AC and armoured cable buyers for surplus coils
Armoured cable with a bonding strip is still in more walls than the trade expects, particularly in buildings old enough to have been wired when BX was simply how branch circuits were run.
- 600 V branch-circuit cable
- Interlocked steel armour
- Bond strip and bushing
Type AC is the original flexible armoured cable: thermoplastic-insulated conductors inside an interlocked galvanised steel armour, with a bare aluminium bonding strip running the length of the cable in contact with that armour. The strip is the equipment grounding path, and it is the single detail that separates AC from MC when the print has worn off, the label went missing years ago and the coil has been sitting in a damp garage.
Sizes run small. AC cable is a branch-circuit product, made from 14 AWG up to 1 AWG, in two-, three- and four-conductor constructions, and the armour is steel rather than aluminium in the ordinary product. That makes a coil heavy for its ampacity, and it makes the condition of the armour the first question in any review, ahead of the copper inside and well ahead of whatever footage the seller quotes.
Most of what reaches a buying desk is demolition material or a contractor’s leftover from a renovation where the existing wiring was armoured and the new work is not. It is not a high-value lot in the way a feeder reel is, but it is a real one, and the sellers who do best with it are the ones who kept the coils dry and did not run a skid steer over the pallet.
What we buy in this family
Condition and documentation decide the basis, not the family alone. These are the forms this material usually arrives in.
- 14/2, 12/2 and 12/3 coils
- Three and four-conductor AC cable
- Demolition coils with clean armour
- Renovation leftovers in original boxes
- Coils with legible armour print
Separating AC from MC when the label is gone
Look inside the armour at the end. AC has a flat aluminium bond strip lying against the inside of the steel; MC generally does not, and carries an insulated grounding conductor among the circuit conductors instead. Look at the armour itself, because AC is steel and a magnet will find it, while a good deal of MC has aluminium armour that a magnet will not.
The print helps when it survives. Armour is stamped with the type and size at intervals, and the conductors inside carry their own markings on the insulation. A coil that has been cut at both ends still shows the construction at the cut, which is a two-minute inspection that prevents a whole pallet being misdescribed.
Rust, kinks and the condition ceiling on armoured cable
Steel armour rusts, and rust is the honest limit on this material. Light surface bloom on a coil that sat in a damp garage is one thing. Scale, pitting and armour gone soft at the bend is another, because the bonding path depends on metal-to-metal contact along the strip and the armour, and corrosion interferes with that contact.
Kinks are the second limit. An interlocked armour folded back on itself has opened the helix, and once the interlock is disturbed the armour is no longer a raceway. Coils pulled out of a wall during demolition usually show this at the ends. Short kinked tails can be cut off, and the rest of the coil remains usable.
How a small armoured lot is reviewed
AC moves in coils and short lengths, so the review is about count and construction rather than footage. A pallet of 12/2 is described by how many coils are full, how many are part-used and how many are scrap, and those three groups are worth different amounts. That count is the most useful thing a seller can put in an email.
For larger quantities the numbers still decide it. A hundred full coils of 12/2 from a demolition job is a different proposition from a hundred opened coils with fifteen feet in each, and only the seller knows which it is until somebody counts. Where the count is uncertain we say so in the terms rather than assume a flattering number.
Where this cable turns up in the two states
Older building stock is where AC lives. The Triad’s mill towns, the older neighbourhoods of Charlotte and Columbia, and the pre-war commercial blocks in Wilmington all contain armoured branch circuits, and a renovation there produces coils of it whether the contractor planned for that or not. Hospital and school work in the same cities adds smaller quantities alongside conduit and boxes.
The material is also a demolition product in the coastal counties, where storm-damaged buildings come down and the wiring comes out with the plaster. That cable has usually been wet, and wet steel armour is the case where the review ends quickly. Sellers in those markets do better separating the dry coils from the salvage before anybody drives out to look at the pile.
Coverage
North and South Carolina
Every city page carries the local industrial base and access notes. Start from a state hub if you are not sure which one applies.
If the material is in one of these states
AC and armoured cable questions
Is armoured cable still legal to install?
Type AC is a current wiring method and is still manufactured and listed. What has changed is how often it is specified, since MC and conduit are more common in new commercial work. Reusing salvaged cable is a different question from buying new, and an installer has to satisfy the authority having jurisdiction on the condition of anything removed from a building.
Why does the anti-short bushing matter to a buyer?
Because it is part of the listed installation and it is usually missing from salvaged cable. The bushing protects the conductor insulation where it leaves the armour, and a coil cut out of a wall has bare armour ends. A buyer is not buying bushings with the cable, but an accurate description notes that terminations will need them.
Can wet armoured cable be dried out and sold?
The conductors inside thermoplastic insulation may survive a wetting, but the steel armour does not recover. Once rust has gone through the galvanising, the bonding path and the physical protection are both compromised, and no amount of drying restores the zinc. Wet AC from a flood or a demolition is generally recovery material.
Do you buy AC mixed with MC on the same pallet?
We will review it, but we ask for the two to be counted separately, because they are different products with different buyers and different installation rules. A mixed pallet is priced as a mixed pallet. Two counts on one page cost the seller nothing and usually produce better terms than a single description covering both.
Send ac and armoured cable details
Construction, footage, condition and pickup city. Photographs can follow once a buyer has replied.
Or email saleselectricalbuyers@gmail.com
- No fee and no obligation to sell.
- Written lot terms before anything moves.
- Pickup scheduled around your access rules.