Do-it-yourself charge station installation

I decided to install my own i3 charging station, after getting quotes from BMW/Bosch. Bosch wanted $1200 for a 30 amp Bosch unit ($500 less than the BMW unit for same capability), or $750 for a 16 amp Bosch unit with a 12 foot charging cord. I have a 30 amp circuit nearby that will support a 20 amp system, but some thicker wires would need to be run to support a 30 amp system. I decided to go with the $500 Clipper Creek 20 amp model LCS 25 (20 amp with 25' cord) and install it myself. Following are each major step and lessons learned. I broke this into multiple posts hoping that may make it easier to question specific steps.

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Here is a picture of my unused dryer outlet on a 40 amp circuit. Gas dryers do not need the 240V! The second picture is the back of this wall in the garage with blue tape showing where this outlet is (the big lower box) and where I want to install my new outlet, and a line showing where the wall stud is.

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I chose not to do a hard wire so that I would have easy access to a plug for quick disconnect should anything go wrong. The circuit breaker is far away. I bought the hardwire version of the LCS 25 because it came with a 3’ pigtail and it plus a separate plug was cheaper than the LCS plug in version with a 1’ cord. So here is the plug, outlet box and outlet from Home Depot, totaling about $25. The second picture shows the LCS 25 pig tail assembled to the plug. The LCS 25 comes with two different size adapters for securing the pigtail to an electrical box punch out. The larger one fits very securely in the plug I bought! Very lucky, but I was prepared to swap out plugs if it didn’t. The larger adapter and washer was used, with the smaller adapter and washer, and the unneeded green cord clamp that came with the plug showing on the left of the plug. The cord is very secure with no gap between it and where it enters the plug. Perfect!

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Time to cut a hole in the garage drywall. The outlet box attaches to the drywall and does not need to be next to a stud. However, my dryer vent pipe was behind where I cut the hole, so I had to move the hole 1” over, putting the box up against the stud so that the outlet box would not hit the vent pipe. I used the 1” piece I cut to the right to fill the gap on the left. The spackling compound that glued it in place dried to the same color as the wall! I’ll sand and touch it up later. Maybe.

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I cut the existing 240V wiring and then attached both ends to the outlet. That will keep the dryer outlet live, but only one can be used at a time (and the dryer is not used!). This brings me to my first issue. The single width box is too narrow to work with these wires and outlet. They fit, but BARELY and only with a LOT of coercion! This was not fun to get everything safely connected and packed in the box. However, had I bought the double wide box like I should have, it would not have worked because of the vent pipe. A double wide box would need to be almost a foot to the left to clear the pipe, and I’m not sure the 240V wire would have reached. I pulled all the slack out of the attic and only got the small loop of wire shown previously, and that was with a lot of tugging.

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Here is the finished installation. Almost. In a few weeks when my i3 arrives, I will mount a holster on the wall. about 5-10 feet to the right of the station that is directly across from the i3 charging port. The holster was ordered with the LSC 25.

A friend with a Leaf came over to verify everything is working well.

Don't you need a dedicated circuit for dryer, or any the heavy appliance circuit?

I am thinking about doing something similar, tapping into an existing 240v circuit and have been looking for an A-B switch.

I would have pulled the wire from the dryer outlet completely, but I also wouldn't have done this myself anyway.

Did you check your insurance policy before doing your own electrical work? You may be just fine, but here in Australia our insurance company and most others I have heard of run away from claims involving non-compliant home-owner wiring. It might seem expensive to pay an electrician but in the end it may work out cheaper.

Blue20 said:

Don't you need a dedicated circuit for dryer, or any the heavy appliance circuit?

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I have a gas dryer that uses 120V, and the 240V dryer outlet is unused. So, I now have two outlets on the single 240V line, but only one will be used at all.

Less than 15' away, I have a 60A 240V circuit for my cooktop. I am thinking about changing that over to gas (requiring dropping a new gas pipe from the already stubbed gas line above), and reroute that 240V line into the garage to get my maximum L2 charging. However, my i3 BEV is a second car that is rarely going to see even 30 miles in a day, and faster charging is unlikely to ever be important to us. Our original quote from Bosch for the 30 A charger assumed that they could just move the kitchen line. If I had to add a new circuit to our breaker box, about 70' away, that would have cost a whole lot more and left visible conduit lines in a few places. The total cost with all the work that would have been necessary for a 30A unit was way more than the $1200 quoted by Bosch for just the electrical work. Even doing much of the work myself, the cheapest I could have gotten a 30A charger (and a gas cooktop) would have been north of $3000, while the 20A charger total was about $530, including the drywall saw blade and spackling.

I33t said:

I would have pulled the wire from the dryer outlet completely, but I also wouldn't have done this myself anyway.

Did you check your insurance policy before doing your own electrical work?

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I debated pulling the dryer outlet, but I figured I might be selling the house some day and the dryer outlet is expected to be there. I also considered I may upgrade to a 30A (or greater) EVSE in the future, and then my garage side of this 40A circuit would be the one to be pulled at that time, running a whole new (heavier) line for the 30A station.

I do not recommend anyone do their own 240V work themselves if they do not have some 120V experience, and the proper tools, including a volt/ohm meter. That is, if you are not comfortable replacing a light switch or outlet, then forget it! Working with 240V is harder (the wires are thick and stiff!) and mistakes are much more dangerous.

I will get a licensed electrician to pull a new line, and will also pull a city permit if I eventually do it. However, this tap was too simple and easy to worry about.

Your installation does not meet code in the USA...it must follow the manufacturer's instructions, and on their HCS-40 unit, you can only use a 40A breaker IF you hardwire it. There are no 40A plugs, and it is illegal to wire a 50A plug (which is what is used on a dryer) with wiring and a CB that cannot support the whole 50A, regardless of what you plug into it. IOW, when you use a plug with that unit, the wiring and CB must match the type of plug you install. Only when you hardwire it, can it use a 40A circuit. The rules for potentially constant use items is that it must support 125% of the stated load, and with the 30A EVSE, a dedicated 40A circuit works. But that is trumped when you use a plug...then, the wiring must match the plug used, regardless of what is plugged into it. Same idea with a 120vac receptacle...you might only be plugging in a phone charger that draws maybe an amp, but the circuit must still support the maximum that COULD be plugged in, and a dryer plug is rated at 50A.

Any inspector that actually knows anything, would red flag that installation.

jadnashuanh said:

Your installation does not meet code in the USA...it must follow the manufacturer's instructions, and on their HCS-40 unit, ...

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You must have misread the part where I said I got an LCS-25, and not an HCS-40. The LCS-25 requires a 25 amp circuit, not 40 amp, and is sold in three versions. The two plug in versions have two different 30 amp plug types, but all three units are otherwise identical, according to Clipper Creek, and the direct wired unit is safe to use on 240V circuits between 25 and 50 amps.

You might want to also explain why my home came with a 30 amp circuit using 10 AGW lines for the dryer.

SOrry, I did miss that you got the LS25. But, your dryer installation does not meet current codes...it might have when it was built, but does not meet today's codes, and changes require it to be brought up to current ones. The HCS-40 comes with either the NEMA 14-50 or the NEMA 6-50 plugs (the -50 means a 50A plug and required 50A socket). Dryers, at least those plugged into one of those sockets, are required to be wired to support the full current of the socket attached, regardless of what you actually plug into it. Now, if it isn't one of those sockets, and is one rated at 30A, it is fine.