Welcome to Tesla Motors Club
Discuss Tesla's Model S, Model 3, Model X, Model Y, Cybertruck, Roadster and More.
Register

Wall Connector Installation Report - 60a using EMT - Parts List

This site may earn commission on affiliate links.
Eprosenx, very nice job! I did a very similar self-install of a NEMA 14-50 receptacle in my garage. Successful DIY projects deliver wonderful pride.

Are you concerned about liability? If there was a fire, could the owner sue you for operating without a license and obtaining a permit? When a large amount of money is involved, friends can turn into enemies. In most states, not sure on yours, owners are allowed to do electrical work on their own property.

Would you do it again for someone else? I struggle with that question.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: P85_DA
I helped a friend install a Wall Connector tonight for his soon-to-arrive Model 3. I thought others might find the pictures and parts list useful! (and I am pretty pleased with how the conduit bending came out - five bends in one stick of EMT!)

Parts list (all purchased at Home Depot locally other than the Wall Connector):
  • Wall Connector, 8.5 foot cord.
  • 10' stick of 3/4 inch EMT conduit - 786692020020
  • 2x EMT "Set screw connector" (aka the conduit ends with threaded fittings for going into the electrical box/Wall Connector) - 051411262723
  • 1" to 3/4 in Rigid reducing bushing ("Rigid" because it is threaded - this part is tiny and you can't see it in any of my pictures) - 051411913328
  • 60a Square D Homeline double pole breaker - 047569062803
  • 3/4 in EMT half saddle clips - 051411261528
  • Decking screws (used to screw the conduit to the wall - they were what I had bouncing around my garage)
  • 16 feet 6 AWG Black, 6 AWG Red, and 10 AWG Green (had way more than needed)
Parts were under $70 (plus the Wall Connector), and I bought an extra stick of EMT just in case I made a mistake, plus I had a lot of extra leftover connectors.

The final product. This is the Wall Connector with the 8.5 foot cord. We mounted it so the cable does not drag on the ground.
View attachment 416520

What we started with. The panel was extremely clean and very well done. The house is only a few years old.
View attachment 416521

Wired for a range, but it has a gas stove, so fairly limited 240v loads. (A number of multi wire branch circuits though which is what all the 20a handle tied breakers are)
View attachment 416522

This was the starting point prior to cutting the sheetrock.
View attachment 416523

I helped on the conduit bending part. YouTube is your friend!
View attachment 416524

Even got the offset bend in there to enter the bottom of the Wall Connector. Note he used 3/4ths inch EMT conduit but the Wall Connector has a 1” port, so we used a 1” to 3/4 in Rigid (threaded) reducing bushing before the 3/4 in threaded coupler.
View attachment 416525

6 awg conductors. Properly stripped (Tesla has no strip gauge on the device which is dumb and it is not in the manual and they mounted it so you can’t see what you are doing - really stupid). 10 awg ground.
View attachment 416526

Had to (or chose to) re-arrange the entire panel to have it laid out the way he wanted. Left a spot to add a generator back feed breaker with interlock kit in the bottom left.
View attachment 416529

It works! Close to the substation. Good voltage.
View attachment 416527

A reminder: Electricians (even really good ones like the ones that did this house) make mistakes. Check out the end of the wire that my friend had melt the insulation off shortly after he bought the house. This wire was not screwed into the breaker at all. Just sitting there barely touching. He found the issue years ago and fixed it by simply tightening down the screw, but while we had the entire panel powered down he cut off the end and stripped it back to where the insulation was still good.

View attachment 416528
Oh, and in that last post the final picture did not actually get inserted into the post. If you click on the attached file in the last post you can see how we used LFMC. Massive overkill, but I like watertight conduit when exiting the outside wall (though the local inspector I talked to about my install said they were fine with just romex for penetrations like that). Probably $10 extra in parts for the LFMC and couplers. <shrug>

We also caulked the crud out of the hole. What else was I going to do with a whole tube of sealant. ;-)
 
A great question! I was thinking about the same thing last night. Several reasons:
  • I used #6 gauge THHN which can be used at the 75c rating since it is in conduit. If I used Romex (NM cable) I would have had to use #4 since it can only be used at the 60c rating. That is a pain in the butt to deal with the thicker cable.
  • I did not really want to remove a TON of drywall, also, there is a lot of wood in that wall since it supports some big beams in the garage - not sure what I might have run into that I could not drill through.
  • I am not sure if I could have gotten #4 awg to enter the back of the Wall Connector very well without using the rear / top entry bracket thing that comes with it (without that adapter the rear entry is a pain in the butt apparently to bend the wires). I think it is slightly less clean of a look.
  • I would not be worried either way, but part of me likes my EV charging wire in hard pipe conduit. Even if you managed to melt the wire, the damage would likely be contained by the conduit. The conduit is solidly grounded and would trip the breaker if the live conductors came into contact. There is a reason that commercial is not allowed to use romex (but again, I would not worry about safety of romex in a household if installed right - this is a pretty minor point).
  • I personally don't mind the look of exposed conduit in a garage <shrug>. Kind of gives a commercial feel to it.
Lots of ways to accomplish this. ;-) I chose one I was comfortable with!

I used #4 on mine in 1" PVC. It connects easier to the charger since it's a 1" knockout already. And I used a 1" entrance ell so sheetrock didn't have to be removed.
 
Eprosenx, very nice job! I did a very similar self-install of a NEMA 14-50 receptacle in my garage. Successful DIY projects deliver wonderful pride.

Are you concerned about liability? If there was a fire, could the owner sue you for operating without a license and obtaining a permit? When a large amount of money is involved, friends can turn into enemies. In most states, not sure on yours, owners are allowed to do electrical work on their own property.

Would you do it again for someone else? I struggle with that question.

Well in this case the friend I helped is an engineer (a close friend since middle school). He did most of the terminations himself (using his own torque screwdriver). I just helped him with the parts list and the conduit bending. It is all solidly to code and has been called in for an inspection. Owners are allowed to do their own work on their primary residence here as long as they permit it.

Liability is of course a concern. I would not do it for random people nor for money and especially not if there was any question as to the quality. Top notch or not at all... But to your point. Sadly, this is the world we live in. It is a very valid point.
 
Well the 90 would need to be one with no access port since it will be concealed in the wall. And I would have to extend from that just an inch or two into the LB. I am not sure if there would be enough room for the fittings required.
True enough - unless you installed an LB on a stub beneath the charger (with the LB outlet facing the rear). Thinking it thru, the very tight EMT bend that would be required inside the wall would make it nearly impossible. I'm not aware of any other UL fittings that might apply here, but then again, I'm only a 'first-year' ;^)

BTW, nice dog-leg kick.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: eprosenx
This is the Wall Connector with the 8.5 foot cord. We mounted it so the cable does not drag on the ground.

Could you post the height from the floor to the bottom of the wall charger, and perhaps the height from the floor to the internal electrical connection point and the top of the wall charger, I'm getting electrical work done in advance of getting the EV and the wall charger, so I don't have the wall charger to measure and didn't find dimensions on the Tesla website. Thanks for this writeup and your assistance!
 
Could you post the height from the floor to the bottom of the wall charger, and perhaps the height from the floor to the internal electrical connection point and the top of the wall charger, I'm getting electrical work done in advance of getting the EV and the wall charger, so I don't have the wall charger to measure and didn't find dimensions on the Tesla website. Thanks for this writeup and your assistance!

Glad you liked it!

It was at a friends house that I don’t have immediate access to sadly…. I might be able to get them to measure it tomorrow but no promises. :)

Note this was a Gen 2 wall connector and so all bets are off with Gen 3…