Any Alternatives for 4/0 XLPE 600V INS?

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zazmat

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Good morning All,

I have a situation where field doesn't like to work with 600V 4/0, 19 strand XLPE since it's pretty stiff and terminating it in an AC panel is quite a hassel.

The purpose of this cable is to provide 200A 120/240 single phase service. The AC panel is located about 200 ft from the padmount XFMR.

Could you all advise if there are any better alternatives around?

Thanks in Advance
 
zazmat said:
. . . Could you all advise if there are any better alternatives around? . .
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Yep, wait for warmer weather. Also, I am assuming you are talking about USE cable since XLPE is not recognized by the NEC. I know the XHHW conductors are really stiff in cold weather and so are most. However, some of the rubber compounds seem to be a little softer. :smile:
 
Sorry Charlie!

I forgot to mention that this application is for a Utility substation which doesn't fall under the scope of NEC, however being that most of the folks here are expert in their field I figured I will check around if you all are aware of any 600V insulated 4/0 cable recognized by NEC which can also be used in my case.

Thanks

P.S. The conductor mentioned in my first post is Copper
 
If you want a flexible connection you could use a dual rated DLO/RHW, but it is expensive and requires terminations suitable for fine strand conductors.
 
See my first post. Also, I believe you can get 4/0 XLPE with 37 strands but you may have to purchase a lot more that you want. The lead time may be prohibitive as well but my first thought to wait for warmer weather is valid. You might check out RHW or RHW-2 for a reasonable rubber compound. I am thinking RHW-2 with 37 strands would be nice. :)
 
zazmat said:
Could you all advise if there are any better alternatives around?
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Short of getting the 37-strand XLPE (XHHW), RHW, RHW-2 that charlie mentioned, you could go for Okonite's Okoseal-NF, Class C stranding (37 strands)... but it's only rated THHN/THWN, i.e. 75?C for wet location, which is fine, but if you have to derate you may end up using larger gauge conductors.

Another option is to go with soft annealed copper. I believe most the stiffness experienced with the XLPE 19-strand that you mentioned is because it is hard-drawn copper. Doing only a minimal search I did not find single-conductor soft. Only found it as CLX (mentioned by gregwaits) and Type TC (Tray Cable) versions.
 
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Smart $ said:
. . . Another option is to go with soft annealed copper. . .
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Copper wire for general use is soft drawn. We use some hard drawn copper for stringing between poles because of its high tensile strength but would not use it for anything else. There is a huge difference between SD & HD copper wire.

Instead of straining so much on the conductor type and possibly running into long lead times, why not just wait for warmer weather? :smile:
 
zazmat said:
I have a situation where field doesn't like to work with 600V 4/0, 19 strand XLPE since it's pretty stiff and terminating it in an AC panel is quite a hassel.
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I can't help it, I have to say it.

Perhaps these field personal are better suited to telephone and data work. Power wiring can be strenuous. :roll:
 
charlie said:
Yep, wait for warmer weather.
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charlie said:
...but my first thought to wait for warmer weather is valid.
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charlie said:
...why not just wait for warmer weather?
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I see a pattern developing here. I can't quite put my finger on it though...I need a few more of charlie's posts to figure it out. :wink::D

As far as the OP, you can run parallel conductors to get smaller wire sizes. For 200 A you could run two sets of #2 AWG instead of the #4/0 AWG you are worried about.

Also, I have this crazy idea that maybe you could wait for warmer weather. It just popped into my head from out of the blue. :grin::grin:
 
iwire said:
I can't help it, I have to say it.

Perhaps these field personal are better suited to telephone and data work. Power wiring can be strenuous. :roll:
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This is my line of thinking also. Maybe send them some 350 or 500 kcmil until they stop whining then go back to 4/0 they will think 4/0 is a nothing to work with after that.
Or wait for warmer weather.:rolleyes:
 
charlie said:
Copper wire for general use is soft drawn.
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Afraid I can't agree with you 100%.

Take for instance Okonite's X-Olene Type XHHW-2. It's conductor is specified as "Bare, solid or stranded copper per ASTM B-3 or B-8."
  • B-3 is SOFT OR ANNEALED COPPER WIRE
  • B-8 is CONCENTRIC-LAY-STRANDED COPPER CONDUCTORS, HARD, MEDIUM-HARD OR SOFT

Aside from that, I've noticed many of the larger stranded conductors over the past decade now seem stiffer to bend. Some even seem like they are copper-plated spring steel ;). Granted I'm not as strong as I was in my prime... but I don't believe this stiffness is purely my imagination.
 
Interesting, I still have a hard time believing how much I learn from this forum. I had been taught that there were just two types and, since that is all we use, have always believed that there were only two. :)
 
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