Guide ยท Reel tags
How to read a cable reel tag.
The tag wired to the flange is the only document that travels with the cable. Read every field and a buyer can price a reel from a photograph.
Call or text the buying desk954-740-1983
Wired toThe flange, at the mill
Decides mostFootage and conductor
Also on itVoltage class, insulation
Often absentEmpty reel weight
Get a buy quote
Send the reel list. A buyer reads it.
Six details are enough to start. Tags and photos can follow by text or email once a buyer has looked at the basics.
- A buyer reviews the lot: construction, footage and condition, not only metal weight
- Copper and aluminium, 600 V building wire through 345 kV cable
- Full reels, partial reels, cut lengths, pallets and truckloads
- No fee, no obligation, and no automatic pickup
Reel list · Reel Tags
Reviewed by a buyerTell us what you have and where it sits. Nothing is moved until written lot terms are agreed.
01
Field by field
Work down the tag in the order it is printed. The conductor line gives size, strand class and material, and 4/0 nineteen-strand copper is a different product from 4/0 compact aluminum. The insulation and jacket line gives the type, and the type gives the application. The voltage line gives the class. The length line gives footage at manufacture, which is the number every later estimate is built on.
- Manufacturer and part or catalog number
- Conductor size, strand and material
- Insulation and jacket type, with the ratings printed alongside
- Voltage class, 600 V or 2 kV and above
- Length in feet, with gross, tare and net weight where printed
02
What a tag cannot tell you
A tag describes the reel as it left the mill. It does not know about the forty feet cut off on site, the water that sat in the wraps for a summer, or the forklift that took a flange off. Any tag reading has to be paired with a look at the reel itself. A tag rewritten by hand is not worthless, but the handwritten part is a claim, not a record.
03
Re-tagged, over-labelled and unlabelled reels
Reels get re-tagged for ordinary reasons: a length was cut and someone updated the footage, a supplier relabelled stock, a manufacturer changed name. The problem is only where the second label contradicts the first. Peel back what you can without destroying the tag, photograph both and describe the discrepancy. An honest oddity is easier to price than a tidy fiction. The usual culprits are a sticker over the legend and a footage correction with no initials beside it.
- A second label stuck over the first
- A handwritten footage correction
- A supplier or distributor sticker
- A tag wired to the wrong reel
04
Photographing a tag so it can be read
Fill the frame with the tag, put the light across it rather than behind it, and take a second frame at an angle if the tag is creased or dirty. Then take one wider shot showing the tag still in place on the flange, so a buyer can see it belongs to that reel. Two frames per reel is enough, and they are worth more than a video panning across a rack.
| Field | The form it takes | What it settles |
|---|---|---|
| Conductor | 4/0 AWG, 19-strand, copper | Metal and size class |
| Insulation | THHN/THWN-2, 600 V | Application and voltage |
| Length | 1,000 ft at manufacture | Starting point for footage |
| Weights | Gross, tare and net | Remaining footage estimate |
| Standard | Listing mark and print legend | Whether the print matches |
Questions
Answers before you send anything.
If your question is not here, call the desk. A buyer answers, not a call centre.
The tag is torn. Is the reel still worth sending?
Yes. Photograph what survives and add a clean shot of the jacket print and the conductor end. Between the surviving fields and the print, a buyer can usually reconstruct the product. Say which part is missing rather than leaving it to be discovered later.
Does the gross weight on the tag mean anything now?
It meant something at the mill. The reel has since been moved, cut and possibly wet, so the current weight is what counts. Use the tag for the tare and the footage, then weigh the reel if you want an estimate that is close.
What if the tag belongs to a different reel?
It happens, usually when reels are re-banded in a yard. Check that the size and print on the reel match the tag. Where they do not, the jacket print wins, because it is printed on the product itself and cannot be swapped.
Is a supplier label as good as a mill tag?
It is a different document. A supplier label says what was ordered and shipped, which is useful. A mill tag says what was manufactured. Where the two agree the reel is easy to price; where they do not, the mill tag is the one a buyer will believe.
Keep reading
Related pages
No fee · no obligation
You have the cable. We have a scale and a check.
Send the reel list, the tags or a photograph of the pallet. A buyer comes back with what the lot is worth and how pickup would work, before anything is moved.
954-740-1983 Call or text
- Reel tags, or the print on the jacket
- Reel count and footage, even roughly
- Where it sits and what can reach it
- Whether the cable is still energised