Locknetics DC-HD-16 16" Heavy Duty Door Cord with Aluminum Boxes

It's the protective conduit that carries wire from the frame across the hinge gap into the door leaf, so an electrified lock, electric strike-side device, or exit device gets power without loose wire flexing in the open air. Aluminum boxes land on the frame and the door face, and the armored loop between them takes the movement every time the door swings. If you're specifying an electrified mortise lock or an electrified exit device and haven't accounted for how power crosses to the door, this is the part that closes that gap.

The DC-HD-16 is a 16 inch cord. That length is the span between the frame box and the door box including the flex loop, so it covers a normal hinge-side transition on a swinging door. If your run needs more slack, the DC family is built in a range of lengths, so match the length to the distance between your two box locations rather than forcing this one.

Surface mounted cords like the DC-HD-16 mount to the face of the frame and the face of the door, so they need no mortising and can go onto an existing opening in the field. That is the retrofit answer. A concealed transfer such as the ABH PT200 Series is routed into the edge of the door and the frame rebate instead, so nothing shows when the door is closed, but it requires prep and is far easier to specify on new doors than to cut into hung ones. Exposed and serviceable versus hidden and prepped is the real trade.

Yes, and that is the main reason to reach for a surface door loop. The DC-HD-16 surface mounts a box to the frame and a box to the door and runs the wire between them, so the door leaf does not have to come off or be machined for an edge transfer. Compare that with a concealed unit like the ABH PT200 Series, which is routed into the door edge and frame. If the doors are already hung and finished, the surface cord is the practical route.

They solve the same wiring problem two different ways. The DC-HD-16 is a heavy duty door cord with aluminum boxes and a stainless steel cable, 16 inches long, that runs surface-mounted between the frame and the door as a protective conduit for wires feeding electrified locks. The ABH PT200 is a concealed power transfer with 18 AWG wiring, so the wire path is hidden inside the door and frame rather than exposed on the face. Choose the DC-HD-16 when the opening is already hung and you do not want to mortise the door edge and frame; choose a concealed unit like the PT200 when the wire run must not be visible.

Only if the opening suits a transfer rather than a cord. The ABH PT1000 Series is a power transfer rated 24VDC 1A, so the electrified device it feeds has to fall inside that rating. The DC-HD-16 is a 16 inch door cord with aluminum boxes and a stainless steel cable that acts as a protective conduit for the wire run from frame to door, so the current it carries is set by the wire you pull through it rather than by the cord itself. On a retrofit where the door and frame are already installed and undrilled, the door cord is the simpler path; where a rated, dedicated transfer is called out on the drawing, the PT1000 Series is the one to specify.

Two: 613 dark bronze and 630 satin stainless steel. On a building where the hinges and lock trim are 630 satin stainless, the 630 cord disappears into the opening; 613 dark bronze is the match for oil-rubbed and dark bronze hardware suites. Since the cord sits exposed on the hinge side at eye level, picking the one that matches the rest of the door hardware matters more here than on a concealed part.

The DC-HD-16 is the heavy duty version of the door cord, with a stainless steel cable and aluminum boxes rather than a light plastic loop, which is what makes it suitable for openings that cycle hard. Locknetics builds it as commercial hardware. On an exposed exterior or a lobby door where the loop can be grabbed or kicked, a concealed transfer like the ABH PT200 Series takes the abuse out of reach entirely, since nothing is exposed when the door is shut.

Same 16 inch heavy duty cord, same stainless steel cable and aluminum boxes. The -10B suffix simply calls out the 613 (10B) dark bronze finish. Plain DC-HD-16 is the base part number. So the only thing you are choosing between those two designations is finish, not construction or length.

Match the transfer to the load the lock draws. Locknetics publishes installation instructions for the DC-HD-16 door loop, and the wire count and gauge inside the cord is what determines how many devices you can carry across the opening, so size it against your lock, request-to-exit switch, and monitoring conductors together. Among comparable transfers, ABH rates its PT1000 Series at 24VDC 1A and runs 18 AWG wiring in the PT200 Series, which is the neighbourhood these devices operate in.

The DC-HD-16 is the one to use when finish has to match the rest of the exposed hardware, because it is a surface-mounted component that shows on the door and frame, and it comes in 613 dark bronze and 630 satin stainless steel. The ABH PT200 Series is a concealed power transfer, so it is hidden in the door edge once installed and finish is not part of the visual match. If the opening already has bronze hinges and lock trim and the wire run will be on the surface, the 613 dark bronze DC-HD-16 keeps the look consistent; if you would rather nothing show at all, a concealed transfer removes the finish question instead of answering it.

Count the conductors before you pick. The DC-HD-16 door cord uses aluminum boxes at each end and a stainless steel cable jacket over a 16 inch span, and it functions as a conduit, so multiple conductors for a lock plus a monitoring or request-to-exit circuit can share the same run. The ABH PT200 Series ships as a concealed power transfer with 18 AWG wiring, a defined conductor set built into the unit, so the wiring you get is what the transfer provides. Where the device needs power plus signal back to the panel, confirm the conductor count the transfer supplies; where you want to decide the conductors yourself, the door cord leaves that open.

One length will not. The DC-HD family is made in several lengths, and the right one depends on the distance between the frame box and the door box on each opening, which varies with hinge type, frame profile, and where the lock's wire entry sits. Standardize on the finish across the building (613 dark bronze or 630 satin stainless) and on the heavy duty aluminum-box construction, then let length follow each opening.