Quick triage: When splices start failing, work through these checks in order: (1) re-clean the fiber, (2) advance/replace the cleaver blade, (3) clean the v-grooves, (4) run arc calibration, (5) verify the splice program matches the fiber type, (6) inspect or replace. Quick triage: When splices start failing, work through these checks in order: (1) re-clean the fiber, (2) advance/replace the cleaver blade, (3) clean the v-grooves, (4) run arc calibration, (5) verify the splice program matches the fiber type, (6) inspect or replace. Cleaning Fiber Ends: Effective Techniques Against Contamination Even dust, ash, or oil at a microscopic level can greatly degrade the quality of the splice. Therefore, clean the fiber ends quickly and thoroughly. New, lint-free wipes soaked in 99%+ isopropyl alcohol are preferred for cleaning fiber. Fiber optic fusion splicers require precise operation. Fiber contamination Alignment error messages. 1 dB). The fusion splicer flags every kind of problem with its own visual signature, but the troubleshooting is the same: identify the defect, find the root cause, fix it, and re-splice. These precision tools align and fuse optical fibres together using an electric arc to form a single long fibre.