Home charger location

[48k]

Sheepshanks said:

Based on what I looked up 10mm seems OTT - 6mm should be plenty and even 4mm would likely be OK. Max charging is 7kW.

IMHO this is the sort of thing you don't "look up" you get proper advice from a qualified sparks who has done a site survey. There are a number of variables involved including the type of earth, type of supply to the house, where the cable is being routed etc. and the installation needs certification / signing off anyway so might as well get it done properly.

FWIW the install for my 7kw charger is 10mm SWA to a consumer unit in the garage fitted with RCBOs and surge protection.

[Sheepshanks]

Well, I did say "seems" - he's running a cable 7 metres to a charger. Yours might be 50 meters to a garage CU and maybe you're also running a compressor etc.

The 'specialist' EV charger supply cables that include data cables are only available in 4 & 6mm.

[Pistonsquirter]

Sheepshanks said:

In the absence of other answers:

Based on what I looked up 10mm seems OTT - 6mm should be plenty and even 4mm would likely be OK. Max charging is 7kW.

There's also special cables with two signal wires for a current transformer - I think so EV charging can be limited if the house is taking too much juice - and I saw one cable with ethernet in too, which might be handy in my case as wifi could be pretty ifft where I want the charger.


Sometimes the cable does just seem to be connected to the board through a 32A MCB - but electricians talk about using different types (letters) of MCB and RCD.

Curses, I’ve realised the higher draw chargers are all 3-phase, I was trying to future proof but I’ve just overkilled my 1-phase supply, I do like overkill though

[Sheepshanks]

Pistonsquirter said:

Curses, I’ve realised the higher draw chargers are all 3-phase, I was trying to future proof but I’ve just overkilled my 1-phase supply, I do like overkill though

It’s no problem - the only down side is it’s a bit more awkward to handle, bend etc.

[Pistonsquirter]

Sheepshanks said:

It’s no problem - the only down side is it’s a bit more awkward to handle, bend etc.

Tell me about it.. already installed swa to the garage build, swa to the front drive for electric gate future plan, and swa to brick bbq location (when in Rome right?), but now my CU cupboard looks like something out of the matrix

[48k]

Sheepshanks said:

Well, I did say "seems" - he's running a cable 7 metres to a charger. Yours might be 50 meters to a garage CU and maybe you're also running a compressor etc.

The 'specialist' EV charger supply cables that include data cables are only available in 4 & 6mm.

Mine is an 8m run to the CU. I'm not running a compressor. The run from the CU to the charger is all inside the garage so is not an armoured cable. There's a picture on this thread. There is also a picture on this thread of another install on a post which is using armoured cable in to the charger.

Every install will be different and there are different supply configurations, earthing requirements and so on. It's worth getting a professional involved. Plus as I said it has to be certified/signed off anyway.

[Frimley111R]

Sheepshanks said:

In the absence of other answers:

Based on what I looked up 10mm seems OTT - 6mm should be plenty and even 4mm would likely be OK. Max charging is 7kW.

There's also special cables with two signal wires for a current transformer - I think so EV charging can be limited if the house is taking too much juice - and I saw one cable with ethernet in too, which might be handy in my case as wifi could be pretty ifft where I want the charger.

.

You can use 4mm but 6mm is fine too. You only really need 10mm underground (armoured) or if you have a VERY long run.

Yes, there are cables with signal wires within them for a CT clamp if you need to use dynamic load management. Most homes don't but they are a good idea in terms of future proofing.

[Pistonsquirter]

Frimley111R said:

You can use 4mm but 6mm is fine too. You only really need 10mm underground (armoured) or if you have a VERY long run.

Yes, there are cables with signal wires within them for a CT clamp if you need to use dynamic load management. Most homes don't but they are a good idea in terms of future proofing.

Will pull in a pair of data cables for future ct clamp

[Sheepshanks]

Frimley111R said:

You can use 4mm but 6mm is fine too. You only really need 10mm underground (armoured) or if you have a VERY long run.

Yes, there are cables with signal wires within them for a CT clamp if you need to use dynamic load management. Most homes don't but they are a good idea in terms of future proofing.

Is wifi at the charger vital? It seems slightly odd that you can get cables with either data wires for CTs or an ethernet cable but not both. Although I suppose an ethernet cable popping out of the charger supply cable at the CU isn't helpful in many cases.

[Frimley111R]

Sheepshanks said:

Frimley111R said:

You can use 4mm but 6mm is fine too. You only really need 10mm underground (armoured) or if you have a VERY long run.

Yes, there are cables with signal wires within them for a CT clamp if you need to use dynamic load management. Most homes don't but they are a good idea in terms of future proofing.

Is wifi at the charger vital? It seems slightly odd that you can get cables with either data wires for CTs or an ethernet cable but not both. Although I suppose an ethernet cable popping out of the charger supply cable at the CU isn't helpful in many cases.

OZEV requirements (and soon UK regulations) mandate a data connection of any type, so WIFI, GSM or ethernet. For most homes its not practical to fit ethernet to a charger.