Wall charger installation at home - suggestions and recommendations? ⚡️⚡️

[Gshenderson]

I got 6/3 MC for ~$3.50/ft from my local electric supply house saved me a bunch over Amazon. To anyone looking at Romex or other cable keep in mind conduit costs are crazy right now so I don’t think there is a wiring option cheaper than MC

That’s a great price. I paid $85 at HomeDepot just for a 15’ piece of 6/3 Romex. 2’ of conduit, junction box and connector was another $15.

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[ajdelange]

Meh. code is optional with DIY

It sure as hell isn't in Virginia and I'll bet it isn't in Florida either. In Quebec they don't seem to have but the most cursory inspections so there perhaps. In Quebec it is the insurance company that tells you you must change this or add that.

Evergreen should research the requirements in his jurisdiction. That installation may
1)Require that the work be done a licensed electrician for installation
2)Require a permit (it's the addition of a new circuit to an existing panel
3)Require an inspection.

Some places do not require 1) but do require 2) and 3). If they do he should file for the permit, fix he code violations and call for an inspection. The situation he does NOT want to find himself in is that the box catches on fire follwed by a letter from his insurance company saying they couldn't find any record of the work being done under a required permit or of it being inspected so he isn't covered.

In any case he should, after a month or so, go back into the box and check the torque on his feed terminals. They can sometimes wiggle loose (expansion and contraction from thermal stress) to the point where a lot of heat is generated. The EVSE should have internal protections against that.

btw if we want to be code sticklers then that whip isn’t secured to code either.

No it isn't. Funny thing is I noticed that right away but missed the improper marking until someone mentioned it.

 

[Gshenderson]

Here’s my setup.

My main panel is directly below this in my basement and the sill plate and floor joists are exposed there, which made for a pretty straightforward install. Simply drilled a 1-1/4” hole through the sill plate from the ceiling of the basement utility room into the garage and fed 6/3 Romex through it and down into my panel where I attached it to a new 60 amp breaker. Where the wire came out into my garage, I then ran it into a conduit body junction box onto which I added a short piece of conduit with threaded fitting on one end that then ran into the bottom of the Rivian wall charger. Secured that with a nut onto the threaded end inside the charger and put a couple of wall anchors on the conduit to hold it all in place. Wired it into the charger, kicked on the breaker and voila - it worked.

Here’s the junction box I used. The rear stub simply went into the hole in the wall.

 

[ajdelange]

fed 6/3 Romex through it and down into my panel where I attached it to a new 60 amp breaker.

Problem there. No. 6 Romex won't do becuase of its temperature rating. Get that out of there and use 2 pieces (don't need the neutral) of No. 6 THNN (plus ground)

 

[IRun]

I used 6 AWG THNN for my 14-50 plug for our Tesla (incase we upgraded to wall connector), plug required a 4 wire connection (Black, White, Red and Green).

Is the Rivian wall charger only requiring 3?
I assume the only thing different I need to do is go with a 60 AMP breaker and grab the 6AWG THNN in White, Black and Green?

 

[BoltEVowner]

I used 6 AWG THNN for my 14-50 plug for our Tesla (incase we upgraded to wall connector), plug required a 4 wire connection (Black, White, Red and Green).

Is the Rivian wall charger only requiring 3?
I assume the only thing different I need to do is go with a 60 AMP breaker and grab the 6AWG THNN in White, Black and Green?

Correct, the Rivian wall charger needs 2 hots and a ground. I used THNN red, black, and green.

 

[ajdelange]

I used 6 AWG THNN for my 14-50 plug for our Tesla (incase we upgraded to wall connector), plug required a 4 wire connection (Black, White, Red and Green).

The 14-50R is a 4 pin receptacle so it makes sense, if you are installing one, to wire all four. But if you looked at the plug on a plug-in EVSE you would find the neutral (white, W) pin not wired. If you hard wired a 48A EVSE (e.g. Telsa HPWC) you would not connect the white wire. But I always run it. Who knows what you might want to put in that slot 20 years from know?

Is the Rivian wall charger only requiring 3?
I assume the only thing different I need to do is go with a 60 AMP breaker and grab the 6AWG THNN in White, Black and Green?

Yes. It does not use the white wire. Just Black, Red and Green.

 

[timesinks]

I did a write-up over here a couple months ago of my install. I used Juiceboxes which come with a pre-installed whip (and there are two load sharing on one circuit), so a few details are different compared to the Rivian wall charger. That said, there's still plenty of ideas in there that may help others decide what they want their charger install to look like.

 

[RBR1S]

Since we are on the topic *great reading and install info btw*

Does anyone have a mixed inside/outside install or advice on it.


I'll have my charger inside the garage (It's plug in using NEMA 14-50 plug that exists on the wall), but be charing outside. Does anyone have a good shielded cover for just the plug so I can leave it outside the garage and not have to open the door every time?

 

[timesinks]

Does anyone have a mixed inside/outside install or advice on it.

Something like this will probably work for you.

 

[RBR1S]

Something like this will probably work for you.

I was hoping for something with a plastic cover over it to shield it from the rain, etc. Something similar to this cover.

 

[timesinks]

I was hoping for something with a plastic cover over it to shield it from the rain, etc. Something similar to this cover.

We used a chargepoint connector for 5 years and just laid it on the pavement outside the garage door. It still works great.

If you look at all the outdoor-rated EVSEs (most of them), none of them have anything more than a holster similar to the one I linked for storing the connector when not in use. Keeping excessive rain from entering the connector is all that's needed. These things are built for outdoor use.

 

[ajdelange]

fed 6/3 Romex through it and down into my panel where I attached it to a new 60 amp breaker.

Wondering if you ever got that fixed.

 

[IRun]

The 14-50R is a 4 pin receptacle so it makes sense, if you are installing one, to wire all four. But if you looked at the plug on a plug-in EVSE you would find the neutral (white, W) pin not wired. If you hard wired a 48A EVSE (e.g. Telsa HPWC) you would not connect the white wire. But I always run it. Who knows what you might want to put in that slot 20 years from know?

Yes. It does not use the white wire. Just Black, Red and Green.

I may go the route of adding the 4th neutral wire to simplify switching the RIvian charger and current 14-50, breaker would be swapped as well. If I run the neutral wire for the Rivian charger, do I leave it unconnected in the panel and just leave it unstripped at both ends or does code usually require something more such as capping or taping off?

 

[ajdelange]

I may go the route of adding the 4th neutral wire to simplify switching the RIvian charger and current 14-50, breaker would be swapped as well. If I run the neutral wire for the Rivian charger, do I leave it unconnected in the panel and just leave it unstripped at both ends or does code usually require something more such as capping or taping off?

Good question. The electrician who pulled some 3 conductor (plus ground) asked me what to do about the neutral. I told him to land it at the panel end and put a wire nut over the other end. Can't see any inspector complaining about that.

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