DLO Cable First Impressions

[MEXICOWANDERER]

DLO is a universal label for "Diesel Locomotive" electric cable. I am very picky about the cable I use. First of all it has to be true size wire not SAE sub-size. Rope stranded which means the threads are tufted and spiraled. More conductor per foot. And rope stranded fine wire is more flexible.

Tinned is nice but the ends meaning terminals have to be soldered and dual wall adhesive shrink tubing used to keep the tin from turning black and becoming useless.

The insulation is the kicker. Flexible wire usually means neoprene jacketing (Hypalon) and like welding cable, neoprene cuts through or wears through far too easily for my finicky taste.

The alternative was polyvinyl chloride. PVC. Fair cut resistance, but pretty stiff. If the jacket is thin, the hazards are obvious.

So Skycraft.com has DLO cable, for significantly less money than genuinedealz.com sells their "Boat Cable" for. Boat Cable is not as flexible as I would like and the insulation is marginal for abrasion and misuse.

I ordered 30 feet of 4AWG DLO wire.

DOWNSIDES (and they are not insignificant)
Available in any color as long as it's black
Minimum footage purchase required

The wire is imprinted along it's length with more standards and approvals than a person can shake stick at. SAE, ASTM, NEC, UL, CSA, and half a dozen more. The standards also include a 2,000 volt wet or dry rating.

From pure guesswork I would have to say the insulation is 2+ times as thick as what is found on regular premium cable. I decided to abuse it like a redheaded step child...

Stuck the end of the wire to a commercial pedestal grinder. The heavy grinder chews through regular insulation like it was warm butter. Not this stuff. It smoked and of course got badly eroded. But it was more like grinding hardwood than wire insulation. Then I torched it. Smoke and fumes, but no fire. No way will this stuff support a fire.

It takes more effort to cut than PVC and a lot more effort than neoprene but no sweat, it's not -that- much harder to strip.

Why am I even posting this?

Many folks want to run a charging cable lead from their pickup to a double socket then back to their trailer. It takes a considerable amount of wire and the wire should be some stout stuff. The DLO fills the bill to a "T"

If I remember correctly the 2/0 size stresses a 15 foot minimum purchase, making for a pair of 7-1/2' leads. This stuff is available up to sizes beyond 4/0, all the way down to 14 gauge. Any size DLO requires a varying minimum purchase.

But I have found the wire to re-locate the battery in my Tode. The 34 is going bye-bye and a 31 AGM is going into the trunk. I'll be damned if I am going to suffer a failed group 34 battery in Huehuetenango, Guatemala.

No, the 4 gauge is not going to be used. I am going to order 2/0 and run that to an insulated distribution block where the battery tray is. The starter demands 128 amperes at 30F cold start, so I'll fit a 150 ampere breaker. The DLO will be spiral wrapped in black nylon.

And yes, Landyacht, the 10 ohm 50 watt resistor gets fitted so I can Gerber spoon-feed the AGM with appropriate voltage. The 31 has four-times the capacity of the 34.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

• I have to keep in mind, Transpo products are the result of WAI China not Transpo Orlando FL.
• That DLO wire is so impressive I have adopted it replacing ANCOR or the wire furnished by genuinedealz. The source has a limited inventory and man I priced DLO through other sources and it is costly!
• Quickcable has the finest selection of battery boxes on the planet and they even have a battery venting kit with a killer decorative outside cap (white)complete with tubing, flanges, clamps, everything!
• I have a COSCO (not Costco) folding hand truck, and if I can find a source for those "stair climbing" wheels found on furniture dollies, I will adapt them to the folding "diablo (Spanish)"
• Everything is going to have a Quickcable battery box. They use the kind of unbreakable plastic that looks somewhat like plywood chip board. The 2-story will have meters and shunt sunk into the top along with coil-cord twanger connections
• Might as well go out in style
• I have gotten so weak with a bad disc and inoperable hand, that a stupid UL1-R garden tractor battery would be a challenge for me to handle
• Now you see why the 911 series voltage regulators are superior to the FR540-HD
• The 911's do not drift. 1% resistors throughout and they are double wattage rated. Even the zener is a 3-watt model, or shoot, it used to be
• But the insane-asylum grade voltage control of the OEM MoPar ECU regulator makes digital monitoring impossible
• The original voltmeter movement is so heavily dampened it is testimony that some folks think a solution to a problem is to cure the effects not the cause.

Landy, you still have my vote as the "can do, will do, did, and let's modify it and make it better" leader on this forum.

Meanwhile I keep searching for "THE" lowest-priced supplier of Meanwell power supplies. I seem to be using a lot of 36-volt models for my LED projects. A reasonably priced 500-watt model would be a blessing.

[landyacht318]

I will be putting a thicker wire from alternator (+) stud to common stud on battery switch, sounds like this DLO cable would fit the bill in the 2 awg size range or better.

Driving around for 10+ days now with my adjustable voltage regulator mod for the alternator has shown it does not really hold a rock steady voltage. hot idle speed, my Tach is showing as little as 500 rpms though it is computer controlled and the factory service manual says 650 at hot idle. If set at 14.4v cold, when at hot idle it can sag to 14.1. I can dial it up to get 14.4v at hot idle and then with some more rpms it goes to 14.7v and this is when the battery is full or can accept less than 20 amps to reach absorption voltage

Not a big deal, perhaps thicker cable would mitigate this somewhat.

Me wonders of the 100 watt 10 ohm resistor to trick the ECm would be better than the 50 watt. The SOB gets HOT! Hot enough for me to add a large finned heatsink.

You going for that Tall boy Lifeline GPL-30HT for the hotel Cpap Duty and moving your existing lifeline 105AH GPL-31t to Toad trunk duty?

That Toad alternator upto the task of a hungry Lifeline group31 over thick cabling?

My chrysler 50/120 alternator temp data, idling vs parked shows huge temperature rises in alternator parked and idling at 32 amps output total vs driving 25 to 40F making 55 amps output total.

The K type thermocouple mounted to my alternator has been, enlightening, though I want a better display.
Dang limited funds limiting data collection

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Thank your for righting my error Big KaTuna!

About 8 miles off of Las Peñas, there is "The Tuna Hole". Yellowfin. 210' depth.

In 2002 I just "Had To" bend Jesus' arm and have him take me and a hotel guest out to the hole.

We used live minnows. Let's call the man, "Harold". One second he was sitting in the bow, the next his big game rod was bent into a perfect "U". I reeled in.

Up and down, in and out the fish went. It actually pulled "la lancha" several hundred yards. He set his feet against the floorboards and fought that fish like a madman.

I lost track of the time. He switched gears on that reel like it was a big rig. He knew his stuff. The fish would have probably pulled me overboard or yanked the rod and reel out of my hands.

Jesús hanging bascula (scale) only went to 150kg and it pegged before the tail of the fish cleared the bottom of the boat.

The fish went to the smoker in Lazaro Cardenas, "Harold" handed Jesus $500 as a tip, and I learned that I should have never asked Jesus to take me to his Tuna hole. Not alone anyway. There are giant spires "peñas" all over the area so commercial trawlers keep their distance.

I never learned exactly how much that fish weighed. Jesus suggested it would have gone 180 kg. Both of them struggled to get the fish fish into the boat. I held onto the head with a gaff and they flopped the rest over the gunwale foot by foot. The stupid fish slapped me alongside my knee with its tail and had me on crutches for a week.

I wish I could get to Florida and root through those places. I am desperate for small "Euroterminals" and cannot seem to find any online. All Electronics seems to not have them.

My 50 watt LED chips arrived and the mercado here will be one of the 1st in the country to have LED lighting. The bill for 40 watt fluorescent tubes was killing them.

[Chris_Bryant]

Any problems with heat shrink because of the thicker insulation? I would imagine a size larger would be needed.

[Big_Katuna]

I think you meant skycraftsurplus.com. Skycraft.com is a hobby craft site or something.


If you ever get to Orlando, save half a day to walk around in electronic/mechanical heaven.

Affectionately called Skycrap by locals.

They buy scrap and excess inventory from area electronics and manufacturing by the ton and sell to the public.

I worked for Stromberg Carlson back in the 80s (elec tech) and when a product line was redesigned or end of lifed, employees werent allowed to buy it, they would sell it to Skycraft for 10 cents a pound.

IC's, end of reel wire, 19"rack, discreet components, power supplies, huge heat sinks from switching power supplies, stepper motors, 200A relays; it didn't matter.

Much of it military grade stuff.

We have Harris, Martin Marietta and many others.

Its a treasure trove for the tinkerer.

Teflon insulation is good stuff too. Hard to work with but wont melt.