CDR 2/0 AWG

[John Dirks Jr]

Is this a copper SEC?

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[Jim Katen]

Is this a copper SEC?

I don't know. I can't see enough of the label. What did the rest of it say?

- Jim Katen, Oregon

[John Dirks Jr]

I know, I should have gotten more of it, sorry.

Here is the inside shot. The neutral looks aluminum. Does that mean the hot condutcors are AL as well?

It has a 200amp main. I'm about ready to write it up for SEC and main breaker mismatch. I just want to make sure, if I can, that the SEC is AL and not CU.

So, the CDR does not identify the cable as copper, correct? If so, I'm starting to feel better.

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[Jim Katen]

I know, I should have gotten more of it, sorry.

Here is the inside shot. The neutral looks aluminum. Does that mean the hot condutcors are AL as well?

Yes. All of the conductors will be the same metal. At least, I've never seen a service cable with a combination of aluminum & copper conductors in it.

It has a 200amp main. I'm about ready to write it up for SEC and main breaker mismatch. I just want to make sure, if I can, that the SEC is AL and not CU.

If the neutral is AL, then the rest of the conductors will be too. But they might not all be the same size. It'll give the size on the outside of the jacket. The part you show in your picture says that the neutral is 2/0. The other conductors might be larger. They often are. Did you measure them?

So, the CDR does not identify the cable as copper, correct? If so, I'm starting to feel better.

No, CDR is an abbreviation for conductor. A typical SE cable might say, "2 CDR 4/0 AWG 1 CDR 2/0 AWG." The translation is, "2 conductors are 4/0 and 1 conductor is 2/0." The neutral, of course, will be the smaller one. Could that be what you saw?

- Jim Katen, Oregon

[John Dirks Jr]

There wasn't enough jacket exposed to get much more than I did.

In the panel, the conductors were pushed into the lugs so that the insulation was blocking ability to get a guage to the conductor.

How does one measure a conductor in this case?

[John Dirks Jr]

Thanks for the help Jim. I didn't realize there could be different sized conductors in the same jacket.

Since we can see the print on this jacket says 1 CDR 2/0 AWG, we can figure more than likely the rest would say 2 CDR 4/0 AWG.

I mean, why would it ever say, "1 CDR 2/0 AWG - 2 CDR 2/0 AWG"?

Does it ever say that?

[Jim Katen]

Thanks for the help Jim. I didn't realize there could be different sized conductors in the same jacket.

Since we can see the print on this jacket says 1 CDR 2/0 AWG, we can figure more than likely the rest would say 2 CDR 4/0 AWG.

I mean, why would it ever say, "1 CDR 2/0 AWG - 2 CDR 2/0 AWG"?

Does it ever say that?

Frankly, I've never noticed. It might, but I doubt it.

- Jim Katen, Oregon

[Richard Moore]

In that photo, the 2/0 is 67.4 mm2. You can just see the last digit of the other conductors ends in a 7...so we know it's different. If you google 4/0 4/0 2/0 cable you get all sorts of hits. I get nothing for 3/0 3/0 2/0. The 7 is probably 107 mm2 (see American wire guage - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_wire_gauge ) and my money is therefore on 4/0 for the the others.

[John Dirks Jr]

Thats a useful chart for the wire sizing. I'll keep that link.

I'm convinced the SEC is ok as is. 99.9% anyway.

[Kyle Kubs]

In that photo, the 2/0 is 67.4 mm2. You can just see the last digit of the other conductors ends in a 7...so we know it's different. If you google 4/0 4/0 2/0 cable you get all sorts of hits. I get nothing for 3/0 3/0 2/0. The 7 is probably 107 mm2 (see American wire guage - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_wire_gauge ) and my money is therefore on 4/0 for the the others.

In this case I'd say you are likely correct but be careful using the diameter of the conductor. There are SE cables that have the stranded conductors compressed to reduce their cross section. If you look at a cut section from the end, the material deforms into all the voids that are normally between the round strands. The outside diameter is now reduced but it retains it's 2/0, 4/0... rating.

[John Dirks Jr]

In that photo, the 2/0 is 67.4 mm2. You can just see the last digit of the other conductors ends in a 7...so we know it's different. If you google 4/0 4/0 2/0 cable you get all sorts of hits. I get nothing for 3/0 3/0 2/0. The 7 is probably 107 mm2 (see American wire guage - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_wire_gauge ) and my money is therefore on 4/0 for the the others.

In this case I'd say you are likely correct but be careful using the diameter of the conductor. There are SE cables that have the stranded conductors compressed to reduce their cross section. If you look at a cut section from the end, the material deforms into all the voids that are normally between the round strands. The outside diameter is now reduced but it retains it's 2/0, 4/0... rating.

This might be an example. It says "compact AL"

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[Richard Moore]

Kyle is, of course, correct when he states that the physical diameter might differ from one 4/0 to the next. However, compressed or not, the mm2 figure would remain the same as it represents the total cross-sectional area of the conducting material, and does not include the gaps between strands.

[Jim Katen]

In that photo, the 2/0 is 67.4 mm2. You can just see the last digit of the other conductors ends in a 7...so we know it's different. If you google 4/0 4/0 2/0 cable you get all sorts of hits. I get nothing for 3/0 3/0 2/0. The 7 is probably 107 mm2 (see American wire guage - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_wire_gauge ) and my money is therefore on 4/0 for the the others.

In this case I'd say you are likely correct but be careful using the diameter of the conductor. There are SE cables that have the stranded conductors compressed to reduce their cross section. If you look at a cut section from the end, the material deforms into all the voids that are normally between the round strands. The outside diameter is now reduced but it retains it's 2/0, 4/0... rating.

Yes. They're called compact strand conductors. In an SE cable like the one in John's picture you'll find that the outer braid wire strands are round in section, while the insulated wire strands are compacted and look sort of honeycomb shaped as you described. As a result, the 2/0 conductor will look only slightly smaller than the 4/0 conductors.

- Jim Katen, Oregon

[John Dirks Jr]

Well, there is more to correctly identifing SEC's than I thought.