Install location + THHN color

[TheIglu]

With being assigned a guide finally (even though she's unresponsive), I figured I should get myself setup on a charging spot since I have the Rivian wall charger on order along with the truck.

200amp service in the house, with space on the panel. This is actually less amperage than my on-demand electric water heater that I installed myself (27Kwh), but that used 3 dual pole 40 amp breakers via 8/2 runs.

Installation location: I'm hoping I can squeeze it in between my two garage doors on the inside support post. Then I'll easily be able to charge while in either garage bay, or in front of either bay, or to the right of the right bay with the 25' cable. This is the spot (Can remove any/all things to fit it):

Given the 7.7" width of the Rivian Wall Charger, I'm thinking it should fit fine. But is the cable flexible enough to hang down while looped on the built in cable holder without sticking out the sides too far? The drywall portion of the area is exactly 12" wide.

Wire:

Never worked with thhn before, but I've done plenty of electrical in the past, including all of it for my large garage/great room addition. (and it passed electrical inspection)

For color of the wire, I was expecting to use two black and one green. That accurate?

What size and style conduit do you recommend?

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[Dark-Fx]

With being assigned a guide finally (even though she's unresponsive), I figured I should get myself setup on a charging spot since I have the Rivian wall charger on order along with the truck.

200amp service in the house, with space on the panel. This is actually less amperage than my on-demand electric water heater that I installed myself (27Kwh), but that used 3 dual pole 40 amp breakers via 8/2 runs.

Installation location: I'm hoping I can squeeze it in between my two garage doors on the inside support post. Then I'll easily be able to charge while in either garage bay, or in front of either bay, or to the right of the right bay with the 25' cable. This is the spot (Can remove any/all things to fit it):

Given the 7.7" width of the Rivian Wall Charger, I'm thinking it should fit fine. But is the cable flexible enough to hang down while looped on the built in cable holder without sticking out the sides too far? The drywall portion of the area is exactly 12" wide.

Wire:

Never worked with thhn before, but I've done plenty of electrical in the past, including all of it for my large garage/great room addition. (and it passed electrical inspection)

For color of the wire, I was expecting to use two black and one green. That accurate?

What size and style conduit do you recommend?

Depending on how far your run is, it might be easier to do with armored cable.

Two black and green is acceptable, but local code is ultimately going to dictate what you can and can't do. Wire fill should be okay with a 3/4" EMT conduit if you're running 6 awg wire.

 

[jjswan33]

For what it's worth I have my Chargepoint Home Flex installed in a similar location in my garage but wired to a Nema 14-50. I had extra 6/3 Romex around after I wired my hot tub. I also had some 1" metal conduit that the solar installers left behind that worked nicely but I was being cheap.

One word of caution is to check what studs if any you have in that space between the doors. With a hardwired charger I assume you will want to secure it to a stud.

 

[TheIglu]

Run is approx 50' including of cable.

I'll look into 6/2 MC.

 

[TheIglu]

That entire 12" span is wooden support post. No voids!

 

[electruck]

I suspect you're going to have battles trying to keep the charge cable loop away from the garage door tracks, especially if you plug the connector into the holster. For reference, the charge cable loop for my Chargepoint is about 20 inches coiled similarly to what is shown in jjswan33's picture or this Rivian picture of their charger - except that the ChargePoint has the holster on the front not the side so the cable loop is likely a little narrower than for the Rivian unit.

 

[TheIglu]

Good point on the holster.

I suppose I could just mount a standalone holster up higher than the charger in the center of the wall, then it would stick out vs sideways.

 

[timesinks]

For color of the wire, I was expecting to use two black and one green. That accurate?

What size and style conduit do you recommend?

It is more common to use Black, Red, and Green. Both hots can be the same color (just not green or white or solid with a white stripe), and while L1 vs L2 shouldn't matter in any material way, it's still nice to be able to tell which wire is which at both ends of the run.

I ran 1" ENT (in the wall) and Schedule 80 (exterior work) -- it made the pull (actually, I wound up pushing) easy (get a roll of friction tape!). Even though you can go straight into the Rivian enclosure, I'd go to a box (probably a 4-square) nearby and transition to a flexible conduit for the last couple feet. The whip may need to be 3/4" (check the knockout sizes). This will also give you some flexibility to switch to a different EVSE down the line, perhaps with a pre-installed whip (that's how our juiceboxes came). For your install, it'll depend on whether you need to get in/out of the wall from your panel, but if everything is on the surface, Schedule 40 PVC and/or flex will probably be your friends. Or, depending on your aesthetic goals, you may be able to find an appropriate length of 6/2 MC (Metal Clad cable + EGC), and skip pulling wires all together.

Wire size, if it's all THHN in conduit (no Romex), it'll be 6AWG for the hots, 8AWG for the equipment ground (unless the install instructions say otherwise) on a 60A breaker. You shouldn't need a GFCI breaker for NEC 2017 or 2020 (not required in 2017 and not in 2020 over 50A), though that could be subject to local variation.

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