All you need to Know about High Voltage Cable

If you want to transfer large amount of electricity, then high voltage cables are your safest bet. There are various forms of these cables, and all are used for different purposes depending upon voltage of electricity and the machines for which these are used. Three types of cables are: high, medium, and low voltage cables. Out of these, high voltage cables are used when the voltage is above 1000 V. These cables are heavily insulated to prevent any risks or hazards.

• AC power cables

These cables are used to transfer up to 2000 V of electricity. The composition of these cables includes cross section of cable, polyethylene insulation, and conductive material like aluminum or copper. These cables are highly flexible and work well both in low as well as high temperatures. The cable layers are fused together to avoid air seeping in, as this can cause electrical discharge, thereby damaging the insulation.

• HVDC cables

These are specialized cables that are designed for high voltage direct currents, and thus are called HVDC cables. If you have seen a power line, then it would be easy to understand, as a power line is also an HVDC cable. These cables are helpful in carrying large loads of electricity over longer distances. After reaching the transformer, their electricity is converted to AC form. Thereon it runs with lower voltage, and is transferred to businesses and homes.

• X-ray cables

These cables are used to link other high voltage cables with X ray machines. These are also used to connect high voltage cables to other scientific equipment that require higher loads of electricity. These are highly flexible cables. They have a braided cover of copper wires, and are insulated with rubber. These are fused to high voltage cable to provide safety, and to reduce the hazards of electric shocks.

All these cables are not for home use. These are used to connect high power sources to other devices or cables. If you want to buy these cables, make sure you go for the best quality, as bad cables can lead to dangerous situations.

Using Teflon wire for High Temperatures

Wire insulated with Teflon, or Teflon wire, is very useful. If you have been using PVC hook up wire to fight insulation melt downs, then you will be pleased to use Teflon. It cannot even get affected by a soldering iron. It has been used since the 1960’s due to its excellent performance in high temperature scenarios. Some companies also use it in classification of surface electronics.

Teflon wire has got copper strands, plated with sliver. The silver plating, along with Teflon insulation helps the wire to sustain extremely high temperatures. It is much better than basic hook up wire that suffers from melt downs in high temperatures. And due to its great heat withstanding ability, Teflon wire comes expensive. But in case your needs are about wiring places with extremely high temperatures, it will be a good investment in the long run.

This wire is made by following many methods. Two of the more common methods are wrapping and extrusion. Extrusion is the most common one and is done usually in the standard sizes of 24 AWG and 22 AWG. There are also some smaller sizes, where space is an important factor. The covering comes in fused and wrapped types. Teflon is also used as the outer jacket of co-axial cables.

Teflon wires also have great resistance to moisture, flame, damage from soldering iron, and thermal aging. Apart from that, the PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene) coating is able to resist many harsh chemicals, ozone, greases, and solvents.

You can install these wires at many places, as they are very easy to fix. It also has low degree of power loss, and thus is great for high frequency usage. Because these wires are small and slippery, they can be used almost anywhere.

PTFE or Extruded Teflon hook up wire has 3 types: Type E (most commonly used, and rated for 600 V), Type EE (having thicker Teflon jacket, and rated for 1000 V), and Type ET (having thin cover, and rated for 250 V). All 3 of them can be used for temperatures up to 200^o C

Basics of Bare Copper Wire

We all know that of all the metals used all around the planet, copper is the number one metal in terms of its usage. This is because it is the most versatile metal, and it touches the lives of people in one way or the other. It has a significant role to play in electrical engineering branch in various ways. It has great conductivity power, and thus is used a lot in making electrical wire. Although there are many other available metals as well, but none can beat the versatility of copper.

Copper wire is available in both forms- with and without insulation. It depends upon the engineers- whether they want insulation or not. Depending upon where they are using the wire, they decide if it should have insulation or not. Both insulated and bare copper wires are used in different applications. They have their use in different engineering segments.

The bare copper wire is also called ground wire, since it has no protection or insulation. This wire is generally used as the platform for various wires and cables.

This wire can come either in solid form, or in small AWG sizes, wrapped to make some specific gauge. Experts say that using small AWG sized wire allows more flexibility to the wire, and it bends easily around the corners. Although flexibility is a good thing, but not in all cases, so a solid form bare copper wire is preferred in many scenarios. For example, electrical contractors require stiff wires, so that the wire could be sent through a conduit for longer distances.

Green THHN wire is called ground wire, particularly when that wire has to be used outdoors. It is used for grounding purposes to safeguard people against hazards.

So this is where bare copper wire is used. But before you purchase this wire, you must make sure that the company you are buying it from is a good and trusted one. One simple solution is to look for this wire online. You can find many trusted online companies that can provide you the kind of bare copper wire you want.

Types of Insulation- Hook Up Wire

If you are using PVC hook up wire for electrical purposes, you should know about the insulation that you can use with this wire.

UL 1007

This wire is a form of hook up wire, which is particularly used for 300 V PVC cable that runs at about 0.016 inches of thickness of the insulation material. The popularity of the term UL grew a lot because the UL confirms that a wire can withstand the voltage and temperature that it claims to handle. Therefore, UL 1007 cable is endorsed by UL to work at 300 V, as it is mentioned on its specification sheet.

UL 1061

UL 1061 is another PVC hook up wire that is quite similar to UL 1007. It has 0.009 inches of thickness of insulation material. Like UL 1007, it also supports 300 V. It is generally used with the appliances that need an outlet with smaller diameter.

UL 1015

Yet another PVC hook up wire, the UL 1015 supports 600 V, as opposed to 300 V supported by UL 1007 and UL 1061. Since it supports higher voltage, it needs thicker insulation. The thickness of insulation material for this cable is 0.032 inches. The range of this wire is from 10 awg to 24 awg- but before the UL type could change.

Teflon

Teflon is another type of hook up wire. It supports insulation at high temperatures going up to 200 degree Celsius. Other PVC insulations work up to temperatures of 105 degree Celsius. Apart from the temperature difference, Teflon has copper plated with silver, and not tinned copper. This feature also helps it to sustain high temperatures.

These wires were some of the hook up wires that you could use while working on an electric application. Some of these cables cannot stand too much wear and tear, and so they are more suited for indoor works, while some cables are rough and tough, and so can be used outdoors as well as underground. Before you buy any type of wire, you must consult your electrician and take his opinion.

Save Your Romex Wire!

I’m sure most electrical contractors know about the fluctuation of copper pricing in the last few years which means they understand they need to keep all excess copper wire to scrap later on. Copper has been as low as .86 per pound and as high as 4.10 per pound so the stock market slogan “buy low, sell high” comes into play here.

Sometimes electrical contractors tell the homeowner to find the wire and cable they need on their own to save a few dollars on the cost of the installation. However, they may not know that they can sell the unused wire to a scrap yard for cash. You can call them and ask what the current copper price is and they’ll give you a little bit less than what you might see on the NYSE. Then they melt down the copper and sell it to copper wire manufacturers to make a profit.

Currently copper is about 3.30 per pound so if you have 50 ft of Romex 6/3 then you can probably get about $55.00. Romex 6 awg 3 conductor weighs about .357/foot and you can get about 3.00 per pound right now. So it adds up quicker than you think.

Be careful of those copper thieves out there though! We have another blog post with a video showing all the people stealing copper wire to scrap it for cash. They’re stealing it from live connections (some are getting electrocuted) and anywhere else they can find it because it’s worth so much right now and it’s so easy to scrap for cash.

PVC Jacket VS Rubber EPDM Insulation

Assume you need 4 wires to power your connection. Running each wire individually would be the old fashioned way but now manufacturers surround all 4 wires with a PVC or Rubber jacket for protection and ease of installation.

PVC Jacket

A PVC jacket is cheaper than rubber because it doesn’t offer the same amount of environmental or impact resistance that the inner wires may need. Romex, for instance, is an indoor cable but having an electrical cable with all the wires is much easier than running them individually. So is there a point to having an expensive rubber jacket on it? Definitely not.

Some PVC insulations and jackets such as MC cable can resist water, moisture, solvents, gas and oil but have very little impact resistance.

Rubber EPDM Jacket

You can find a rubber EPDM jacket on SOOW, extension cords and industrial power cable because these cables require more handling and outdoor use. These power cables resist water, moisture, gas, solvents and oil while maintaining plenty of protection to the inner wires.

Job sites with power tools will need to use SOOW cable and industrial job sites with use Type W and Type G-GC cables. Cables such as these are dragged across dirt, rocks, cement and much worse while also getting run over by trucks and stepped on each and every day. So an advertisement for power cables like this would probably look something like the “Ford Tough” commercials.

Manufacturers make electrical cables for basically any scenario possible. There always seems to be a slight variation that warrants the manufacture of a new cable that consumers will purchase. Be sure to discuss your application with us before buying it so that we have the chance to possibly find something better or cheaper that you may not know about. It’s our job and we do it well!

WesBell’s Electrical Wire and Cable Manufacturers

WesBell, like most distribution businesses, doesn’t like to keep all its eggs in one basket. We purchase our electrical wire and cable from many manufacturers and we start to realize who has the best price, product, delivery and customer service. After finding out the needs of our customers we choose the appropriate vendor that we feel will satisfy our customer the most.

Standard electrical wire products are kept in stock such as THHN wire, Romex, UF-B cable and some MC cables while large orders and special orders need to be separately ordered through the manufacturer. Those types of orders will be directly shipped to the customer in order to save time and freight charges.

For inquiries involving a special order WesBell exhausts all resources before getting back to the customer with the best options available. We give the best price which may or may not be an additional day or two delivery, then the best product. While there are better manufactured copper cables from certain vendors they always meet specification and get the job done. Some manufacturers have additional protection for longer life of the cable which some customers care about and some don’t. It’s the same mentality as buying Walmart brand VS brand name products because while Walmart is cheaper in the beginning you’ll probably have to replace it sooner which makes the life long cost much more.

Customer service to our customers is up to Wesbell and we make sure to keep great relationships with our customers by satisfying their every need. However it’s up to us to develop good relationships with our vendors as well so that we have more opportunity to get the best price, delivery and product possible. If we start eliminating vendors we have less opportunity to get orders from our customers.

Romex Cable Pricing

You might wonder how you can call 5 different wire and cable distributors and get a range of pricing for the same product. You’re expecting to get better pricing than Home Depot and Lowes right? Well sometimes that’s the case and sometimes it’s not for multiple reasons.

1. Copper

Copper is a volatile commodity traded on the stock market which changes the prices of electrical wire and cable drastically. Electronic cable and portable cord products have more engineering, jacket and materials in them to affect the price. Electrical wire and cable is mostly made with copper and a small amount of insulation to keep costs down as much as possible.

Copper can go up or down over 10% each day depending on how much play it gets and the supply and demand of the actual product. Normally when contractors call for pricing on large amounts it will come straight from the manufacturer because stocking that much copper can be fatal.

2. Time of Purchase

With copper going up and down daily it’s just as hard to time the purchase of inventory as it is the next big stock purchase. Your hope is to buy at the bottom and sell at the top but that scenario is usually unlikely. So assume you buy 50,000 feet of Romex 14/2 for your inventory at .15/ft and copper drops 10% over the next week. If a customer calls to purchase 10,000 feet you will mark up your .15/ft while other distributors who don’t have stock will mark up a price of .135/ft (10% less). Ideally if that distributor only wants to make 10% on the order they could sell it at your current cost.

On the flip side of that scenario the inventory could work in your advantage. Assume you bought the Romex 14/2 at .15/ft and copper went up 10%. You now have the upper hand to possibly make a little more than you planned because distributors without inventory must buy at a current price of .167/ft (10% higher).

3. Clout/Relationship with Manufacturer

Most people and businesses understand quantity breaks where 1 TV will cost $900 and 10 of the same TV’s might cost $850 each. The same works in the wire and cable industry but relationships are a big part as well because the manufacturers have competition too. They like to see that you trust in their product, price and customer service so much that you don’t call anyone else. That’s worth a better price to them and you can work together at creating new business and opportunities.

Those 3 points are fairly specific to the wire and cable industry but are also standard in the name of business itself. You shouldn’t take advantage of a good customer by saying; “They always buy from us anyways”. That’s a very poor look at customer service and treating you current customers worse than potential new customers is not a good idea.

Some companies offer deals only available for new customers! That’s an outrage! Treat your current customers better than your new customers because they’ve been giving you business for years and deserve that treatment. How would you feel if you’ve been buying TV’s for years from the same company at $850 each and then they offer the same TV to new customers only at $800 each? Probably like you’re worth nothing to them? Then don’t use this technique on your customers or they may feel the same way.

Using Romex Electrical Wire in Conduit

Looking for a cable for indoor conduit or duct that is ideal for indoor use and its ease of installation, than consider Romex® cable.

If your cable needs require outside use, a certain insulation and jacket encased wire is necessary to protect it from the elements. Generally, Romex® cable cannot be used in conduit or even used outdoors (due to the ground wire in the cable). However, Romex® that does not have a bare ground wire may be used both outdoors and in conduit. An example of is the dual rated THHN THWN wires inside the Romex® jacket. Use caution however as the jacket for this product is thin and may not provided the necessary protection.  

If, however, you require that ground wire for an outdoor application, you may want to consider the MC or UF-B cable. The MC cable has a THHN ground wire and the UF-B cable has a protective jacket to resist environmental conditions.   

If you have additional questions about these cables or any of your wire, cable or tubing needs, please contact WesBell Electronics at 800-334-8400.

Basic Types of Electrical Wire

There are many types of electrical wire for each possible condition the wire will be placed in. Some for indoor use only and some that can be buried directly in the earth and of course there’s a higher cost for the added options.

THHN Wire

THHN wire is the single copper hook up wire used alone and inside other electrical cables in the industry. THHN stands for Thermoplastic High Heat resistant Nylon jacket the the dual rated THHN/THWN wire adds in “Water Resistant”.

Romex Cable

Romex is an indoor only cable manufactured with THHN wires and a thin PVC jacket made solely for the ease of installation. Otherwise electrical contractors must run each THHN wire by itself or tape them together and attempt to run them as one. Romex cables were made to be cheaper because when adding all the bells and whistles you’ll end up with a much more expensive cable.

MC Cable

MC cable was manufactured because contractors wanted to run Romex cable outdoors and in conduit but couldn’t because the jacket was thin and the bare copper ground wire could be damaged. So Southwire decided to change the jacket slightly and also make the ground wire insulated, using a THHN wire instead of bare copper.

MC cable can now be used outdoors and in conduit. There is also a PVC jacketed MC cable which keeps it water tight for direct burial in the ground. Just ask for MC cable with PVC jacket.

UF-B Cable

UF-B cable stands for Underground Feeder with ground. This cable comes in the standard circuit sizes of 14 awg through 6 awg and come in 2 or 3 conductors plus a ground wire. The ground is bare copper but the UF-B jacket is very strong and can handle the underground abuse.

Now you know exactly which cable to use for each location you’re running it. The only thing left to do is call your electrician and ask him/her which size you need to power what you’re running current to.

Good luck with your search and if you can’t find it, call us to find it for you!