Feeder cable: large conductors, real footage, documented ampacity
Feeder cable is where footage finally matters more than weight. One tagged reel of 500 kcmil can outweigh a storehouse of branch circuit wire and still be worth less than the reel standing next to it.
- 1/0 to 1000 kcmil
- Copper and aluminium
- Service and switchboard
Feeder conductors run from a service or a switchboard to a panel, a distribution block or a unit substation, and they are sized by ampacity rather than by convenience. That puts them at 1/0 and above in most industrial work, and up to 1000 kcmil and paralleled sets in a plant with a large service. Copper or aluminium, single conductor or multiconductor, in conduit, in tray or direct buried. The size range is set by the ampacity of the load, not by what happens to be on the shelf.
The insulations that matter are XHHW-2, RHW-2, USE-2 and, at medium voltage, shielded constructions in the same size range. Most feeder in a Carolinas plant is 600 V class with a 90 C rating, which is what lets the derating calculations work out. Aluminium dominates at the large end because the conductor is lighter and the terminations are listed for it. Everything else in the range is a smaller share of a plant than sellers expect.
A seller with feeder cable usually has it because a service was upsized, a switchboard was replaced, or a project was cancelled after the wire was delivered. The material is heavy, awkward to move and easy to damage, and the review focuses on length and on the condition of the jacket rather than on a per-pound number that means nothing without them. That history is worth asking about before the reels are moved.
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.
- 1/0 through 1000 kcmil single conductor
- Copper and aluminium feeders
- XHHW-2, RHW-2 and USE-2
- Multiconductor feeder and paralleled sets
- Service entrance and switchboard cable
- Full reels with footage records
- Matched short lengths in the same size
Size, footage and why a long reel changes the conversation
A reel of 750 kcmil is a lift, not a carry, and it is bought by someone who has a run to make. That buyer cares about one thing beyond size and insulation: how much is on the reel. A footage mark on the jacket, a tag with a length, or a manufacturer’s label all answer it. A bare flange answers nothing.
Short lengths in large sizes are the awkward middle. Sixteen feet of 500 kcmil is useful for a repair and almost worthless as a line item on its own. Where a lot holds several such lengths in one size, we treat them as a matched set. Where they are eight different sizes, they are recovery.
Copper or aluminium, and the termination question
The two metals are not interchangeable at the lug. Aluminium needs a listed aluminium or dual-rated connector, correct preparation and an antioxidant where the manufacturer requires it, and it creeps under thermal cycling in a way copper does not. A reel of aluminium feeder without a buyer who has the right lugs has a smaller market.
That does not make it less valuable, it makes it differently valuable. Aluminium conductor is lighter per amp of capacity and is priced against the aluminium market. We quote the two on their own markets and say which is which in the lot terms.
Handling damage, jacket condition and matched sets
Large conductor is stiff, and stiff cable gets dragged. A jacket abraded through to the insulation is a repair length; the same damage over six feet of a 500 kcmil reel usually means cutting the reel. Kinks in compact stranded aluminium are worse than in copper because the strands deform and do not recover. UV is the slow version of the same problem, and we describe the jacket as we find it.
Where this cable turns up in the two states
Large feeder shows up wherever a plant has a big service: Upstate automotive plants, Columbia manufacturing, paper and chemical sites, and the chilled water and switchgear rooms of Charlotte’s data halls south of the airport. A switchgear replacement in one of those buildings can leave several reels of 500 kcmil with the tags still tied to the flange.
Outside the plant fence, utility and co-op yards hold feeder class cable in the sizes that serve distribution substations, and demolition work on textile sites produces older RHW and rubber-insulated constructions in lengths that have to be judged before they are used. That older insulation is a different review from a modern XHHW-2 reel, and it is priced accordingly.
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
Feeder cable questions
Is feeder cable worth more as cable or as scrap?
As cable, when the footage and the size are documented. A tagged reel of 500 kcmil XHHW-2 is inventory and can go back into a service. The same conductor cut into fifteen-foot pieces is a weight question. The whole basis turns on whether the length is known and whether the jacket is intact enough to install.
Can I mix copper and aluminium feeders in one lot?
You can, but they are reviewed separately because the markets and the terminations are different. Aluminium is not copper and is not priced as copper. Keeping the two apart on the pallet, and marking which is which with a tag or a paint mark, saves time and produces a cleaner set of lot terms for everyone.
What is the largest feeder size you handle?
1000 kcmil single conductor is ordinary, and larger compact and segmental conductors exist. What limits handling is weight and bend radius rather than size, which is why a reel of large feeder needs a proper reel stand and a lift rather than two people and a pallet jack on a loading dock.
Do short feeder lengths have any use?
Sometimes, when they are matched sets of the same size and insulation with clean ends, because a contractor can use them for a short run or a repair. Loose singles in odd lengths are usually grouped and priced together as recovery. We will tell you which of the two a lot resembles after a photograph.
Send feeder 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.