Fiber optical connector, as one of important linking components, can be found everywhere in fiber optic networks. With fiber optical connectors, you can easily add, drop, move, and change the networks. And it’s also well known that a clean and reliable optical connector can provide high performance fiber infrastructure and extend the life of network. Then how much do you know about fiber optical connector cleaning? Today, the following questions may help you know more about it. Firstly, why fiber optical connector should be cleaned? Cleaning consideration is a crucial issue in fiber optic cable technology today. If not cleaned properly, the ferrule in connectors is easy to be damaged when connecting, which can result in high costs. What’s more, it’s known to us that the fiber ferrules in the connectors make physical contact with another one within the connectors alignment sleeve. Any contamination or dirt on one of the ferrules can easily be transferred to the mating ferrule, which can cause physical damage to the fiber’s end face and further lead to information transmission failures. Hence, fiber optical connectors should be cleaned carefully. Secondly, how to clean fiber optical connectors? Generally, there are two ways to clean fiber optical connectors. One is dry cleaning, and the other is wet cleaning. Following is a brief introduction. Usually, dry cleaning is to use a reel-based cassette cleaner to wipe the connector end face against a dry cleaning cloth in one direction. For angled physical contact polished connectors, it’s essential to ensure the end face surface mates with the cleaning cloth. Generally, dry cleaning can remove airborne contamination. As for wet cleaning, first, wipe the end face against the wet area and then onto a dry area to clean potential residue from the end face. Wet cleaning is more aggressive than dry cleaning, and can remove both airborne contamination and light oil residue.