The CellVFL – Cell Phone Fiber Visual Fault Locator

So occasionally I’ll hit a site where the documentation sucks or is just plain nonexistent. I’ll walk up to the fiber panel and I won’t have a clue which port is which. One of the quickest ways to verify fiber is via a VFL. Basically, you shine light down one end of the fiber, then look for the light in the panel.

They make cute little special purpose devices, but that means you have to keep one in your bag, and make sure the batteries aren’t dead…which mine always seem to be.

One thing of mine that is always juiced up is my cell phone, so why not utilize the crazy bright LED every phone has these days?

I painted it with acetone just to strengthen the layers

LED on my cell

Using a chip clip to hold it on the phone

Is that LED bright or what

LC connector squeezes right in

It’s pretty easy to pick out which fiber is which, right

So the CellVFL just clips right on the phone, then you simply slide your LC fiber into it…annnnnd that’s about it.

Grab the STL here and print your own!

Let me know if you end up printing/using it(comments/questions always welcome).