Finally installed my Bosch Level II EVSE

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godfirnon

Member
Joined
Mar 9, 2015
Messages
5
Not really ground breaking stuff, but I figured I'd toot my own horn here since my wife is kind of 'meh' over the whole thing.

I went with the 30amp PowerMax with the 18 foot cord. I know my Spark won't use anthing over 16 Amps, but I'm hoping to 'future proof' myself a little bit if I end up with something else when my lease expires. And I have a friend with a Fiat 500e, so he can get good use out of it when he come over.

I was originally going to use my existing electric dryer outlet (NEMA 14-30R) in the laundry room, but decided against that as I would have had to punch a hole through the shared wall between the laundry room and the garage. I decided that probably wouldn't be the best option for many reasons.

My electric panel is mounted to the exterior or my garage, with the back of the panel resting against the drywall inside my garage. I added a new 30 Amp dual pole circuit breaker to my panel and routed the wire through a punch out in the back of the panel, through the drywall to a new surface mount outlet inside my garage. Thanks to youtube videos and pointers and recommendations from the retired electrician at my local Home Depot, I was able to finish the job without killing myself or burning the placed to the ground.

Anyway, thanks for reading, and if you are on the fence about doing the work yourself, and you have even a modicum of do-it-yourself experience, I'd say give it a go. Just remember to tell your wife BEFORE you cut the main power to the house . . .
 
Congrats on not burning your house down. I rent, so I didn't have the option of trying this myself. Cost me $575. Total rip-off.

Personally, I went with a portable unit. Yeah, it cost me $425 for an older model - probably used - and it's only 16amp, but I figure I can get the Bosch unit and sell it on eBay for a few hundred, which will offset the $1,000 cost to get this thing going. But, the bonus is I can take this with me; it's designed for that. And it's lightweight. I bring it to friends houses and plugin. When I get home, I plug it into the outlet I had installed inside the garage - exactly where you put yours - and run the connector thru a punchout hole in the wall to the outside driveway, where I park my car. The hole just fits the connector; the unit won't fit thru it, so it's rip-off proof. It's 23' long, altogether, and I bought a 30' extension cord. It's perfect.
 
That sounds like a great flexible setup. A portable would be nice, but for right now, I'm just driving around town. All my people live 200 plus miles away so if we are going there, we are taking the wife's car anyway.
 
That's great! I got the same Bosch unit, but I'm not smart enough to do the install my self. I had it installed yesterday, my panel is situated the same way as yours. Metal conduit was run on the ceiling to place the charging station across the garage. My Clipper Creek station is directly behind the panel. So now both my cars are happy. :lol:
 
I got the 30 Amp Bosch hard wired unit with $500 off the price here in California. Cost, $174.64 including tax and shipping.

Black Granite Spark ev 2015
 
JackHickey said:
I got the 30 Amp Bosch hard wired unit with $500 off the price here in California. Cost, $174.64 including tax and shipping.

Black Granite Spark ev 2015

I'm new to these forums. Quick question, how did you get that price for the bosch unit?? Thanks for the help :D
 
I bought the same unit - 30amp and 18' cord for $174 out the door. BUT, I haven't installed it anywhere. Still in the shipping box. I figure I'll use it for the BOLT. I ended up buying a 2013 model of the Panasonic EVSE for $425 - new and upgraded with a L6-30 plug on it. Truly portable. I then had an L-30 outlet put in the garage for $600. But, now I'm covered. And when the Bolt comes out, I will sell the Panasonic and buy a 30 amp portable and put a pigtail on the Bosch and install it in my garage, so when I move I can just unplug it. Having a portable unit is awesome. I have adapters to plug it in anywhere. I've used a friends dryer outlet many times.
 
I hope you used a 40 amp circuit not the dryer 30 amp circuit. That Bosch unit requires 40 amps of protection and a #8 wire. :geek:
 
stevej said:
I hope you used a 40 amp circuit not the dryer 30 amp circuit. That Bosch unit requires 40 amps of protection and a #8 wire. :geek:

No problem - I won't be installing the Bosch at the place I rent, but eventually will use it wherever I'm living when I buy the Bolt or Model 3. :)
 
I just got mine installed today. Total cost $113 for the 30A 18 ft each. I bought 2 since I have 2 Sparks at home.
Total Materials cost for 2 40A breakers, 125 ft of 8G romex, 25 ft 1/2" flexible plastic conduit, some 3/4" plastic conduits, metal brackets: $150

So I cut the wire in 40 ft & 60 ft sections, then go from Main panel about 10 ft into the crawspace.
Then, the wires exit at opposites sides of the house, and use some of the flexible conduit for the exterior portion (~4-5 ft) and mount the units about 3 ft above ground.
Took me about 5 hours with my dad helping me inside the crawspace :D
 
KingUltra said:
I just got mine installed today. Total cost $113 for the 30A 18 ft each. I bought 2 since I have 2 Sparks at home.
Total Materials cost for 2 40A breakers, 125 ft of 8G romex, 25 ft 1/2" flexible plastic conduit, some 3/4" plastic conduits, metal brackets: $150

So I cut the wire in 40 ft & 60 ft sections, then go from Main panel about 10 ft into the crawspace.
Then, the wires exit at opposites sides of the house, and use some of the flexible conduit for the exterior portion (~4-5 ft) and mount the units about 3 ft above ground.
Took me about 5 hours with my dad helping me inside the crawspace :D
Nice work! Come do my house. LOL
 
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