certain models, add them to the comparison.

High quality splicing

All Fujikura 42S series splicers are equipped with Active Fusion Control technology. This technology ensures high quality splicing under changing environmental conditions, different degrees of electrode wear and large fiber cleavage angles. This screenshot shows a pair of fibers just before splicing, the right fiber has a poor cleavage angle (4 degrees).

Active Fusion Control technology analyzed fiber cleavage angles and adjusted splicing parameters to compensate for the impact of poor cleavage on the right fiber on the resulting losses. As you can see, the estimated loss after splicing was only 0.02 dB.

Fujikura 42S series fusion splicers analyze arc brightness directly during the splicing process, adjusting its power and duration, which helps compensate for the impact of electrode wear and changing environmental conditions. Also, arc brightness analysis helps the machine more accurately calculate the losses in the splice joint, which are shown on the screen immediately after splicing.

Controlling the cleaver

Using Bluetooth, one or two Fujikura CT50 automatic cleavers can be connected to the Fujikura 42S series splicers. After the first pairing of the splicer and the cleaver, the devices remember the settings and their connection is automatically restored each time they are turned on. This function allows the splicer to keep statistics on the number of fiber cleavages at each blade position, and also automatically rotate the cleaver blade to the next working position based on the analysis of the cleavage angle and its shape.

As the cleaver blade wears, the fiber cleavage angle and shape begin to deteriorate. This graph shows typical statistics for the occurrence of bad cleavages as a particular blade position wears. The horizontal axis shows the number of cleavages made, and the vertical axis shows the angle of each cleavage. Bad cleavages are marked with yellow and red vertical lines.

Regular occurrence of a large cleavage angle (3.9 degrees on the right fiber in the screenshot below) or an uneven cleavage shape is a sure sign of wear of the current position of the blade or its contamination. The splicer continuously analyzes both indicators and, when necessary, automatically transmits a command to the cleaver to turn the blade to the next working position. If you want to decide for yourself when to turn the blade, you can switch the automatic rotation to a simple hint in the splicer settings.