Multiple Factors Influencing The Price Differences Of Optical Fiber Patch Cords
Oct 29, 2025| Multiple factors influencing the price differences of optical fiber patch cords
The current market for optical fiber patch cords is highly mixed. The price of a regular 1-meter SC single-core patch cord ranges from two yuan to over ten yuan. What exactly causes such a significant price difference among optical fiber patch cords? Today, let's take a look at the various factors that affect the price differences of optical fiber patch cords.
First, the quality of raw materials varies
Optical fiber patch cords are composed of optical cables in the middle and connectors at both ends. Optical cables are bare fibers with protective sheaths. They are composed of four parts from the inside out: optical fibers, inner sheaths, aramid fibers, and outer sheaths.
1. Optical fiber
Optical fiber is the most crucial raw material in optical cables. Regular optical cable manufacturers usually use A-grade fiber cores from large factories, while low-quality and low-priced optical cables often use C-grade and D-grade optical fibers, and sometimes even pass off OM3-300 as OM4 optical fibers. However, small factories generally lack the necessary testing equipment and cannot make judgments on the quality of optical fibers. As such optical fibers cannot be identified by the naked eye, the common problems encountered during construction are: excessive loss and short transmission distance. The core diameter is uneven, making it difficult to connect with pigtails or resulting in excessive loss after connection.
2. Aramid
Aramid is a new type of high-tech synthetic fiber, featuring ultra-high strength, high-temperature resistance, acid and alkali resistance, and light weight. Its strength is 5 to 6 times that of steel wire, and it does not decompose or melt at a temperature of 560 degrees. Aramid also has good insulation and anti-aging properties. The invention of aramid is regarded as a very important historical process in the field of materials. The main material of bulletproof vests and military helmets nowadays is generally aramid. The purpose of using aramid in indoor optical cables is to protect the tight-sheathed optical fibers in the indoor optical cables from mechanical tension.
Aramid is one of the main cost components of indoor optical cables. However, due to the high cost of aramid, inferior indoor optical cables may save costs by cutting corners by reducing a few strands of aramid. Or a polyester yarn that looks similar to aramid can be used as a substitute. The price of polyester yarn is less than one-tenth of that of imported aramid, but it can hardly withstand any tensile force. As a result, the optical fiber is very likely to be pulled or broken during laying.
3. Sheath
The outer sheath materials of indoor optical cables mainly include: polyvinyl chloride (PVC), flame-retardant polyvinyl chloride, low smoke zero halogen polyolefin (LSZH), and flame-retardant low smoke zero halogen polyolefin. Low smoke zero halogen sheath material is a type of material that does not produce a large amount of smoke and toxic gases when on fire. This material is a bit more expensive than PVC. The price of flame-retardant sheaths varies depending on their flame-retardant grades.
The surface of a high-quality outer sheath should be smooth, bright, flexible and easy to peel off. The outer sheath of low-quality optical cables has poor smoothness and is prone to adhesion with tight sleeve fibers and aramid fibers.
4. Pin insertion
The ferlet is the core component that affects the performance of optical fiber connectors. The quality of the ferlet directly influences the precise center alignment of the two optical fibers. The materials for making pins include ceramic, metal or plastic. Ceramic pins are widely used. There are two situations where the quality of connectors fails to meet the standards due to ceramic ferrules: ① Using ferrules with a concentricity of 1.5 microns instead of those with a concentricity of 1.0 microns for production, and during testing, in order to make the loss value seem to be within the qualified range, the self-deceiving and non-compliant method of "core adjustment" is used to pass the test. ② It is also possible to use second-hand recycled pins. Since second-hand pins have undergone a grinding process when they are first made into connectors, when they are used again, the exposed length of the pins is likely to be shorter, resulting in excessive connection loss values.
Second, the technical standards and requirements are different
1. Optical fiber end face
As shown in the following figure, the end face of the optical fiber is divided into three areas: A, B, and C. A high-quality end face must ensure that there are no spots, scratches, or dents in the core area of area A and the cladding area of Area B. Otherwise, it will cause obstacles in the transmission of optical signals and affect the values of insertion loss and return loss.
2. Insertion loss and return loss
The optical performance of optical fiber connectors is mainly measured by two basic parameters: insertion loss and return loss. Insertion Loss (IL for short) is the optical power loss caused by connection, describing the optical loss between two fixed points in an optical fiber. It is usually caused by the lateral deviation between two optical fibers, the longitudinal gap in the optical fiber joint, the end face mass, etc. The unit is decibels (dB). The general requirement should be ≤0.3dB.
Return Loss (RL for short) refers to the parameter of signal reflection performance, describing the power loss of optical signal return/reflection, and is expressed in decibels (dB). The typical RL value of a general APC connector is approximately 60dB, and that of a UPC connector is about 50dB.
3. Insertion and extraction stability
According to the IEC 61753-1 standard, the insertion and extraction times of optical fiber connectors should be ≥500 times and the variation in insertion loss should be ≤0.2dB. Poor-quality connectors will experience increased wear and tear after being repeatedly plugged and unplugged many times. Therefore, the number of repeated insertions and unplugging is generally regarded as one of the most important indicators reflecting the stability of optical fiber connectors.
Third, the strength of the manufacturers varies
The production process of optical fiber patch cords can mainly be divided into three major parts: assembly of optical cables and connector components, end face grinding, inspection and testing. The production of high-quality optical fiber patch cords has very high requirements for every link in the production process. The scale benefits of the patch cord production factory, the degree of automation of production equipment, the completeness and accuracy of testing instruments, the proficiency of operators, the quality control ability of the factory, and the on-site management ability of lean production, among other aspects, all affect the quality and price of patch cord products.
In conclusion, when choosing a fiber optic patch cord supplier, one should consider the cost performance rather than just the low price. More attention should be paid to the quality of the supplier's products, technical strength, service quality, etc. As a professional "fiber optic solution provider", "GloryOptical" not only offers high cost-performance fiber optic patch cord products, but also, based on 15 years of experience accumulation, can tailor a complete patch cord production line solution according to customer needs, helping customers establish a complete patch cord production line, and providing professional training and technical support.