Optical Light Source with FC/LC/SC Adapters for PC/UPC Connectors (FLS-50)

Ships direct from the manufacturer. Please allow up to 10 business days, though it often ships sooner.

A loss test on single-mode fiber needs a stable source at one end and a power meter at the other, and the Jonard Tools FLS-50 is the source: a steady 1310 nm or 1550 nm signal in a handheld with a 2.4 in LCD. Output holds within 0.05 dB over 15 minutes, which is what makes a reference and a measurement taken a few minutes apart comparable, and it sits at a typical −7 dBm, adjustable from −5 to −12 dBm. Paired with an FPM-50A, FPM-55, or FPM-70 power meter, the meter reads the wavelength from the source automatically, so you're not switching settings at both ends. Besides continuous wave, it sends 270 Hz, 330 Hz, 1 kHz, and 2 kHz tones that a fiber identifier such as the OFI-50 or OFI-100 picks up for tracing a fiber. It comes with FC, SC, ST, and FC-LC UPC adapters, two cleaning swabs, three AA batteries for 25 or more hours, and a carrying case. If you also test multimode, the FLS-55 adds 850 nm and 1300 nm.

Features

• 1310 nm and 1550 nm single-mode. Both standard single-mode test wavelengths (±20 nm), with a spectral width of 5 nm or less.
• Stable, adjustable output. Holds within 0.05 dB over 15 minutes; typical −7 dBm, adjustable from −5 to −12 dBm.
• CW and four tones. Continuous wave or 270 Hz, 330 Hz, 1 kHz, and 2 kHz modulation, for fiber identification and for meters that read tones.
• Automatic wavelength identification. The FPM-50A, FPM-55, and FPM-70 power meters read the wavelength from the source, so the meter is always on the right setting.
• Adapters for the common connectors. FC, SC, ST, and FC-LC UPC adapters included.
• 25+ hours on three AA batteries. With a 10-minute auto-off and a 2.4 in LCD.

Where It Fits

It suits FTTH and PON technicians measuring drop and distribution loss at 1310 and 1550 nm with an FPM-series meter, installers and contractors certifying single-mode riser, campus, and outside plant links against TIA or ISO limits, data center teams testing single-mode trunks between halls, anyone tracing a fiber across a panel or a closure by sending a tone and reading it with an identifier at the far end, and a single-mode test kit where this is the matching source for the FPM-70 or FPM-55 meter, at a lower price than the four-wavelength FLS-55.

Good to Know

A loss test is a reference and a measurement: connect the source to the meter through a reference cord, zero the meter, then insert the link under test and read the loss; the source's 0.05 dB stability is what makes those two readings comparable, and letting it warm up for a few minutes before the reference helps. Test at both 1310 and 1550 nm, since a bend shows up as more loss at 1550 and a bad connector or splice shows up at both, and record both; most link budgets specify both. The adapters are UPC; keep them away from APC connectors, since mating the two damages the end face, and an APC drop needs a UPC-to-APC reference cord rather than an APC connector in the source port. Clean every connector before every mating, including the source port, because a dirty source port reads as loss on every link you test that day. The tones are for identification: put a tone on at one end and a meter with tone detection or an identifier finds the fiber at the other. Never look into the source's output or into a connected fiber; the light is infrared and invisible, and a source is for the meter, not the eye. Match the meter to the source: the FPM-50A, FPM-55, and FPM-70 read the wavelength automatically, and any other meter needs the wavelength set by hand at each change. This is a single-mode source only; multimode fiber needs 850 and 1300 nm, which the FLS-55 provides.

Specifications

Documentation