Does the Ford mobile charger require a 4 wire or 3 wire setup

[OttawaGuy]

It might have been posted somewhere but I have not found it!

Having a little discussion with my electrician on what is required. For hardwired home chargers, you only need a 3 wire setup (neutral not required). But for the mobile charger, in a 14-50 plug, those it need a 4 wire from panel to outlet?

I would guess it does but he seemed to mention that I didn't need it. I would rather have the proper wire installed from the start to ensure it will work if I need it someday!

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[aamyotte]

I am not certain about the wire, however I would suggest that the wire is rated for 60amp for future flexibility. The cost difference would be negligible and future proof the installation.

 

[timbop]

If you're hardwiring then almost every EVSE I've seen doesn't need the neutral. Can't say for Canada, but for the US to be code compliant with a 14-50 plug you need all 4 wires. The cost in material won't be that much more, I would just have him run 4 conductor for a 14-50.

 

[OttawaGuy]

Don't worry in going 60A all the way... Will install a 48A hardwired charger (overkill say the moment but thinking future needs) and on that same circuit I asked him if he could do a nema 14-50 outlet as a safety net in case the charger malfunctions, I would have something to plug my mobile charger in...

Otherwise I'd be screwed.... And the outlet will really never be used. He said it's not usually buy nothing prevents it...

So one 60A breaker in panel going to a little subpanel with a 60A for charger and a 50A for the outlet... I'll just select between the two by switching breaker on and off of ever I need to

 

[OttawaGuy]

If you're hardwiring then almost every EVSE I've seen doesn't need the neutral. Can't say for Canada, but for the US to be code compliant with a 14-50 plug you need all 4 wires. The cost in material won't be that much more, I would just have him run 4 conductor for a 14-50.

Exactly what I was telling him but he kept saying I could save by not running a 4wire 60A rated

 

[CHeil402]

Exactly what I was telling him but he kept saying I could save by not running a 4wire 60A rated

You can just run 3 wires if you're hardwiring it (for the ones I've seen so far), or adding something like a NEMA 6-50 outlet... but if you're installing a NEMA 14-50 outlet you need all 4 wires.

Technically it would cost more if you run 4 vs 3... but really it's not a big cost (unless you're going hundreds of feet) in terms of overall project cost. And it certainly costs less than trying to add it in later. There are other posts on here about the advantages of an outlet vs hardwiring, such as you pointed out, you can easily replace the EVSE if it breaks without an electrician / messing with wiring.

And you're future proofed if they add vehicle-to-grid in the future which will need a neutral.

 

[TheVirtualTim]

I had mine wired for four ... I didn't want to have any reason to need new wiring run in the future.

As a result, I can use one of these:

https://acworks.com/collections/res...4-50p-to-4-household-outlets-with-20a-breaker

If you use 1 leg of the 240v and the Neutral wire, you get 120v power. This means you can use an adapter to allow that outlet to be used for 120v devices when not using your EVSE.

There are lots of low-cost 240v to 120v adapters that work ... but there's a problem. A 120v AC outlet should not draw more than 15 amps (NEMA 5-15R) or 20 amps (NEMA 5-20R) ... but the breaker on a NEMA 14-50 is likely a 50 amp breaker. This means a 20 amp device could be in trouble and smoking ... and the 50 amp breaker wont trip. I viewed this as a good way to burn the house down.

SO... I did a lot of searching until I could an adapter that included a 20 amp breaker built into the outlet.

It's convenient for me because the ONLY outlets in my garage are near the back wall and I always wanted an outlet near the front wall (the ones in the back are hard to reach).

 

[TheVirtualTim]

I learned the answer.

The Ford Mobile Charger does not use the neutral.

HOWEVER... I am told that National Electric Code requires that when using a NEMA 14-50 receptacle, the neutral wire must be connected.

My interpretation (I am not an electrician) is that the mobile charger would work (it wont care that there is no neutral wire) but would fail the inspection if your city inspector were to learn that the neutral is not actually connected. (Apparently running 3-conductor wire to a NEMA 14-50 outlet is not compliant with code.)

I had my electrician pull four-conductor wire.

 

[RyZt]

I asked my electrician to put in the neutral after I noticed that he's trying to only pull 3 wires. He complied. He didn't have white wire on hand, so he used a pink wire. The inspector noticed it and pointed out that relabeling is not allowed for wire of such gauge, and asked that it be replaced with a white wire. So he had to redo it. Not my problem.

As a home owner, I don't see any benefit in skimming the neutral wire. If you agreed on the price for wiring a 14-50 socket, it should be reasonable for anyone to assume that it will be a properly wired 14-50 socket, which requires a neutral wire.

The question you're asking really only matters when you found out that a pre-existing 14-50 outlet is wired without neutral, and it would cost hundreds of dollars to get an electrician to fix it. At that point, I may just live with it if all I need the outlet for is EV charging.

 

[timbop]

You can just run 3 wires if you're hardwiring it (for the ones I've seen so far), or adding something like a NEMA 6-50 outlet... but if you're installing a NEMA 14-50 outlet you need all 4 wires.

That's what i was trying to say.

 

[CHeil402]

That's what i was trying to say.

Agreed. Sorry, I wasn't trying to say otherwise just trying to add some additional information. I quoted the guy that quoted you

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