Gen 3 Wall Connector Installation Advice

[ghsnick!]

I have two questions for everyone in here who is familiar with connecting the Gen 3 Wall Connector.

1. I had issues with the way my electrician connected the wires - he didn’t twist them - so all the strands weren’t making good contact. I took them out, re-twisted them and landed them better in the terminal. I didn’t have enough room to shorten wires and re-terminate. As you can see, the wires had impressions/use from backing out and retightening. I landed the terminals on the same spot of the used wire.

Are there any safety risks to doing this? Worried if the wire couldn’t handle the load due to structural integrity issues - what would happen?

2. If I ever needed to clip the wire and shorten it due to a bad connection, would I have any issues running it this way? As long as there wasn’t excess slack and it went straight to the connectors like this?

 

[Cosmacelf]

You’re getting way too OCD here. I am not a professional electrician, and someone who is should probably chime in since this gets into tradecraft, but as long as those screws are torqued in tightly (but not Mr. universe tight), then you should be fine.

 

[Sophias_dad]

Why did you re-post the exact same question you had two months ago?

Gen 3 Wall Connector Installation Advice

When I built my home I had the builder install a 50A GFCI Breaker and wiring to the outside for a Gen 3 Tesla Charger. Here’s a picture of the box and where I want the Tesla charger mounted. I opened the box and noticed it was a bit wet inside (sprinkler was hitting it, I fixed that) and...

teslamotorsclub.com

 

[terranx]

Connections look fine. My question would be why is it so dirty in there? To be that would suggest you're not getting a watertight seal, which may be problematic since it looks like your wall connector is mounted outdoors.

 

[jjrandorin]

Why did you re-post the exact same question you had two months ago?

Gen 3 Wall Connector Installation Advice

When I built my home I had the builder install a 50A GFCI Breaker and wiring to the outside for a Gen 3 Tesla Charger. Here’s a picture of the box and where I want the Tesla charger mounted. I opened the box and noticed it was a bit wet inside (sprinkler was hitting it, I fixed that) and...

teslamotorsclub.com

(moderator note)

Combined new thread with previously existing thread created by same OP on same topic. I only mention it like this because its mentioned by @Sophias_dad , and would look like they were referring to a thread the post was already in if I did not note that I combined them.

 

[SunnylandY]

Our electrician is doing the rough in for a wall connector to be installed at a later date, running 6/2 NM that will be sleeved in 3/4 conduit where it's exposed in the garage. The conduit will (eventually) enter through the bottom knockout of the wire box, but for now we're just going to terminate it with a junction box and cover with the wire left coiled up in the box. How much wire do we need extending beyond the end of the conduit? Is 12" enough? I know it's supposed to loop over and connect to the terminals from the top in this scenario.

 

[Sophias_dad]

Our electrician is doing the rough in for a wall connector to be installed at a later date, running 6/2 NM that will be sleeved in 3/4 conduit where it's exposed in the garage. The conduit will (eventually) enter through the bottom knockout of the wire box, but for now we're just going to terminate it with a junction box and cover with the wire left coiled up in the box. How much wire do we need extending beyond the end of the conduit? Is 12" enough? I know it's supposed to loop over and connect to the terminals from the top in this scenario.

I'd give it a solid 18" minimum.

 

[SunnylandY]

I'd give it a solid 18" minimum.

Thank you

 

[Rocky_H]

Our electrician is doing the rough in for a wall connector to be installed at a later date, running 6/2 NM

I'm just going to make a guess/assumption/warning:
1. Most new owners want to install wall connectors on the maximum charging level.

2. Far too many electricians make a basic error thinking that 6/2 NM-B can be used for a 60A circuit.

If both of those factors are trying to be applied together, they can't be. There is nothing wrong with using that cable, but you'd better make sure it is breakered as a 50A circuit, to supply 40A to the car.

 

[SunnylandY]

I'm just going to make a guess/assumption/warning:
1. Most new owners want to install wall connectors on the maximum charging level.

2. Far too many electricians make a basic error thinking that 6/2 NM-B can be used for a 60A circuit.

If both of those factors are trying to be applied together, they can't be. There is nothing wrong with using that cable, but you'd better make sure it is breakered as a 50A circuit, to supply 40A to the car.

Good catch; we're actually going to put in a 30A breaker and provision for 30A on account of the 100A incoming service. The #6 is in case the incoming service gets upgraded at some point. That probably won't happen in my lifetime, but electrician thought it was a minor difference in material cost.

 

[ghsnick!]

You’re getting way too OCD here. I am not a professional electrician, and someone who is should probably chime in since this gets into tradecraft, but as long as those screws are torqued in tightly (but not Mr. universe tight), then you should be fine.

My concern was re-tightening the wires in the same spot as they previously were. There wasn’t any excess wires so they looked a bit used/work since they were previously tightened in the same spot. I really hope that isn’t an issue.

Sorry to sound OCD, here’s my concern. And maybe @Sophias_dad can chime in or anyone else with electrical expertise.



Even though everything was working, my biggest issue with the install is they didn’t leave any slack wire and the previous electrician didn’t twist the wire before securing it, which left some strands not making a good connection.

I backed the wires out, twisted them, and re-terminated them. For 2 of the 3 wires, I was able to terminate it perfectly on the first attempt after backing the wires out. Not as concerned about those as they had slight wear from being tightened the first time.

For the middle black wire, I backed it out after it was originally installed and it looked like this.

It didn’t land perfectly when I went so do it, so it looked like this after I backed it out again (at this point it has been secured twice).

None of the wires broke off and I was able to re-twist and land it nicely on the third attempt.

Does anyone think there’s any risks with the wear on that copper? If the wear on the copper isn’t a fire risk or safety concern, I’ll leave it as is and won’t touch it.

Connections look fine. My question would be why is it so dirty in there? To be that would suggest you're not getting a watertight seal, which may be problematic since it looks like your wall connector is mounted outdoors.

That some excess dust from when they used tapcons to install into side stucco/CMU block.

 

[Sophias_dad]

I'd leave it as it is. If you take it apart again, strongly consider installing ferrules which would solve all of your concerns except the short wire.

 

[ghsnick!]

I'd leave it as it is. If you take it apart again, strongly consider installing ferrules which would solve all of your concerns except the short wire.

Well, I finally swapped out the wire going from my junction box to my Tesla charger…good thing I did, because as I loosened the old wires, a few copper wires broke off.

Here’s the final install on the charger. The green wire is the ground and is #10 THHN. The two black wires are #8 THHN. This is installed on a 50A Breaker.

I was super careful (turned off the 50A breaker) and made sure to carefully trim the wires and didn’t cut into any of the copper. It was only terminated one time. A ferrule would have probably been the best way to install, but the strands stayed together pretty well and it was torqued to 50lbs.

My only “issue” is there was a little excess wire sticking down and I was too afraid to try and back it out or cut it off. Here’s a level view, there’s a plastic wall/divider to ensure they don’t touch.

1. Thoughts feedback? Could the excess wire cause any issues?

2. Just to confirm, on 50A, #8THHN is properly rated for the L1 and L2/N? And #10THHN is properly rated for the ground?

3. Just to confirm, in the junction box, the white wire in the junction box stays capped off by itself. The green wire from the charger goes to the exposed copper wire. One black wire from the charger goes to the black wire…and the other black wire from the charger goes to the red wire, right? Attached is an image for reference.

Big thanks to everyone who contributed. Any feedback from @Sophias_dad , @Cosmacelf , @Rocky_H , @Rocket_man or anyone else who has feedback would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Cosmacelf]

Yes, that all looks good, and I’ll confirm your 1,2, 3 are correct. Excess wire is fine, as you note there is a divider there for that exact reason.

 

[ghsnick!]

Yes, that all looks good, and I’ll confirm your 1,2, 3 are correct. Excess wire is fine, as you note there is a divider there for that exact reason.

Thanks! Yes, the excess wire was my main concern and the potential for arcing...good thing the divider is there. Not to mention I believe I’d have trouble trying to get a pair of pliers in there to snip of the excess, glad to hear to safe to leave as is.

 

[Sophias_dad]

Thanks! Yes, the excess wire was my main concern and the potential for arcing...good thing the divider is there. Not to mention I believe I’d have trouble trying to get a pair of pliers in there to snip of the excess, glad to hear to safe to leave as is.

No arcing concern at all. A quick search suggests you need around 1kv per millimeter of air to initiate an arc. That's probably a 10kv gap.

 

[davewill]

The only thing with the excess length is the possibility of touching them accidentally, either with your hand or with a tool. I'd probably trim them as best as I could without removing them.

 

[Cosmacelf]

The only thing with the excess length is the possibility of touching them accidentally, either with your hand or with a tool. I'd probably trim them as best as I could without removing them.

Once the box is closed up, no chance of that happening.

 

[ghsnick!]

No arcing concern at all. A quick search suggests you need around 1kv per millimeter of air to initiate an arc. That's probably a 10kv gap.

The only thing with the excess length is the possibility of touching them accidentally, either with your hand or with a tool. I'd probably trim them as best as I could without removing them.

Once the box is closed up, no chance of that happening.

Well guys, I’m crazy. Opened it up, backed out the wires, trimmed off excess, secured them back on again and torqued them under the lug.

I have a few more questions…

1. How does this look?

2. The wire jacket is not touching the lug or in between the lug/terminal/etc in pictures 2 and 3…but if the wire jacket is slightly touching the silver part of the terminal, is that safe? I wasn’t sure if it could make contact.

3. Of course I turned on the charger and it went through its setup flashes then started flashing red. I couldn’t believe it and went to read the manual…just a consistent red flash. I turned the breaker off and back on and now it’s flashing green. Any idea why it was flashing red and got fixed by turning the breaker off and on?

 

[pdx_m3s]

Preface: I'm not an electrician.

Question: What about solving the stranded wire with a screw terminal issue by crimping on a ferrule lead, or a copper splice cap? Not sure if code-compliant.