Anyone DIYed a 240v outlet?

I was going to DIY my own EVSE. however, i wanted something with a warranty and UL approved in-case my car started smoking. mainly for insurance and liability reasons.

 

All you need is a dual 50A breaker that costs about $50 bucks, a location in the box that the breaker will fit. 6 gauge wire, 2 black for L1 & L2, 1 white for Neutral, and a green for ground. Some appropriate sized conduit, 3/4, maybe 1" in diameter, a receptacle and a box to put it in. The receptacle is a NEMA 14-50 with a NEMA 14-50P mating plug.

Now, DO NOT WIRE THIS HOT!!!! TURN OFF THE POWER, THIS STUFF COULD KILL YOU!!!


That had to be said, if this makes you uncomfortable, hire someone.
If you are competent, it's not hard. Step one, make sure you have room in you breaker box to electrically & physically accommodate a dual 50A breaker. Then, I like to start at the receptacle box and work towards the breaker box. So figure out the location of the box. mount it, start running conduit, it just screws together, or you could use "Flex", flexible conduit, easy to run! This procedure may involve drilling holes in studs, 2 X 4's, nailing, and common sense. If any of that causes discomfort, hire someone!
If not, let's proceed now that you have a continuous run of metal tube from breaker box to receptacle box. Now is the time to..............

.....KILL THE POWER AT THE MAIN BREAKER AT THE BREAKER BOX! Then confirm it's DEAD!

Depending on the physical run from power to socket, how many bends, this will either be a P.I.A., or easy! I have done both, I'm at ease with it! You will need a "Fish Tape" either fiberglass or metal, just kill that power box! At the Power box insert the end of that tape into the conduit you just ran and PUSH IT until the end pops out at the wall box you have mounted. Get your 4 wires together, make sure you place a small piece of tape at both ends of one (1) of the black wires. You will want to ID L1 from L2. Allow for at least 2 ft of wire at each end of the run for installation ease! If you have a 25 foot run thru the conduit, buy 29 ft.... I usually spool from boxes, but you can buy the amount you need in the colors needed. In that case lay the wire out in the sun for a bit, it will soften the jacket some, allowing for more flexibility in pulling the wire through the conduit! Securely tape the wires, all 4, to the end of the fish tape, use as little electrical tape as needed, I.E., you can't pull a ball of tape that's 1 1/8" through a 1" pipe! Common sense, have someone feed the wire into the pipe, and someone pull at the receiving end! You can do the pull in about 10 minutes, or ten hours... what would you rather do. If the conduit is large enough, and the wire is attached to the fish tape properly, 10 minutes and minimal sweat is the norm!

You can now wire it all up. At the receptacle, connect the the black wire with no marking tape to the L1 terminal on the socket, the other black wire with the tape marker goes to L2, the White to the Neutral terminal, and the Green to the Ground terminal. Screw the socket into the box, you are finished here. At the power box, run the wire in a similar fashion to the other wires, connect the Green to the Ground buss, the White to the Neutral buss, and the 2 Blacks to the breaker outs, L1 & L2. inspect work, clean up if necessary, put the cover back on the box.

Now you can turn the main power back on. You have completed the task at hand. Return to the socket, with a tester check that you have 240 VAC, plug in the EVSE, and charge your car.

This is kinda why electricians charge an arm and a leg, plus some are a little greedy, buy hey it's a business, yay capitalism!

You can do this yourself, but you have to know somewhat what you are doing! If any of the above installation makes you squeamish, it's OK, hire someone!

BTW, if anyone is looking for a great EVSE, I still have one for sale, it will provide up to 6.6 kW of charge, ready to use just roll it out to the car, plug it in and charge!!! PM me is interested!!

 

I DIY'ed my L2 240v outlet in my garage for a grand total of $27 in parts because I had a sub-panel with spare capacity less than a foot away from where I wanted to install the receptacle. Sometimes the little guys win!

I've had a clippercreek EVSE plugged into it for about 3 years with zero issues.

 

One more caution: while, yes, it is much better to flip off the main breaker in that panel than to try to work live ( !), still, do not let yourself think everything in the panel is safe even with that main breaker off.

It is very often just another large breaker of similar design to the rest in the panel, just being fed backwards, and you might be exposing its supply terminals as you remove the panel cover, and those are still 100% live no matter what you do (unless you've got a separate disconnect switch upstream of the panel, or call the utility to pop out the meter).

In principle, you're fine as long as you don't touch 'em with anything. In practice, you're going to be wrestling with some moderately hard-to-bend wires as you try to guide them through a box with a bunch of other wires already creatively bent through it, so take good long looks as you plan how you're snaking them through, and don't have your mind wander.

-Chap

 

i ran about 40' of 10-3 from a double 20a breaker in my basement panel to the garage. routing was the hardest part, the rest is easy. installed an outlet to match the evse plug.

 

@jerrymildred did his own installation but he is an electrician.

 

so am i, i just don't have a license.

 

It would be better to install the outlet in a separate outlet box. The space inside most load centers and panel boards is reserved for wire bending and must not be used for mounting other devices unless they are identified in the listing or instructions for the panel.

In general, just running wires through a wall, even for only a short distance, is prohibited by the electrical code. You need to use a recognized wiring method, like conduit or flexible conduit, as @KK6PD kindly suggests.

Also keep this in mind: if you own your own house, you may be allowed, under certain conditions, to do electrical work yourself without hiring a licensed contractor, but you must still follow the building laws, such as the California Electrical Code and local amendments. For new outlets or circuit breakers, it’s usually required to get an electrical permit from the city or county before starting and to have the work inspected after it’s done. Perhaps no one is likely to come to your home looking for violations, but if there were ever to be an incident, a violation discovered during the investigation could lead to civil or criminal liability.

 

I think @KK6PD covered it well. Also several other good comments, especially about safety.

If I read you right, the panel is on the outside of the wall and you want the outlet inside the garage. If I was doing it, I'd use EMT conduit for that and put in an LB for each 90 because #6 wire is pretty stiff. You're dealing with short spaces, so there's not much room for sweeps.

The two biggies are safety when installing and safety after it's done. Be sure it meets code and all connections are tight so you don't burn down the house. I always go back over the connections. Usually, on a breaker or other wire terminal, I can get another 1/4 turn on the screw a couple minutes after the original tightening.

 

I recommend using a breaker instead.

 

ROFLOL!! Fixed it. Thanks. Not as bad as the typo I once made on a motorcycle forum when I mentioned missing a shift. I neglected to include the letter, "f."

 

They probably figured you could not give one.

 

It's a type of conduit with a 90d angle and usually a removable (via screw/snaps) to "see inside".



I do doubt the need for a full on L2 EVSE for anything Toyota currently makes other than the old Rav4EVs. My Leaf is charged exclusively with the L1, just plugged into a medical grade 20A non-GFCI outlet. And I put a lot more miles on it than the average person drives.

I've put in lots of 240VAC outlets though for networking equipment.

 

@2k1Toaster pretty well explained it. But the main purpose is to make it easier/possible to pull wires when the conduit has too many turns. Rule of thumb would be 180 degrees (two 90s, four 45s, or any combination adding up to 180 degrees) is as much as you'll want to pull through. More than that and there's too much friction. The LB (or LR or LL) gives you an opening so you can pull from there.

"L," obviously is the shape. "LB" has the exit on the back side, "LR" has it on the right, and "LL" has it on the left.

 

L2 is important for those of us who want to get the most out of ev if we have the ability to come home and charge between trips.
we don't have the luxury of starting out the day with 60-100 ev miles.