West Penn Wire Blog

With the recent surge of fiber optics within the market in the past few years, it is imperative that any upcoming projects have the right fiber optic cables, assemblies and the best termination method. While there are many options with which fiber optic cables and connectors to choose from, there are really only two major termination solutions: field terminated and pre-terminated. This post is going to break down what the difference between these terminations styles, the advantages and disadvantages, so you can have the best solution for your business and technicians.

Topics: Fiber Optics Assemblies, Fiber Optic Cable, Fiber Optic, Pre-Terminated Fiber Optic Assemblies

This year marks the first year that West Penn Wire published blog posts on a regular basis, a total of 20 blogs this year ranging from basic cable information to systems with greater detail.

Topics: Category Cable, Category 6A Cable, Fiber Optic Cable, Fiber Optics, Copper Cable, Armored Fiber Optics, Fiber Optic, fire alarm, fire alarm systems, fire detection systems

Category cable or, Networking cable, is essential for networking or multimedia installations in projects such as higher education, government, corporate, conference rooms, healthcare, houses of worship, digital signage, hospitality and large venue applications. This article will go over the most common and different types of category cables.

Topics: Low Voltage Cables, Category 7 Cable, Category Cable, Cat7, Category 6A Cable, networking, Category 5e

There has been a big change in the AV industry from the standard coax cables to networking cable solutions, known as category cables. Although Category 5 cables are still heavily used, many growing businesses are looking into faster solutions with Cat 6, Cat 6A Cat 7 and Fiber Optic cabling.

In this article, we will compare the differences between Cat 6, Cat 6A and Fiber Optic cable so that you can best decide what will suit your customers and business in the evolving AV industry.

Topics: Category Cable, Category 6A Cable, Fiber Optic Cable, Fiber Optics, Fiber

Fire alarm systems are very important for any business, school, facility, home and much more. They protect us when alerts arise and deliver notification of potential threat and harm. In previous blogs, we have discussed how fire detection systems work and the differences between conventional vs. addressable fire alarm systems.

Today, we will go over the different types of fire alarm cables with both power limited and non-power limited fire alarm cables. So, let's begin... 

Topics: Low Voltage Cables, fire alarm cables, fire alarm, fire alarm systems

Fiber optic cables have many advantages over traditional copper cables to help with ease of installation. When fiber optic cabling is discussed other terms such as attenuation rates and wavelengths are mentioned to understand how light effectively transmits through the cable. 

We examined discussed in length about fiber optics in previous blog posts, but in this particular article, we will dig deeper into wavelengths and how they affect the strength of the fibers.

Topics: Low Voltage Cables, Fiber Optic Cable, Fiber, Fiber Optic Connector, Fiber Optic

You have probably heard of Power over Ethernet or (PoE). This is a technology that allows networking cables to carry electrical power. They supply electricity to networking, AV, and computers that are powered by ethernet cables. Also, can reduce the number of materials needed because they combine data and power into one single cable. 

Topics: IT, ethernet, networking, network

As a business or residential owner the last thing that you need is an electrical fire. Yet, these are common in older buildings and can be severely dangerous. With fall and winter months just around the corner, we are at great risk of electrical fires from increased usage of lights and heaters. To make sure you are prepared, view the top causes of electrical fires below:

 

Topics: Low Voltage Cables, fire alarm cables, fire alarm

Fiber optic cable continue to integrate and revolutionize the spectrum of the cable capabilities in varying industries and will continue to trend forward. Although most understand standard copper cable more, fiber is the cleanest and faster for transmitting communication and data signals. It also can offer the highest capacity of connection for any network.

Topics: Low Voltage Cables, Fiber Optics Assemblies, Fiber Optic Cable, Fiber, Fiber Optic

Fiber Optic cables offer a business many benefits for safe, fast installations with higher bandwidth frequencies. Fiber optic cables provide extreme pull tensions up to 600 lbs and a bend radius equal to coax cables. 

If loss of fiber does occur it can result in disrupted communications and negative effects to local businesses. Review the steps below in order to repair any tainted connections quickly and effectively.

Topics: Low Voltage Cables, Fiber Optic Cable, Fiber Optic Connector, Fiber Optic