Cable Tie Is Not as Easy as You Think

When think of cable ties, most people would firstly thought of a bunch of self-locking throwaway plastic strips. One might think a cable tie is just a cable tie. There are many uses for cable ties. And there are also a wide variety of cable ties which are designed for different applications. The plastic self-locking cable ties are the most commonly used ones. However, even these simple plastic loops come into various types according to their color, length, width, and serrations. Proper cable ties do not only provide long-life and dependable services but also better cable management, especially in data centers and server rooms which are the worlds of various cables. To choose the right cable tie for your applications, this post would like to offer some suggestions when making your decisions.

Locking Design of Cable Tie

Self Locking Cable Tie: The most important thing of a cable tie is its locking technology. With a good locking design, cable tie can provide firm locking for the cables. The most commonly used cable tie is also called zip tie, which is one-piece design with a lot of serration on the cable tie to lock the cables firmly. The following picture shows the structure of this cable tie. This design allows the cable tie to perform to the published minimum tensile strength.

Reusable Self-Locking Cable Tie: The zip tie is easy to use and affordable. However, this type of cable tie cannot be reused, cause once the cable tie is locked it would be really hard to unlock or release it. You have to cut them down if you don’t need them. To improve this design, a little latch is added on the tongue of the cable tie, which makes the cable ties reusable. As shown in the following picture, the reusable self-locking cable tie can be easily released by pressing the latch on the tongue, which can perfectly ignore the affection of the serrations on the cable tie.

Magic Velcro Cable Tie: This type of cable tie is also reusable. The hooks and hairs on the cable tie can provide firm locking for the cables (shown in the following pictures). And it can make cable management safer and more convenient. It is also widely used in household applications to organize wires. This Velcro cable tie is usually sold in rolls.

Identification Cable Tie: the above mention cable ties are all available in different colors. Color is a useful feature for identification. Thus, customers can use cable tie in different colors for identification. However, it happens that the color is not enough for cable identification if there are too many cables or too much information. Then, an improved cable tie with a marker or label attached on the cable tie is offered (shown in the following picture).

Materials of Cable Tie

The function and performance are also largely depended on the materials of the cable ties. The above mentioned cable type are the most commonly used ones, which are usually made of plastic, Nylon and Velcro. However, for some harsh environment, elements like temperature and strength should be considered during cable tie selection. There is a type of cable tie which is made of stainless steel, usually known as heavy duty stainless steel cable tie(as shown in the following picture). It is commonly used in outdoor applications.

Other Factors to Consider During Cable Tie Selection

The length of cable ties available in market ranges from 4 to 52 inches. The cable tie length should be longer than the diameter of the cable bundle. It cannot be too long or too short. The proper width of a cable tie will also help a lot. Both the length and width of the cable ties should be depended on the applications.

Cable Ties Solutions

The above mention cable ties are all listed in the following table for your reference. You can Click HERE or contact sales@fs.com for more details about cable tie.

Products	Description
Nylon cable ties	available size: 2.5*12mm, 3.6*150mm, 4.5*120mm, 5.5*200mm; available in various colors
Velco cable tie	available size:50*100mm, 10*100mm, 30*100mm, 100*100mm, 15*100mm; available in various color
Identification cable tie	available size: 1*5/16Inch, 11/8*5/8Inch, 11/8*5/8Inch; available in various color
Reusable cable ties	available size: 8*0.19Inch, 8*0.19Inch, 10*0.19Inch, 12*0.19Inch; available in various color
Stainless steel cable tie	available size: 8Inch, 10Inch, 12Inch

Which Fiber Media Converter Is Perfect for Your Project?

Fiber media converter is a simple but useful devices that can provide conversion between fiber optic and other types of media. The most common use of fiber media converter is transmission between fiber and copper to extend the network or introduce fiber optic cabling to a copper based network. As these devices can be installed almost everywhere in the network and it is affordable, they are also being designated for many other applications. Various types of fiber media converters are provided in the market, people easily get confused during selecting the best ones for their projects. In this post, the fiber media converter selecting guide will be offered for your references.

Factors to Consider During Fiber Media Converters

To select the right fiber media converters for your project, many elements should be considered. You should firstly consider where you want to use fiber media converters and how to use them. Then, You should know the functions and characters of fiber media converters. The following will list some important factors that should be considered during fiber media converters selection.

Data Rate: the speed of the devices that fiber media converter is to connect to should be firstly considered. The most commonly used are 10/100Mpbs, 10/100/1000Mpbs, 1000Mpbs.

Fiber Type: which two different types of transmission medias should be converted between each other? For example, fiber optic to copper, single-mode fiber optic to multimode fiber optic, dual strand or single strand, etc.

Wavelength: to add the fiber media converters to a fiber optic network, the wavelength that the signal should be specified to the network and the devices.

Port Type and Port Number: fiber media converter also have various port type. The most commonly used types for fiber optic on the fiber media converters are ST, SC and SFP. The number of the power should depend on the applications.

Transmission Distance: the transmission distances of a pair of fiber media converter are also various and can satisfy various requirements from 2km to 15km or more.

PoE Function: PoE fiber media converter can fully satisfy the need to be powered in physical locations where main power is not available or difficult to deliver.

Power Requirement: the most commonly used are AC power supply, DC power supply,, internal power supply, and external power supply.

Fiber Media Converters According to Applications

The above mentioned are the basic factors that should be considered during selection. However, as mentioned the applications are also very important. To offer a more simple and direct way for fiber media selection. Here collected the different fiber media converters and divided them according to their applications. Click the fiber media type in the following table, you can find the fiber media converters belong to this catalog, with their specifications and prices in details.

Fiber to RJ45 Converters	SFP Ethernet Converters
OEO Converters	Mode Converters
Managed Ethernet Converters	Power over Ethernet Products
Fiber Video Converters	PDH E1 & Serial Converters