Advice on wiring 240V for evseupgrade & future - GFCI or no?

[LeafyInNC]

Hi All,

Greetings!

I'm new to the forum so please redirect me if this has been discussed before ... I did try to search but couldn't find exactly the information I'm looking for.

I'm getting my leaf very soon and am planning to use the evseupgrade (with the 16A upgrade) as my home charger. So, I need to add a 240V circuit for the garage to support the evseupgrade, yet I would like to futureproof it to handle a full-blown 30A EVSE in the future (or as close as I can get to 30A ... read on).

First some background on my wiring. My breaker panel is very far from the garage with no easy way to pull a new branch circuit to the garage. I would need to cut many holes in the sheetrock of my basement ceiling to pull a new circuit. Luckily I have an unused 30A 240V circuit for the dryer, which IS close to the garage (but will obviously need to be rerouted and extended). That circuit currently has a 30A non-GFCI breaker.

I talked to an electrician who said he can extend/reroute the 30A circuit from the dryer to the garage, but since I requested the exact receptacle specified by evseupgrade (L6-20R), he says that by code he will need to change over to a 20A breaker since the L6-20R has a 20A capacity. That seems fine for evseupgrade, but I'm wondering if I should future-proof it by installing a dryer-style 30A receptacle and building an adapter for the evseupgrade. That way I could retain the current 30A circuit breaker and I would not need to touch it again if I decide to buy a wall-mounted EVSE in the future. But on the other hand, most of the wall-mount EVSEs require a 40A circuit even though they draw 30A max, so maybe it's better to just stick with the 20A breaker and the L6-20R receptacle? Of course I would still be running wire capable of 30A (or maybe 40A) for the new segment, so at least I can upgrade to 30A in the future without any new cable run. But note that I can NOT easily upgrade the old 30A portion of the circuit to 40A so I definitely will not upgrade to full 40A circuit at this time. With this in mind, any opinions on going for 20A with the L6-20R receptacle versus 30A with an adapter? I'm leaning towards the 30A+adapter approach.

Second question is whether to use a GFCI breaker. At first the electrician said he thought the local code requires GFCI for any receptacle in the garage, so I checked with evseupgrade folks and they told me "GFCI is good". Now he's saying that the code does NOT require GFCI for this circuit, and he recommends against a GFCI breaker if the evseupgrade unit has a built-in GFCI (which per my understanding it does). I have no idea which way to go on this. My thought would be non-GFCI but this seems counter to the advice from the evseupgrade folks. Also the GFCI breaker is quite expensive (~$90). I desperately need advice on whether or not to go with a GFCI breaker.

Many thanks in advance!

 

[walter]

The aeroviorment unit has a gfi built in. Thats what the manual says. I just installed that unit in the garage and did not use additional gfi. Some other units might require you install one, just double check.

 

[FairwoodRed]

I would choose to have the 30A breaker and 30A Dryer outlet.

GFCI breakers are pricy, but if it were be, I’d get it. Most garages get wet from rain/snow on the car and water is the main reason we have GFCI’s. Even if the Nissan EVSE has GFCI (I don’t know), sometime in the future something else could be plugged into that outlet that doesn’t have it. Your liability will thank you if you sell your house and have the GFCI breaker there.

 

[LeafyInNC]

I would choose to have the 30A breaker and 30A Dryer outlet.

GFCI breakers are pricy, but if it were be, I’d get it. Most garages get wet from rain/snow on the car and water is the main reason we have GFCI’s. Even if the Nissan EVSE has GFCI (I don’t know), sometime in the future something else could be plugged into that outlet that doesn’t have it. Your liability will thank you if you sell your house and have the GFCI breaker there.

Thanks much for the advice! Makes perfect sense unless anyone knows of any issues with the circuit breaker GFCI and Nissan EVSE GFCI conflicting with each other, which was the electrician's concern.

 

[Tardis]

I got the GFCI as an extra outlet in the garage. Since the electrician was already doing wiring, I was like why not.

 

[smkettner]

The future can worry about itself. Go with simplicity today. Get the 20a twistlock outlet installed and be done with it.

You really need 40a minimum with #8 wire minimum for decent future proofing anyway so the 30 really does not help. OK maybe Clipper Creek has an EVSE with a bit more power that can run on 30 but does not need 40. Leviton 160 and Legrand can be connected to the 20a and charge current LEAF at full power.

You don't need an additional GFI. The EVSE has a built in GFI.

 

[davewill]

Personally, I'd run the 30a circuit, but I don't think it matters very much. Some of the EVSEs can be set for 24a (needs a minimum 30a breaker) so it could be useful with a future car. Anyway, possibly changing the breaker and outlet at a future time is the only consequence to going 20a now. As far as GFCI, I'd do whatever the electrician recommends since Phil gave the OK.

 

[GeekEV]

Makes perfect sense unless anyone knows of any issues with the circuit breaker GFCI and Nissan EVSE GFCI conflicting with each other, which was the electrician's concern.

There have been some reports of just that, but only with some GFCI outlets (older ones perhaps?) that are more sensitive than others. Worst case scenario you change the outlet/breaker until you find one that doesn't trip...

 

[tps]

I'd finish the run with 10 AWG, install a 20A breaker and L6-20R socket. GFCI is not necessary. The 10 AWG cable is good for less voltage drop (and power loss) on a long run, even if only drawing 16A.