Motorized Wire Reel Carousel Case Study: Tucson Electric Power, Tucson, Arizona
How an electric utility put 36 wire bays of conductor and cable reels into one 21-foot Vidir Wire Carousel at its Irvington Road materials warehouse.
Customer
Tucson Electric Power
Location
4350 East Irvington Road, Tucson, AZ 85714 (Pima County)
Product
Vidir Wire Carousel, Model W45243-1240-06 — 12 carriers, 36 wire bays
Application
Motorized storage and measured payout of electrical wire and cable reels
About the project
Tucson Electric Power is the regulated electric utility serving Tucson and southern Arizona. Its materials operation at 4350 East Irvington Road in Tucson, Arizona is where line crews draw the conductor, secondary cable and building wire that keep distribution work moving — and wire is the hardest material in any utility storeroom to store well. Reels are heavy, round, impossible to stack and easy to lose track of once a partial reel goes back on a rack.
Material Handling USA supplied and installed one Vidir Wire Carousel — a motorized vertical carousel whose carriers are enclosed wire bays, Model W45243-1240-06 — at the Irvington Road facility. The machine stands 21’1" high on a footprint under nine feet wide, carries twelve carriers with 36 individual wire bays, and was ordered with a hanger meter slider, a wire spinner spool and extra bay rods so reels can be measured and paid out at the pick opening.
The install is one of the projects behind our vertical storage for electrical supply and wire distribution page and part of the Vidir vertical storage line. It is also the tallest wire carousel we have covered: at 21 feet the machine uses ceiling height that a wire rack simply cannot reach.
Project scope at a glance
The situation
A utility storeroom stocks wire by the reel, in dozens of sizes: primary conductor, secondary, triplex, grounding, control and building wire, each in more than one gauge. Stored conventionally, those reels end up in a line of floor racks or standing on end along a wall. The result is predictable — long runs of floor space consumed, partial reels buried behind full ones, and no reliable way to see what gauge is actually on hand before a crew shows up for it.
The handling problem is worse than the storage problem. A full reel of conductor is heavy and awkward, and lifting one onto a rack pin or rolling it across a floor is where storeroom injuries come from. Pulling a measured length usually means finding a stand, spinning the reel by hand, and measuring the wire on the floor afterwards.
A wire carousel resolves both at once. Every reel sits on its own rod in a labeled bay, the operator calls the carrier they want and the machine rotates it down to a single fixed opening at working height, and the wire pays out from the bay instead of being lifted out of it.
What Material Handling USA supplied
Material Handling USA supplied and installed one Vidir Wire Carousel, Model W45243-1240-06: a freestanding powered carousel 21’1" high, 8’11" wide and 7’3" deep, with twelve W45 wire-bay carriers, a 2" wire mesh front, a corrugated sheet metal back and a front control tower.
Each carrier is divided into three wire bays — 36 bays in total — measuring 26.25" wide by 32.5" high, sized for reels up to 30" in diameter and 24" wide. Reels mount on wire bay rods, and the machine shipped with twenty-four 0.75" standard-duty rods and forty-eight 1" heavy-duty rods, plus six extra rods ordered on the project. That rod mix is what lets the bay layout be re-cut later as the stocked wire list changes, without touching the machine.
Controls are deliberately simple: forward/reverse push-button rotation on a fixed-speed drive that moves carriers at up to 21 feet per minute, with a mushroom E-stop, a main power disconnect and a security keypad at the front control tower. Power is 208V, three-phase, 15 amp on an isolated circuit — roughed in by the site electrician before the crew arrives and hooked up at the front top right of the machine part-way through installation.
Two payout accessories were ordered with the machine. A hanger meter slider measures wire as it is drawn off at the opening. A wire spinner spool assembly rotates in the bay so cable unwinds under even tension. Both are cataloged on our vertical carousel accessories and options page.
Full product specifications
Below is the published product specification for the machine installed at Irvington Road. A carousel is a manufactured product, so these are the numbers used to confirm it would clear the ceiling, fit the bay and carry the reel weights.
| Specification | Value |
|---|---|
| Model | W45243-1240-06 |
| Product type | Wire Carousel (vertical carousel) |
| Overall height | 21′ 1″ |
| Overall width | 8′ 11″ |
| Overall depth | 7′ 3″ |
| Overall weight capacity | 13,000 lbs |
| Live load capacity | 11,827 lbs |
| Off-balance capacity | Up to 1,950 lbs |
| Carrier type | W45 wire bay |
| Total carriers | 12 |
| Total wire bays | 36 |
| Wire bay dimensions | 26.25″ W x 32.5″ H |
| Maximum spool diameter | 30″ (24″ maximum spool width) |
| Maximum weight per carrier | 1,000 lbs |
| Average capacity per carrier | 986 lbs |
| Standard-duty wire bay rods | (24) 0.75″ rods |
| Heavy-duty wire bay rods | (48) 1″ rods |
| Electrical | 208V, 3-phase, 15 amp (isolated circuit) |
| Controls | Forward/reverse push button, front control tower |
| Drive configuration | Fixed speed |
| Control options | Mushroom E-stop, main power disconnect, security keypad |
| Max. retrieval speed | 21 ft per minute |
| Guarding | Uprights, 2″ wire mesh front, corrugated sheet metal back |
| Foot plate dimensions | 10.5″ D x 6″ W x 0.375″ H |
| Concrete anchors | 5/8″ HILTI KB-TZ stud anchor |
| Shipping weight | 4,586 lbs |
| Finish | VM White Textured (300-1106), machine and carriers |
| Options supplied on this project | Hanger meter slider, wire spinner spool, six extra bay rods |
What the utility gained
Wire carousel or static reel rack?
| Vidir Wire Carousel (used here) | Static wire reel rack | |
|---|---|---|
| Floor footprint | One 8’11” x 7’3″ footprint | Runs along a wall plus a clear working aisle |
| Vertical use | Stores to 21’1″ and picks at one opening | Limited to safe manual reach |
| Bay count | 36 bays at 26.25″ x 32.5″ | As many positions as wall length allows |
| Reel handling | Reels stay on rods inside the machine | Manual lift on and off the rack |
| Payout | Meter slider and spinner spool at the opening | Reel stand, then measure by hand |
| Access control | Enclosed, keypad on the control tower | Open rack |
| Best for | Large stocked wire lists in a tight storeroom | A handful of reels and low turnover |
Our wire spool carousel vs. wire reel rack comparison covers the economics, and the vertical carousel vs. traditional storage page applies the same logic to parts and supplies.
How to specify a wire carousel
Start with the wire, not the machine. List every reel type you stock, the largest reel diameter and width, and the weight of a full reel. Those numbers set the bay size, the rod diameter and the carrier rating — here, 26.25" x 32.5" bays, reels to 30" diameter and 24" wide, 1,000 lbs per carrier and a mix of 0.75" and 1" rods.
Then check the building, because on a machine this tall the building decides the model. You need clear height above 21’1" with sprinkler and light fixtures accounted for, a level concrete floor that will take 5/8" stud anchors and the machine’s column loads, an unobstructed path to bring tower sections in, and 208V three-phase 15 amp power on an isolated circuit at the machine.
Installation is a factory crew job. The site supplies a forklift and an electric scissor lift for the duration of unloading and erection, has the wiring roughed in beforehand, and has an electrician available mid-installation for final hookup — our installation services page lists the full site checklist.
Finally, decide the payout hardware up front. Meter sliders, spinner spools, loading dollies and reel dispensers all mount to the same machine, but retro-fitting them later is a second freight bill. If your inventory is large cable drums rather than reels, an open-carrier machine may fit better — see the cable drum carousel we installed for an electrical wholesaler. For a production wire room, compare the eight-carrier wire carousel at an aerospace manufacturer. For taller or highly variable loads, compare with a vertical lift module; for budget ranges start with the vertical storage cost and pricing guide; and machine details for this platform live on the Vidir Wire Carousel page. We cover Arizona from our Phoenix vertical storage service area.
Frequently asked questions
What is a motorized wire reel carousel?
How many wire reels does this machine hold?
How much floor space does it use?
Can wire be measured as it comes off the reel?
What is a spinner spool?
What power does a wire carousel need?
What does the site have to provide for installation?
Do you supply wire carousels to electric utilities and contractors?
Wire reels taking over your storeroom floor?
Send us your reel list — largest diameter, reel widths and full-reel weights — plus your clear ceiling height, and we will size a Vidir Wire Carousel with the bay layout, payout hardware and installation scope your storeroom needs.