Rivian EVSE and 4 AWG

[EVerywhere]

I ran 4 AWG THHN in 1" metal conduit to my garage for a little future proofing. It did not cost that much more, but will let me run a dual charger, or a higher current charger down the road without having to pull new wire. I installed my Rivian charger this afternoon and had a pleasant surprise. The manual and online info states max 6 AWG for the input terminals, so I was expecting to have to splice 6 AWG to the 4 AWG. With a little effort I managed to get the 4 AWG THHN to seat fully in the two live terminals making for a much cleaner install. Just need something to charge now.

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[HimuraMOdo]

Wish I knew that when I ran the wire for the charger! I guess I went too much by the book.

 

[Atlrivian]

I had two different electricians tell me they would only do the 6 because of what the manual said. I'm very annoyed.

 

[Aroohoo]

Thanks for sharing, I might run 4ga then...

On a different note, its probably the angle of the camera, but the EVSE not looking level to the bench top is driving my OCD crazy

 

[HimuraMOdo]

Thanks for sharing, I might run 4ga then...

On a different note, its probably the angle of the camera, but the EVSE not looking level to the bench top is driving my OCD crazy

The bent conduit made me feel that instead.

 

[omamatt]

I believe my electrician ran 3AWG since I told him to wire like I was installing the 100A circuit Ford kept referring to in their pre-prod documentation - wanted to make sure I only had to run it all once.

 

[Joneholland]

That hose clamp is really how the strain relief for the charger cable is installed? Or was that a modification you did?

wow.

 

[CommodoreAmiga]

That hose clamp is really how the strain relief for the charger cable is installed? Or was that a modification you did?

That is not "factory".

 

[CommodoreAmiga]

The bent conduit made me feel that instead.

There's a nice cutout in the rear of the EVSE... I don't understand why more people aren't using it!

 

[HimuraMOdo]

There's a nice cutout in the rear of the EVSE... I don't understand why more people aren't using it!

Depending on where your wires are coming in from. If you panel is at the same floor and just on the other side of the wall, that would be a no brainer to use the rear cut out.
But in my case, the wire is coming from the subpanel in the basement and in order not to open up the drywall in the garage, the wire would need to come up from the bottom.

 

[diranged]

For what it's worth, I also did 4 AWG wire rather than 6.. I was also able to make it fit just fine, but as a backup you can always just cut a few of the individual strands off of the final inserted bundle if you need to.

4AWG will allow me to use an 80A circuit in the future when chargers/cars get to the point that it makes sense.

 

[EVerywhere]

Thanks for sharing, I might run 4ga then...

On a different note, its probably the angle of the camera, but the EVSE not looking level to the bench top is driving my OCD crazy

Its totally level, checked twice screwed into the stud to the right of the junction box — I’m OCD about that stuff too.

 

[EVerywhere]

There's a nice cutout in the rear of the EVSE... I don't understand why more people aren't using it!

I would have loved to use it, but that would have required opening a large hole in my living room wall and reaching behind a large slab of marble surrounding a fire place, and running 240v wiring close to a source of heat - absolutely not going there. There is a firebreak between the garage wall and living room which does not leave anything Iike the air gap required to safely bend 4 AWG in conduit, and no room to use an opening 90 degree junction box.

 

[EVerywhere]

For what it's worth, I also did 4 AWG wire rather than 6.. I was also able to make it fit just fine, but as a backup you can always just cut a few of the individual strands off of the final inserted bundle if you need to.

4AWG will allow me to use an 80A circuit in the future when chargers/cars get to the point that it makes sense.

You can do that and it will likely work, but you will fail inspection.

 

[EVerywhere]

That hose clamp is really how the strain relief for the charger cable is installed? Or was that a modification you did?

wow.

That is not "factory".

Here’s why: (i) The OD of 1” flexible metal conduit does not match the readily available clamp sizes, (ii) this clamp is very secure (screwed into the center of the stud) and critically is offset from the back wall sufficiently for the conduit to line up nicely with the knockout on the underside of the charger.

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