Rivian home wall charger wiring question

[RivianDeac]

Electrical weekend warrior here. Quick wiring question.

I have 6/2 AWG direct bury to the Rivian wall charger with 60A double breaker at the service panel.

Black goes into L1 and white into L2 with middle ground wire. It seems to work fine. Both white and black were “hot” on voltage
tester.

I looked at my other charger installed by a licensed electrician and he has white into L1 and black into L2. It works too.

I am getting the sense it doesn't really matter but was hoping for confirmation from someone smarter than me.

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[godfodder0901]

They are interchangeable as far as function. Not sure if NEC requires a specific layout. @ajdelange or @timesinks may know better.

 

[timesinks]

Direct bury as in UF cable? UF has the same restriction in the code as Romex in terms of requiring that the ampacity be determined at 60°C. That means that you should not use a breaker larger than 55A with 6AWG UF cable -- and by the 80% rule, that would limit you to 44A not the 48A that the Rivian charger uses (you can use the dip switches and de-rate to 40A with a 50A breaker or go up to 4AWG wire).

With that out of the way, if you are using a cable with Black, White, and bare wires, take some red or black electrical tape to re-mark the white wire on both ends as "hot". The white-with-tape and black wire go on each of your breaker terminals and the L1/L2 (red and black) terminals on the wall unit. The bare wire goes to your ground bus bar in the panel and the ground terminal in the wall unit.

 

[CommodoreAmiga]

I agree with marking the white wire so it isn't confused for a neutral... But to answer your direct question re: L1 vs L2 -- it does not matter. They're both 120V relative to ground, and 180 degrees out of phase from each other.

 

[RivianDeac]

Thanks guys! Its folks like you that make this forum so great!

Yes it is UF-B 6/2 awg.

Also, it is an 80 ft run, about 50% underground. Does this change anything?

 

[ajdelange]

I agree with marking the white wire so it isn't confused for a neutral...

I do too but don't mark it with black tape. Mark it with red (at both ends) to insure that no one thinks it is the same phase as the black wire.

No, it doesn't matter which is which but in practice it seems the black phase goes to the left busbar on a right side up panel and the red to the right hand one.

 

[AdamsFan1983]

Direct bury as in UF cable? UF has the same restriction in the code as Romex in terms of requiring that the ampacity be determined at 60°C. That means that you should not use a breaker larger than 55A with 6AWG UF cable -- and by the 80% rule, that would limit you to 44A not the 48A that the Rivian charger uses (you can use the dip switches and de-rate to 40A with a 50A breaker or go up to 4AWG wire).

With that out of the way, if you are using a cable with Black, White, and bare wires, take some red or black electrical tape to re-mark the white wire on both ends as "hot". The white-with-tape and black wire go on each of your breaker terminals and the L1/L2 (red and black) terminals on the wall unit. The bare wire goes to your ground bus bar in the panel and the ground terminal in the wall unit.

EDITED FOR CLARITY:

Personally, I just don't like direct bury wire. Especially for underground, I run oversized conduit in case I need to pull something else. Definitely mark your neutral (WHITE WIRE) as hot.

 

[ajdelange]

Definitely mark your neutral as hot.

You don't have a neutral. You have two hots and earth. Do not connect the white wire to neutral at the panel. Mark it with red tape and connect it to one side of the breaker. At the EVSE end mark it with red tape and connect it to L2.

 

[RivianDeac]

EDITED FOR CLARITY:

Personally, I just don't like direct bury wire. Especially for underground, I run oversized conduit in case I need to pull something else. Definitely mark your neutral (WHITE WIRE) as hot.

Yeah cable just chilling under my wife’s garden didnt sit well with me. So in my typical extreme fashion I trenched 3 feet deep and ran the UF-B wire in PVC.

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