WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TO DISCUSS, SPECIFY, AND ORDER CLETOP PRODUCTS
- SERIES – The top level Cletop product which is used to clean fiber optic connectors is referred to as a Cletop Cassette Cleaner. There are two different series of Cletop Cassette Cleaner products.The older series is referred to simply as Cletop, Cletop Standard, Cletop Classic, or Cletop Original.
The newer series is designated the Cletop-S. It came on the market around the beginning of 2002. For a comparison of the two different series please visit Cletop vs Cletop-S. - TYPE – There are two types of Cletops, Type A and Type B. The Type has nothing to do with whether the Cassette Cleaner is a Cletop series or Cletop-S series. It has to do with the accessibility to the cleaning tape once the shutter is opened on the Cassette. On the Type A there are two vertical slots in the plastic template which covers the tape. On the Type B there is a rectangular 1/2 inch by 1 inch opening.
Type A | Type B | |||
- REPLACEMENT TAPE – The Cleaning Tape in both the Cletop Cassette and Cletop-S Cassette is replaceable. The Replacement Tape for the Cletop Cassette is referred to as a Replacement Reel and for the Cletop-S Cassette as a Replacement Cartridge. The Reels and Cartridges are not interchangeable.
REPLACEMENT REEL | REPLACEMENT CARTRIDGE | |||
- BLUE OR WHITE TAPE – There are two different color Replacement Tapes available for the Cletop and Cletop-S Cassette Cleaners. The Blue Tape is the original color tape and was the only tape available. It was used on connectors with 2.5mm diameter ferrules such as the FC, ST, and SC. With the introduction of the smaller 1.25mm diameter ferrules such as used in the LC connector and multifiber connectors such as the MPX, there was some concern the smaller geometry connectors might “snag” on the somewhat looser weave of the Blue Tape. Therefore, a smoother White Tape was developed. Over time, with very few exceptions, the looser weave of the Blue Tape turned out to not be a problem for the smaller geometry ferrules. Currently, the selection of Blue or White Tape is primarily user preference.
- SUMMARY – An example of specifying a Cassette Cleaner would be: “Cletop-S Type B with White Tape” or “Cletop Type A with Blue Tape”. An example of specifying Replacement Tape would be “Cletop-S Replacement Cartridge with White Tape” or Cletop Replacement Reel with Blue Tape”