BICSI Installer 1 flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Article 800 (NEC)

NEC Article 800 covers communications circuits, including copper and optical fiber cabling, and addresses installation requirements such as cable listing and fire resistance.

TIA-568 commercial cabling standard

ANSI/TIA-568 specifies commercial building telecommunications cabling, including cable types, topology, maximum distances, and transmission performance for balanced twisted-pair and fiber.

TIA-569 pathways and spaces

ANSI/TIA-569 defines telecommunications pathways and spaces, such as conduit, cable tray, sleeves, and telecommunications rooms, used to route and house cabling.

TIA-606 administration standard

ANSI/TIA-606 provides requirements for labeling, records, and administration of telecommunications infrastructure so cables, pathways, and spaces can be uniquely identified.

TIA-607 bonding and grounding

ANSI/TIA-607 specifies telecommunications bonding and grounding, including the TMGB, TGB, bonding backbone, and connection to the building grounding electrode system.

Plenum cable (CMP)

CMP cable is listed for use in environmental air spaces, such as return-air plenums, and has low smoke and flame-spread characteristics required by NEC Article 800.

Horizontal channel length limit

A balanced twisted-pair horizontal channel is limited to 100 m (328 ft) total: up to 90 m (295 ft) of horizontal cable plus up to 10 m (33 ft) of patch cords.

OSHA 29 CFR 1926

OSHA 29 CFR 1926 contains safety and health regulations for construction, including fall protection, ladders, electrical safety, and excavation requirements.

Ladder 4-to-1 rule

For every 4 ft (1.2 m) of ladder height, the ladder base is placed 1 ft (0.3 m) from the vertical support, and it extends 3 ft above the landing.

GFCI on construction sites

OSHA requires ground-fault circuit interrupter protection for 120-volt, 15- and 20-ampere receptacles on construction sites that are not part of permanent wiring.

ANSI Z87.1 eye protection

ANSI Z87.1 is the standard for eye and face protection; safety glasses and goggles used on the job should be marked as meeting it.

Lockout/tagout (LOTO)

Lockout/tagout isolates hazardous energy before servicing equipment; OSHA 29 CFR 1910.147 requires locks, tags, and verification of de-energization.

Class C fire extinguisher

A Class C extinguisher is suitable for fires involving energized electrical equipment and uses a nonconductive extinguishing agent.

Category 6A cable

Category 6A balanced twisted-pair cable is characterized to 500 MHz and supports 10GBASE-T over a 100 m channel in commercial installations.

T568A wiring sequence

T568A assigns pins 1-2 to green, 3-6 to orange, 4-5 to blue, and 7-8 to brown; the same sequence must be used at both ends for a straight-through cord.

T568B wiring sequence

T568B assigns pins 1-2 to orange, 3-6 to green, 4-5 to blue, and 7-8 to brown; it is the other recognized eight-position modular wiring pattern.

8P8C modular connector

The 8P8C connector, commonly called RJ-45 in data cabling, has eight positions and eight contacts and terminates four-pair balanced twisted-pair cable.

OM3 multimode fiber

OM3 is a laser-optimized 50/125 µm multimode fiber designed for 10 Gb/s Ethernet over longer distances than OM2, using VCSEL sources.

75-ohm coaxial cable

75-ohm coaxial cable is used for video, CATV, and broadband signals; 50-ohm coax is used for RF and radio systems.

Solid vs stranded conductor

Solid conductors are used for permanent horizontal cable because they have lower attenuation; stranded conductors are used in patch cords because they are more flexible.

Conduit fill 40 percent

For three or more current-carrying conductors in a raceway, NEC Chapter 9 limits fill to 40 percent of the conduit interior cross-sectional area.

360-degree bend limit

NEC limits a conduit run to 360 degrees of total bends between pull points, such as boxes or conduit bodies, to permit pulling cable.

Firestop penetration requirement

NEC 300.21 requires fire-rated floor and wall penetrations to be sealed with listed firestop systems to maintain the fire-resistance rating.

Power separation distances

TIA-569 separation for unshielded twisted-pair from power lines is typically 2 in (50 mm) below 2 kVA, 4 in (100 mm) for 2-5 kVA, and 12 in (300 mm) above 5 kVA.

Horizontal cable support interval

TIA-569 generally requires horizontal cable to be supported at intervals not exceeding 5 ft (1.5 m), using J-hooks or other listed supports.

Cable bend radius rule

A common installation rule is a minimum bend radius of 4 times the cable outside diameter for four-pair UTP and 10 times for fiber under no load.

Permanent link test

A permanent link test measures the installed horizontal cable and connectors, excluding patch cords, and is limited to 90 m (295 ft).

Wire map test

Wire map verifies pin-to-pin continuity and identifies opens, shorts, crossed pairs, reversed pairs, and split pairs in twisted-pair cabling.

NEXT (near-end crosstalk)

NEXT measures signal coupling from one pair to another at the same end of the cable; it is a key test for twisted-pair link performance.

Return loss

Return loss measures reflected signal energy caused by impedance mismatches; poor return loss often indicates a bad connector, kink, or cable damage.

OLTS fiber testing

An optical loss test set uses a light source and power meter to measure insertion loss and verify polarity and continuity of a fiber link.

OTDR testing

An optical time-domain reflectometer locates fiber events such as splices, connectors, and breaks by measuring backscattered light versus distance.