We buy surplus DLO cable

DLO is the flexible end of the power cable range. It runs at 2 kV, from 313 kcmil through 1,000 kcmil, in extra-flexible stranded copper with a heavy duty jacket. Most of it comes from generator work, oilfield service and temporary power, where the cable has to bend around equipment without fighting back.

The construction is the point. Hundreds of fine strands make the cable flexible, and that same construction makes the recovery read different from a stiff conductor of the same size. Jacket condition matters just as much, because a DLO lead takes abuse that fixed cable never sees.

313 through 1,000 kcmil and what the sizes are for

The common DLO sizes start at 313 kcmil and run through 373, 444, 535, 646, 777 and 1,000 kcmil. A 4/0 equivalent sits at the small end of the range. The larger sizes appear on generator leads and on rig service where a single run carries a lot of current.

Size is read from the print on the jacket or from the tag, and the two do not always agree after a respool. Where neither is readable, the conductor diameter is measured. Getting the size right matters, since the step between two DLO sizes is large.

Fine strand, flexibility and the recovery read

A fine-strand conductor is made to be flexed. In a stripping or chopping line the same property means the strands behave differently from coarse building wire, and the yield from a given length is not what a buyer would assume from a stiff conductor. That is why DLO is read as its own category.

Flexibility is also the reuse test. A lead that has stiffened, lost strands at a lug, or taken a permanent kink has lost the property it was bought for. A coil that still bends cleanly through its length is the material another rig or generator job wants.

Rig moves, decommissioning and lugs in the same lot

DLO comes out of service in batches. A rig move clears the cable rack, a plant decommissioning takes the generator leads out of a building, and a temporary power job ends with the leads coiled in a trailer. Those batches often include lugs, camlocks and spliced tails.

Keep the lugs on if they are crimped well, since a finished lead with terminations is more useful than a bare end. Tie the coils, write the size on a tag, and note any splice. A spliced length is read as two shorter lengths, which is worth knowing before the review.

Temporary power is constant in Austin. Events, construction sites and the film and event work around the city all run generators with flexible leads, and the rental yards that support them clear out cable at the end of a season. Downtown sites with no permanent service rely on the same material.

West and south of the city, the oilfield service companies staging in Caldwell and Bastrop counties run DLO on rig power and on pump skids. We cover both, plus the plant decommissioning work in Taylor, where generator leads come out in long lengths with lugs still on.