Wall Charger 80A with 4 gage wiring.

[RedOctober82]

Hi, 3 weeks ago I purchased a 2014 P85 and it has dual chargers. I am now installing the tesla wall charger.

I have been charging with adapter from my old EVSE (had Nissan Leaf before).

I want to the full 80amps. The instructions call for 3gage wire, however, my local HD and Lowe's only carry 2 or 4 gage. 4 is not enough (for coninuous 80 amps) so I bought 2.

Now, 2gage is very thick and hard to work with in the tiny Tesla box. I am considering using the rear extended box but it has 4gage built in wired. Wich defeats the whole point of me buying the 2 gage wires.

Now to my question. Can this short 4gage run handle the 80amps? Are these Tesla OEM that are rated for it? All I see printed on them is 4 gage 600 volts.

My electrical experience: I have done since electricsl work on my house, basics stuff like running new outlets and new lights. And if course I installed my old hardwired EVSE. I also installed my new pool pump with be wiring from the sub panel and a high/low switch.

Thank you for your input.

-Dennis

 

[SDRick]

Great question. Very difficult to work with these large wires coming in from the back.
For what it is worth, I think I read here on the forum that the cable from the charger to the car is #6 or #8, so go figure.

Hopefully a real electrican will chime in.

 

[Rocky_H]

For what it is worth, I think I read here on the forum that the cable from the charger to the car is #6 or #8, so go figure.

You are referring to the wire thickness in the mobile charge cable. This is about the mounted wall connector, which has a much thicker cord. It's entirely unrelated.

 

[Rockster]

You should not use 4. You can get away with it, probably, but it's not rated for pulling 80 amps continuous. I was in the same boat. My wall chargers are flush mounted on drywall, with the wiring in conduits behind the wall. 2g was too thick to deal with. I hunted around and found that my Lowe's had 3 gauge, which was properly rated and was just user friendly enough to bend as was needed.

 

[SDRick]

You are referring to the wire thickness in the mobile charge cable. This is about the mounted wall connector, which has a much thicker cord. It's entirely unrelated.

I understand that this is about the wall-mounted charger. Perhaps when I read the spec someone was talking about the mobile charging cable instead of the wall mount.

I am curious though, what is the wire gauge from the wall charger to the car (or for that matter, the wire gauge from a supercharger to the car)?

 

[SSonnentag]

You need #3 wire and a 100A breaker.

 

[davewill]

You may have to use some conduit and enter from the top or bottom. I know that people DO succeed in using #2.

 

[Lloyd]

Ampacity Charts - CerroWire

 

[SSedan]

The internal wiring is not governed by the same regulations as in wall wiring.

 

[RedOctober82]

Thank you for the input.

I found 3 AWG wire at local contractor elected supply store. Now I'm charging at 80A, getting 57 miles per hour.

 

[sorka]

Just as long as it's copper THW, THWN,
SE, USE, XHHW then you're fine with #3. If it's anything else, then you're not. i.e. NM-B requires #1 for a 100 amp breaker.

 

[eprosenx]

Just as long as it's copper THW, THWN,
SE, USE, XHHW then you're fine with #3. If it's anything else, then you're not. i.e. NM-B requires #1 for a 100 amp breaker.

^---- Exactly!

Also note that the Wall Connector will only accept a max of #2 AWG, so #1 is not an option. Even at that, I have heard that landing #3 (or even worse #2) is REALLY difficult.

Oh, and they could use THHN wire too right? (as long as it did not need to be rated for wet locations) Most everything sold today is THHN/THWN-2 rated anyway right?

 

[davewill]

^---- Exactly!

Also note that the Wall Connector will only accept a max of #2 AWG, so #1 is not an option. Even at that, I have heard that landing #3 (or even worse #2) is REALLY difficult.

Oh, and they could use THHN wire too right? (as long as it did not need to be rated for wet locations) Most everything sold today is THHN/THWN-2 rated anyway right?

You could always use a junction box and pigtail #2 or #3 THHN into the actual wall connector from there.