Anyone ever see AL entrance cable conductor undersized AWG from the factory??

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oldsparky52 said:
One shows A-8000 and the other shows AA-8000, what's the difference?
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The only difference I could tell was that the neutral conductors of the AA-8000 were what looks to be (get this) #12 and #14 individual conductors that make up the neutral and the A-8000 were just #12s.
 
I should add the cable is 150A service entrance cable with CC conductors supposed to be 2/0.
I do count 19 strands in each. My distributor used to always carry Southwire and never an issue with that stuff, just beautiful to work with.
I do have to wonder if Kingwire is maybe a little...Chinese. ?
 
If you want a more exact comparison of the conductors in the cable, cut off one foot of the cable with careful tranverse cuts, strip off all the insulation, and use a sensitive scale to weigh the aluminum.

Cheers, Wayne
 
wwhitney said:
If you want a more exact comparison of the conductors in the cable, cut off one foot of the cable with careful tranverse cuts, strip off all the insulation, and use a sensitive scale to weigh the aluminum.

Cheers, Wayne
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Exactly, if one of the conductors originally in question is "compact conductor" and the other one is not, they will be different overall size, but will still have same cross sectional area of material which is what matters most. Like one person said maybe someone messed up and got one compact and one non compact conductor but they are right size otherwise.

The concentric neutral - those strands are not necessarily 12 AWG or 14 AWG, the net cross section very well is still what it says on the jacket, again all that should matter.

Not saying there isn't QC issues going on here.

I have had suppliers that provide "King Wire" and never had any issues with any of it so far. But it has mostly been single conductors that I have purchased, only multiwire assemblies was maybe URD type assemblies. Never seen King in a NM or a MC cable, and SE cable is nearly non existent in my world.
 
I gotta say, if you looked at the picture of both cables the neutral of the cable in question when twisted only yielded a diameter of 3/8" compared (see the tape measure below conductors) to the normal SEU which was more like 5/8"-3/4".

Jacket said 4/0 for neutral so 3/8" diameter just doesn't jive. I'd be hard pressed to say that's equivalent to 1/0.
 
mopowr steve said:
I gotta say, if you looked at the picture of both cables the neutral of the cable in question when twisted only yielded a diameter of 3/8" compared (see the tape measure below conductors) to the normal SEU which was more like 5/8"-3/4".

Jacket said 4/0 for neutral so 3/8" diameter just doesn't jive. I'd be hard pressed to say that's equivalent to 1/0.
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AND I note both your cables are Kingwire?
 
So I went to the local home warehouse supplier and bought some 2/0 SER by Southwire. First off the CC conductors appear the same size. Then, the neutral is also a 2/0 unlike kingwire which is a 1/0 or 1.. Now we know the neutral may be downsized ok, but I am just saying. Then, the outer jacket was like trying to cut through armor. More work on the install side, but it does seem to speak volumes about which is better.
Then the price, I was paying $1.64 a foot for kingwire, and the home you know where place price for southwire is $2.01. So a diff of 37 cents a foot. Figure I might need 30 feet typically, thats a grand whopping total difference of $11.10.

For $11.10, I will be heading to HD.

Moreover, instead of standing around my supplier for half an hour "waiting on the cut", the assistant at HD just walks over to thee reel, pulls out 30' on the floor which is already marked off in 5 foor increments and cuts it and price tags it. In fact he threw me a couple extra feet. Done deal.
 
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There is and will always be a difference from an Importer versus something domestic made. In our case, all of our AL is Compact Aluminum. I wont comment on the examples shown but will say you should not see concentric or compressed standing in the same cable assembly as compact. Well, at least not from a domestic manufacture of wire and cable that is. All bets are off on an importer that is possibly using Chinese Aluminum....Just Sayin.:sick:
 
MasterTheNEC said:
There is and will always be a difference from an Importer versus something domestic made. In our case, all of our AL is Compact Aluminum. I wont comment on the examples shown but will say you should not see concentric or compressed standing in the same cable assembly as compact. Well, at least not from a domestic manufacture of wire and cable that is. All bets are off on an importer that is possibly using Chinese Aluminum....Just Sayin.:sick:
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Those beautiful words: Made In The USA :happyyes::happyyes::thumbsup:
 
newservice said:
So I went to the local home warehouse supplier and bought some 2/0 SER by Southwire. First off the CC conductors appear the same size. Then, the neutral is also a 2/0 unlike kingwire which is a 1/0 or 1.. Now we know the neutral may be downsized ok, but I am just saying. Then, the outer jacket was like trying to cut through armor. More work on the install side, but it does seem to speak volumes about which is better.
Then the price, I was paying $1.64 a foot for kingwire, and the home you know where place price for southwire is $2.01. So a diff of 37 cents a foot. Figure I might need 30 feet typically, thats a grand whopping total difference of $11.10.

For $11.10, I will be heading to HD.

Moreover, instead of standing around my supplier for half an hour "waiting on the cut", the assistant at HD just walks over to thee reel, pulls out 30' on the floor which is already marked off in 5 foor increments and cuts it and price tags it. In fact he threw me a couple extra feet. Done deal.
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I call, text or email my salesman at the supply house. I often have additional items on my order. I don't wait around for them to cut wire or pull items off the shelf, I go to work and they bring it to my shop, the job, or even meet me at a place that is convenient for both me and the driver. Overall I save much more then $11.10 when you consider lost time to go pick up items at either place.
 
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