How To Install a 240 Volt Outlet | Electric Car Charging

what's up you guys today we're showing you a project where we're installing a 220 outlet inside the garage now whether you're doing this in your shop or garage it's going to be the same process and this is becoming more and more common with the ramp of electric cars and you need a place to charge seven electric cars so i called some reinforcements in for this one and my buddy joel walzman from indianapolis indiana has a company called jefferson electric and he's going to walk us through the complete process of how to install the outlet whether you're doing this as a diyer you're taking on this project safely yourself or if you're hiring it out and just want to get an idea how a pro would handle this so you are more informed so let's jump into it fun to be with you guys today as my buddy scott said we're going to be installing a 220 volt outlet in the garage and i'm going to walk you through the nuts and bolts the do's and don'ts materials tools everything that we employ to execute this project here in this particular situation we've got 18 horizontal feet from the panel to the outlet that is going to be located between the garage doors that's about 30 overall wire feet first consideration at the electrical panel is do i have the capacity right that's the number one question do i have the capacity in this case to add a 50 amp load that's a continuous load in the form of electric vehicle charging so the cost of the project today in materials alone right off the shelf at any big box store 450 bucks the cost of copper in the last year has increased 300 percent we don't know if it's going to stay there if it's going to come back down hiring a pro is easily going to cost you another five six seven hundred dollars on top of your materials and going with a tesla certified pro a little bit more than that and i'll tell you why now as i'm pulling the last couple of bolts out of the electrical panel i want to be mindful of safety i'm using my left hand to brace the panel so i'm securing it to the wall i'm removing the last screw and i am positioning myself with two free hands to pull the cover down safely one so it doesn't fall back into the live electricity and two so it doesn't swing or tip and shut off half the breakers in the house i've done that before [Music] so you're gonna rock it off away from the work surface boom all good so in this case we've got a 200 amp breaker this is a 200 amp braided service which is fantastic most 100 amp braided services are not going to have the available capacity in your average home to add a 50 amp continuous load for electric vehicle charging main incoming power is at the bottom we've got three op copper feeding a 200 amp breaker and thankfully the available breaker spaces at the top this is a square dqo panel finding a matching breaker for your panel breaker panel compatibility is key a quick google search will reveal whether breaker and panel are compatible here's our 50 amp breaker real easy to pop it in there i'm going to brace one hand on the wall so that i've got a framework essentially to keep me from shifting as i apply force to the breaker to snap it into place boom quite a bit of force is required you may have noticed i did not turn off the main breaker when i installed the breaker at the top here if you're a diy or working at home you probably do want to hit the main because if one of your fingers slips back in there man it's uh could be ugly and at this point we're just about ready to start rocking and running our conduit across the surface of his garage in this case we'll be using electrical metallic tubing known as emt this is also available at any hardware store you may have walked past it but a couple things i like about this one it has a good finished appearance right the industrial look is totally in style all over america you can't go wrong you could also use pvc conduit and you also have both rigid and flexible applications in this case because i'm a pro we're going to try to be doing it in the most professional manner while using regular diy tools and materials so these 90s these are purchased pre-bent so you don't have to use an electrical conduit bendy fender and these fittings apply with nothing but the use of a screwdriver so let me show you now a quick overview of our wiring path and give you a little insight as to why so overview for this is we're starting at the main electrical panel breaker panel we're going to be fishing the wire up the wall so you can see what's happening there and then we're going to utilize surface conduit because above the garage here this is living space so fishing a wire through the framing almost non-feasible we're talking about drywall repairs etc not going there for this we're going to be utilizing surface conduit from the top of the wall around the perimeter following the blue tape lines and bringing it all the way down to 44 inches above slab between the garage doors for an electric vehicle charging outlet that's probably the most popular consumer choice for where to place an outlet because a standard 18 foot court like you would get with the tesla wall connector the tesla mobile connector is going to reach to charge both vehicles whichever garage bay they park in and that's going to be common of most of your evs nissan volts etc so that's a perfect placement one install two vehicles parts now if you're a diyer this might look a little bit intimidating you might not have worked most of these parts before but we want to share everything we've got here so that you can be the most successful and maybe keep this project down to two trips or less starting sequentially at the electrical panel we have a two pole 50 amp breaker don't let the half size handle fool you in this case because see there are two terminals and two connection points to the bus this is most definitely a 220 volt breaker now let me dispel one myth real quick 220 240 which is it same different it's the same that's the ticket right there the voltage system has always been a nominal voltage back quite a long time ago it was a 110 220 volt grid the grid has run hotter slowly over time and now it's a 120 240 volt grid that is the nominal voltage and in our area the grid actually even runs hotter than that you'll test typically 246 volts so is it a 220 volt outlet a 240 answer is yes they're the same thing moving away from the panel we're going to be utilizing emt electrical metallic tubing the first fitting is our llr that is the proper name of this fitting it is a convertible l l or l r if you hold it like a gun and the cover's on the left side that's an l l l for left if you hold it like a gun covers on the right that's an lr this is a convertible and the compartment is for wiring access there's no way you could ever pull the wire through that bend it's impossible so you have to remove the cover to create the wiring path and maintain accessibility now these are conduit fittings here we've got store-bought pre-made 90s that's probably what you're going to be utilizing so that you don't have to purchase a 40 conduit bender these are conduit straps for securing and supporting the conduit this type is a mini a mini is handy in that as we'll show you there's an intentional half inch offset between the wall and the conduit and that's going to come in handy in scott's project this is a one hole emt strap it's a rigid strap provides one mounting hole here we've got set screw couplings and connectors and when you're shopping make sure your connectors come with the lock nuts sometimes those fall off in the bin you get all the way home and guess what you're one tiny part short here we've utilized a deep four inch square junction box four inch square is the diameter in each direction and by the deepest one you can this one is two inches and that is to accommodate the depth of our receptacle in order to mount the receptacle to the box we will be utilizing a plaster ring which is good for two purposes this is a half inch plastering that fits a four square box the plastering is going to allow the proper mounting hole configuration matches up to the receptacle and it also adds a little extra depth to accommodate wiring finally we've got the plate and the nema 1450 receptacle now this is an industrial version which i highly recommend if you're going to be plugging in a 50 000 appliance your electric vehicle to a receptacle and it's going to experience almost daily wear and tear you want to purchase one that's of a good quality and a matching plate be warned the nema 1450 is exactly the one you want for electric vehicle charging there are a lot of other 50 amp receptacles with similar but different configurations make sure you grab the right one that's a lot coming at you right there if i were you i'd probably pause take a screenshot for your shopping trip to the store in the description we're going to include a complete material list with links to make your shopping easier for this project we're utilizing 63 romex or non-metallic cable the romex is equipped with a hot two hots a neutral and a ground each one matching up to a specific terminal on your nema 1450 outlet romex is the standard wiring method for residences and it's going to be one of your most cost effective wiring methods so right now this is where i would prefer to start the project the other end is a little simpler but this is more important and it's going to bring definition to what other elements look like and i've got a couple pro tips for you also so firstly i'm working in a live panel if you're a diy-er i suggest you kill the main in this case and this is a slightly older panel there are exposed live terminals down here not so concerned about the ground and neutral bars here but man these mains coming in they will get you so watch out um terminals down the sides also these live terminals at each breaker there's a sting there too waiting to happen so we're going to route our wiring out of the panel in a code compliant way fish it up the wall if at all possible we'll be utilizing a fish tape to check the wall to make sure we're coming out at the right spot and we've got a clear wiring path before we commit by cutting a hole in the drywall so i'm selecting a three quarter inch knockout from the top of the panel the congestion of wiring is right here in the center so i'm intentionally going to the right of that because our wiring path is off to the right i'm also being considerate about my bending radius that's the radius of the 90 to make sure that conduit body plus 90 can actually make this turn here and i've got plenty of space in this installation but if your panel was closer to the wall you could get jammed up so i've got my large flathead screwdriver my pliers and i just gotta go to work on this knockout back and forth until i've removed it there's the half inch gotta take it a bit further to get that three quarter inch knockout and let me tell you sometimes it can be a beater they're in there so tight um your needle nose pliers may be a help to you in this case i've got a small pair of linemen it gives me a lot of leverage a lot of grab and i'm just going to go back and forth nice and easy until i get it out all right so i'm gonna be utilizing a fish tape to plunge the wall and here's the pro tip the fish tape has an intentional hook on the end which is fantastic but i'm going to tape that hook because right now when i send the fish tape up and pull it back out to get a depth and clearance on the wall i don't want it to get snagged i've had to cut off too many fish tapes that have gotten lodged in the wall here we go all right so this is the wall between the garage and the house so there is insulation in that wall so i'm going to take the natural bend of the fish tape i'm going to bring it toward me and i'm going to try to slide it up on the outside of the insulation along the drywall to avoid having to fight the bat installation the whole way all right right there there's a definite stop so i'm going to mark the location i'm going to pull it out i'm feeling i'm trying to put my my eyes and ears on the end of the fish tape so i'm feeling for obstructions making sure i've got a clear wiring path and now i'm going to lay it alongside the wiring path to see if i've got full and it looks like i do look at that i probably stopped right at the top plate of this wall now that we're pretty certain we have a clear wiring path up the wall we're ready to cut the drywall and start running conduit around the perimeter okay so a quick trial fit on parts here the 90 is going to sit right in the corner i've got my conduit body that needs to align with the stud cavity above the panel and remember i'm intentionally to the right of my main wiring trunk here so i've got clearance and that's going to be a nice fit all right we're ready to cut our hole and i'm i'm gonna bring it down just a little bit because when they hung the drywall there was reveal on the top plate so if i cut my hole right at the very top of the wall i'm gonna hit wood i already know that based upon common construction standards so i'm gonna bring it down at least an inch and a half and i like that right there i'm using a keyhole saw and i'm doing that on purpose rather than a power tool because i want to have a very sensitive touch because i know that the wall is full of wiring and the last thing the absolute worst thing that you could do on this project besides blowing up your tesla is you cut into the wiring that's in the wall that could turn into a multi-thousand dollar repair so you wanna you wanna have a touch on what's happening you wanna feel it all right i've got a clear path now that i know that's where i'm going with it i'm gonna go ahead and mark the wall i actually don't have all right so in this case i'm a lazy electrician i'm using a flathead screwdriver to mark the wall i do that all the time it's just incredibly practical and i've always got a flathead screwdriver all right now before pulling any wire i generally complete my conduit system let me show you a couple things one is this little gem didn't get paul called out in the parts list and what this is is a chase nipple this is going to smooth the threaded edge of my conduit body and i'm just going to put it right in there so that when my wiring is exiting the conduit body it has smooth exit because houses do vibrate and believe it or not something that's been fine for a long long time can go bad in the dead of night so that is code to protect wiring during the installation one thing that i'm being mindful of as i planned my conduit right here is that i've got these vertical supports on either side of the garage door those are actually going to accommodate our effort the minis are going to have almost that exact amount of standoff so i'm going to use straps on my wood supports and obviously get a really solid connection and i'm going to use minis and drywall anchors on my drywall code is that within conduit bodies and junctions i need to have a support on the conduit system within three feet all right so taking my measurements utilizing my old school folding rule never falls out of my pocket see that the master electrician that i trained under started his career in 1966 so i got a little old school and home spot in me no doubt but this is fiberglass it's very lightweight it's more cost effective than most tape measures and it's incredibly manageable with one hand so i measured to the wall from my conduit body i came up with an overall dimension of 13. i've got to subtract for the radius of my elbow which is seven and i need a half inch off the wall so i can accommodate the framing uprights so 13 last seven is six then i'm going to deduct another half and i'm at five and a half so my cut dimension is five and a half one thing you've got is a little bit of grace the conduit fittings themselves have a three quarter inch depth depth as long as i've got enough meat for a solid connection with the set screw that's going to be sufficient now i see a lot of people fighting the hacksaw if you've not done this and it's your first time my best advice for you is two things one i'm going to cut over my bucket because i'm electrician and that's what we do you probably have a better surface but the trick is to hold the conduit really really firm if it's moving around you're doing nothing but fighting it and the second is to realize that the teeth on your hacksaw are oriented so that you're doing the cutting on the downstroke not the upstroke the upstroke will just fight you if you try to get any work done just plunge and you'll be much more effective so i've got a firm hand on bucket and conduit i've got almost my full weight on that knee and i'm just gonna get it started with the edge of my finger and once it's in the groove i clamp and cut it's important to realize that the factory parts have already been reamed but it is a code requirement to ring your cuts both inside and out there are a lot of specialty tools for it but man a large flat head screwdriver any steel edge run around that it's really going to clean it up get rid of the burrs on the outside the burrs will prevent your fittings from seating on the inside that could cut into your wire always stick my finger in there if it's good for your skin it's good for the water all right at this point i'm running the conduit around the perimeter of the room one of the markets of an electrician is that you're going to orient all of your screws on your fittings in the same direction that's just little marks of professionalism and when those marks aren't there home inspectors city inspectors all get a little bit more suspicious and your work starts getting scrutinized unnecessarily okay looks like that's going to fit now i'm going to run conduit around the perimeter and down to the box where the outlet is located and then i'll double back and give you some tips and codes around how to do that best foreign two pro tips real quick another thing that this is absolutely perfect for this is a folding rule and it fits right up inside the conduit fitting so that i'm getting a true measurement of the conduit length and not an outside measurement that needs to be adjusted for conduit length now here i'm mounting the box 44 inches off the garage floor that's an incredibly standard electrical measurement to the bottom of electrical devices and in this case i've got a 69 inch measurement to the mark that i've laid on the wall it's actually 69 and a quarter i'm going to deduct four inches for the width of the electrical box and then here's the pro tip i'm going to deduct another quarter of an inch because i'm going to lose a little bit on the shoulder of the fitting and i don't have to be absolutely full deck i want to give myself a little bit of grace that quarter inch of play that'll really by the time i deduct for the shoulder i have about an eighth inch of play now this is very important when you're using a metallic conduit system the conduit itself is actually part of the grounding system so you want to make sure that every set screw or if you have a compression type every compression ring is snug so that the electrical conduit would never become energized but would be properly grounded there it is all right so what i do is i always stop a quarter turn shy of final destination final destination is set screw straight out to match everything else we've done and i'm going to use my adjustable pliers and bring it around and if you recall every metallic to metallic connection is part of the grounding system so i'm very intentional about getting that lock nut on there securely that's the easiest way to do it so what we've selected here is a metallic threaded drywall anchor these things have a lot of holding power i'm intentionally utilizing four anchors for the receptacle because there's a lot of force on that receptacle going in but particularly coming out and the risk is pulling the box out of the wall so this metallic anchor is going to give a pretty decent amount of grab you can pilot the holes one really why i've done that is i wanted to identify the location when the box was in place and i had the level on it so now i've got a clear target anchor flush to the wall a little thrust from the palm to get it going so behind the box here we did hit a stud and turns out it's quite a bit of force and effort to use one of the anchors into the stud so we're just going to use a screw direct the the goal is to properly and securely fasten the conduit it's not to close the gap so that gap is intentional last thing we're going to do is check all of our set screws as we move back along the conduit to make sure everything's secure box is mounted before we advance to pulling and terminating the wire if you've enjoyed this so far and you're a diyer with a stack of projects or you're looking to get into the trade and we do need more good trades people please check the description for electric pro academy that's where we're posting multiple videos per week to help you advance your electrical skill set all right now we're ready to pull and terminate the wire this is kind of the culmination of the project before we do final testing to make sure we don't blow anything up i'm going to going to remove this conduit body from the system it's not bad to go ahead and put it in place because then i have a start point for all of my conduit system i really don't want to piecemeal it but i've got to get it out of the way so i can optimize my ability whoops lost a screw so i can optimize my ability to manage the fish from the electrical panel to my drywall access point so at this point i'm going to fish the wire in two stages i've got the wire placed over there and that's simply because i don't want to have to pull all the wire through here and around it's too cumbersome i only want to pull the necessary length of wire through my most challenging and tightest portions of the project the only thing i don't like about fit having the fish tape over here is that i've got to be incredibly careful with the fish tape on the electrical panel for safety [Music] i'm encountering enough resistance that what i'm going to do is go ahead and get my gauge on the fish tape again so i know how much fish tape needs to be inside the wall in order to reach my access point i'll put a little flag right there oops that's my identifier let's all go let's give it a shot so my flag indicates that my fish tape is probably all the way up the wall i'm going to do what i can with my fingers and oh my goodness it's right there all right ah but let's pretend that this was a little harder what you can do is just use a scrap of wire bend a hook on it and now you've got a fishing apparatus to get inside the wall and to grab the end of that fish tape i also happen to have these little beauties right here look at that pistol grip triple hinging needle nose pliers you can get an incredible distance inside a very tight hole and because it's pistol grip you've got a good line of sight into a very small hole in this case nice and easy no arcing in the panel we're there so i have two fish tapes so the luxury of sending them both in and doing the pole in two stages if you only have one fish tape i recommend that you start with this pole and the reason for that is you want to pull all the wire through the longest run and only the last eight or ten feet through the the fished holes where it gets a little bit more complicated let's look at the other end okay so here's something that even my apprentices don't always do right the wire comes in this tight bundle and if all that twist is in it when you're pulling it through the conduit then there's so much more resistance so what i always do when i preach day and night is pull the wire out and give it a clockwise twist to straighten it out and it's just going to pull that much more smoothly so if you've been an electrician for any length of time you know that one of the most frustrating things is to have your wire pop off part way through the pole and have to reset so what we're doing here is we're going to take the bare copper conductor which has plenty of strength to sustain this pole i'm going to give it a pretty hard bend through the eye of my fish tape and then i'm going to take the other conductors and there's a little bit more i could do if this was going to be a really hard pull i could stagger the cut on these conductors for instance cut the white here cut the red there and leave the black full length so i kind of ease the transition and the head of this pole i could also lube the wire there's a dedicated electrical compounds for that so that the wire insulation and integrity is not damaged but in this case i'm really not concerned about that the conduit is properly sized that's three quarter inch emt for the 63 romex no concerns there i am using decent electrical tape this is scotch like 88 is real good and i'm pulling it tight can't use really too much i'm so this is the end result it's a really smooth pull shouldn't have any issues if there are going to be issues it's going to be right here at the head where the fittings are not midway through the pipe but right at the fittings if you run into an issue when you're pulling stop pull it back if you can give it a twist and then continue on and you'll almost always get through if you end up yanking really hard sometimes the head will come undone but this head is uh man you can apply 200 pounds and you're good to go if there's ever a time to employ or enlist a friend to help you out this would be it one person feeding the wire into the conduit and the other pulling the fish tape so at this point there's enough friction in the pole every coupling every connector every 90 even the length of pipe that you electricians out there are going to call me on it because conduit systems are supposed to be complete before the insertion of wire but we're going to ease our resistance we're going to get the pole complete i do have help on the other end and next time i'm just going to advise you go ahead and loop it up really grease that sucker down here it comes all right eight more feet so that was part one of our pull here's part two we're going to be inserting the conduit body the the worst thing is to finish the pull and realize you missed a piece right oh i totally have done that before so i'm starting the conduit body oh so guys this was harder than i thought it would be uh next time instead of using an ll or an lr dude i totally use an lb and that's where the back the cover is opposite the feeder hole that's really going to ease things for you you're sweating like i am take a break grab some water but i wanted to highlight uh two things one is make sure you have your sequence of parts in the correct order and two is this pro tip this is like the number one code violation in all panels many panels across america and that people are feeding wire through the panel without a protective connector to both provide strain relief and protection against the sharp metal edge so in this case before we secure our wire we're going to slip it on in the proper orientation to the outside of our cable and i want about three feet of cable inside the panel so i'm going to go ahead and secure it right before i pass it through the hole about three feet from the end hold it up there for a fit a little bit further i don't want to have too much excess cable in the wall because that's just hard to manage but also i can't have the fitting come up short i do need it to seat in the top of the panel and i've got the lock nut to secure it all right now that my connector is through and i've got a good smooth bushed opening with strain relief for the wire i'm sliding my lock nut on and i'm going to maintain just a little tension on my wire and i can pull it back to the panel to get the connector to straighten up and then slip it on there there it is that's the trickiest part right there that is a pro job if you get that connector in place and you get it snugged up and it's a good tight fit and code compliant way that is a pro job that's the difference between hiring an electrician and a handyman that's the difference between getting flagged by an inspector and having a good clean completion this final bit is a beast getting all the wire and fittings seated pretty in the wall and then doing a little fit and finish on my conduit pole the pull was hard enough that the conduit did shift that's fine we're just going to shift it back put a level on it and make sure it's sharp huh at this point i'm going to terminate wire at the box i like to use a utility knife and retract the blade a little bit on purpose and if you have a real light hand no rush very low pressure you're going to find that you're not going to get damaged the inside insulation the outside insulation is a little softer see i haven't even cut all the way through that's totally fine i'm going to rip it open peel it back expose the inside conductors and cut off the excess i have a smaller pair of pliers on me so i've actually stripped the conductor back a little bit further on purpose and i'm going to cut the individual conductors at least six inches from the face of the box see i want enough working length i want some extra in case i goof something up but definitely not too much extra because this wire is really going to fight me getting it back inside the box there's one there's two three four and we cut them all the same length i'm going to strip three quarters of an inch here's something to think about most strippers and my strippers don't go up to six gauge stranded wire i'm going to use the six gauge solid stripper and i'm not going to pinch it all the way down i'm going to wring it around the insulation i don't want to score the copper conductors real slow gentle touch and then when it's almost all the way through peel it off you can feel the difference between the insulation and the copper then right there at the end just pop it off remove the insulating paper around the ground at this point we're going to terminate the receptacle we're going to orient the receptacle with the ground on top on purpose the right angle cord is going to hang down it's going to dress nicely to the wall if i invert it the cord is going to have this perpetual awkward strain and a weird look to it so i want to think about that as i'm terminating and orienting start with the ground it's a number two square drive if you're using a philip you might find it's not a real great fit for this large flat head would also be a decent instrument i'm going to check each connection visually and with the tug test to make sure it's fully seated i'm not going to put the death grip on these screws because i'm actually going to torque them at the end and that's actually a point right there if you're using a tesla certified electrician he's probably going to be equipped with a torque screwdriver like this which where he's actually seating every terminal to the proper torque 25 inch pounds you see how this terminal is silver or white in contrast to the brass and the green this is so the neutral terminal i want to make sure that my strip gauge is good so i'm not getting any insulation to impede the connection i'm going to tighten it down and at this point i'm actually i'm going to wiggle to seat and tighten the stranded conductors i'm going to tighten i'm going to wiggle i can feel the difference every time i wiggle that that terminal loosens up a little bit when i seat it i'm going to allow the stranded terminals to mesh and it allows for a higher conductivity connection that is a pro tip there's a massive differentiator if i don't do that what's going to happen is this outlet is going to get a substantial amount of heat stress totally normal those conductors are going to expand and contract and you're going to end up with a loose connection you're going to come back and just not understand you put the death grip on it it's torqued and now it's loose you've got to seat the stranded conductors it'll tighten and wiggle tighten and wiggle two or three iterations now i'm going to land the two hots red and black they're interchangeable tighten wiggle tighten wiggle visual inspection tug test i'm going to get them all seated i'm going to torque it down at this point i'm landing the receptacle in the box install the plaster ring and now i'm seating the receptacle itself there's quite a bit of resistance on those wires forcing that receptacle out of the box that's why i really recommend the deep box with the plaster ring also called the mud ring and i just crank it down with the four screws make sure none of the conductors in the box are again up against a sharp edge we've terminated the receptacle landed the plates on neatly finished now we're going to go back to the electrical panel we're going to land the breaker and button it up so at this point we're going to land the conductors in the panel this is the most dangerous part note the only way to kill all power to this panel is to have the utility company pull the meter outside shutting off this breaker only kills power from here up if you're a di wire doing this project you're really going to want to terminate power it takes nothing but just a loose ground conductor tapping a hot terminal to really cause stuff to fly so here we are lacing in our grounding conductor and i'm going to bring it down the side of the panel i'm going to tuck it in alongside those wires i've bent a smooth 90 doesn't have to be real sharp in fact it should not be real sharp there's such a thing as wire bending radius that if you bend copper wire too hard you will cause it damage so i'm going to lay it in there i'm going to put my thumb exactly where i want it to be cut i'm going to cut off the excess i want to keep it from bouncing into the panel if you're a professional the panel is live that's your prerogative and then because all of the uh the top most forward-facing terminals are occupied and most of them are double tapped we've got to sneak in and it's a little laborious to get these back terminals so i'm going to pull my existing conductors out and out of the way i'm going to lay my new conductor into the panel all right at this point needle nose because of the congestion of this panel needle nose is going to come in real handy there it's seated that's a number two square drive i'm gonna snug it not death grip and move on to my next conductor my grounded conductor or neutral same process i'm getting it lay it in there exactly where i want it my thumb marks the cut i'm going to take it real easy so i don't score the copper conductors and now i'm going to lace it in there same fashion so we've just terminated this grounding and this grounded conductor right here we snuck them in wires one two and i want to call your attention that this ground and neutral bar are common with this ground and neutral bar on this side that's not always the case sometimes grounds and neutrals must be separated by code and so the general rule of thumb for a diy-er is follow what's existing in the panel but be mindful that the separation of grounds and neutrals may be a requirement next step is we're going to terminate the hots black and red they are being used interchangeably and some people will put a service loop up in the panel at this point the panel is full enough i don't want to create any more congestion so i'm going to not put a service loop but i will leave as much excess as possible if i had to i could pull a tighter angle on that so i've got my length marked on my first conductor about three quarters of an inch there is a strip gauge on the breaker itself i'm going to give it actually see that a little outward twist and that because of these wires is going to help me tremendously come in at the right angle one thing to note is that the breaker terminals are in the tightened position so you're really going to struggle if you don't realize that you've got to loosen the breaker terminals but take it easy nothing worse than losing a screw down inside a breaker panel circuit breaker is in the off position right now got it seated i like it at this point the installation is complete we're ready to rock i always look away when i turn a breaker on just in case there's a fault or a failure somewhere hand breaker face averted we're live i'm going to highly recommend that you use some kind of test equipment in this case we're using ac voltage to test our circuit and you can pick up test tools for as little as 10 12 bucks i'm going to fix my lead and first i'm going to check hot to neutral 125 volts perfect second hot to neutral 125.3 hot to hot 250. so you see this is a 120 240 volt distribution system that's a nominal voltage it is running hot not in a bad way but this is reading 250 volts so more appropriately in this case it's a 125 250 volt so we've just verified voltage at the electrical panel we're seeing exactly what we want to see we've tested here at the receptacle hot to neutral and ground to make sure nothing's been reversed it looks great i invite you if you have questions codes best practices comment below we want to engage with you and help you out with your particular situation and then i know rightfully so that working in the electrical panel can be really intimidating for diyers so check out this video right here and i'm going to show you the five most common electrical panel mistakes that i've seen in the last 15 years i want to help keep your home safe you safe and your project on track

Channel: Everyday Home Repairs

Views: 584,992

Keywords: electric car outlet installation, electric car charging at home, 220 volt outlet, 220 volt outlet install, welder outlet wiring

Id: tBxGo0qveNs

Length: 48min 44sec (2924 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 15 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/hsvsunshyn]

One of the aviation YouTube channels I watch has been doing "aviation myths debunked", which usually involves showing clips where people say things laughably wrong, and then giving the correct information. I would love to see Dustin and/or the community do something similar. Personally, I learn from the "this is wrong" type videos as much as the "this is right" ones.

[u/JohnnyComeLately84]

I'm no electrician, but I worked Electrical at Home Depot for 5 years. My understanding was that you don't run romex through conduit, so I would have noticed his cart and said something to him in the store (assuming I saw). I know from watching ElectricianU and Code Time, that there's way too many conductors for EMT that small. I just cringed hard watching him work a live panel. Every DIY I had ask questions in the store, I always told them, "Kill the main power first". Then add a circuit, swap a faulty breaker, etc. Sure you can pop it out live, but no reason for the risk. In retrospect, I wish I had told people to also wear eye protection. I know of arc risks, but just never figured it was that great for a home residential installation of a single circuit.

Then finally, running metal fish to live box? There's no way you can say "pro" and then do this. It's like saying, "I'm a professional.." and then pull out gasoline to clean something. Sure, you'll possibly get away with it but you're the type of person who will always make the news one day. There's a saying in riding motorcycles, "The question is not IF you'll wreck, it's WHEN and HOW BAD?"

[u/KG6GIN]

I had this same video suggested to me... It was very cringe to say the least.