EV cable future planning

devil84

devil84

devil84

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Hi all

Please help.

I am currently having patio re-laid and thought it might be good opportunity to run an EV charger cable from fuse board into garage and to follow same route where my solar was done.

Do people know what cable I need.

I won’t be connecting it at this stage. Just have it ready for future so I don’t have re-lift the patio.

Will need about 20 metres
 
Jasoncmor said:
Use EV ultra cable, this incorperates the data cable.
Do you have a 3 phase installation in your property, or are you single phase?
What charger do you plan on installing? That will help determine what CSA cable to use.
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I don’t know if it’s a 3 phase or single phase. I also have no idea what charger I would get. Thought I just future proof before patio is laid down or don’t you think it’s worth it?
 
tamzzy said:
most will run some high tension cable wire through the conduit at the time of installation
when you come to use the conduit, you tie/tape the leccy cable to the cable wire and pull through
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Interesting. Can you recommend me a conduit? So just lay the conduit under the patio? I don’t wonder if the wire will get caught and I can’t pull it out in future
 
Jasoncmor said:
@devil84 if you are only single phase, then its pointless getting a cable with the 2 extra cores, and its more expensive, a 3 x 10mm ultra ev cable would more than suffice, single phase car chargers top out around 7kw i think which is around 32a, with length of run and power draw, 10mm cable will be spot on.
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Thanks. Can you recommend me a cable ?
 
the conduit just needs to go through under one slab. Everything else is on the externall . Hard to explain without a pic

So it goes like this

Consumer board is on drive
Run cable from consumer board on external wall to opposite garage (1 metre away now)

From dig a trench and feed cable under trench. Once on other side, the cable will need to into garage
 
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Jasoncmor said:
its called ev ultra cable, taking into account your 20m run, and adding 5 meters extra for getting to the board and charger, accounting for volt drop, you could actually use 6mm.
How far is your consumer unit from where the cable will enter the house?
Also, do you have enough space in your consumer unit for a breaker for the EV charger, and also a surge protector?

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Thanks I have gone for a similar cable. 6mm as you said. 20m run is the max. I think it could be 15/16 metres but ordered bit extra to be safe

Do you think this cable will be out of date in a few years. As I am not 100% sure when I will get the EV car but I think it will be sooner than later.

Also can I check please. Read somewhere that the cable loses current if buried. The cable will only be under one patio 60cm of the 15 metre will buried.

Will I be ok?
 
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Can also some recommend what conduit i can lay down as I may want to pull a cat 6 cable through in further for internet
 
Jasoncmor said:
The maximum output on current car chargers is currently 7.4kw which equates to approx 32amps.. you could push the cable to 40amps, but such chargers don’t currently exist for a single phase installation, and I don’t see manufacturers pushing the chargers much further, due to the limitations of single phase installs. The next step would be a 3 phase charger which are around 22kw, but you’d need a 3 phase supply fitted to your property which would cost you a few k’s by the network, so unless you plan on going 3 phase and getting a bigger charger, the cable you have will be sufficient.
Volt drop will be minimal on the length of cable and with how much you’ll be burying so I wouldn’t worry.
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Thank you for putting my mind at ease ok that. Just wanted to make sure I am not making an error in terms of logic
 
Sorry I am new at this, so are you saying just lay this down horizontally. How will I get access to it once patio is laid down?
 
Hiya

Really appreciate this.

So here is what i am think to put below my single patio (pathway between my house and garage for context). As you can imagine it’s a really a small run under patio.

1. Lay down the Ultra EV cable with cat 5 now (as already bought it)
2. Lay down this 25mm conduit to i can fish through a cat6 cable in future
3. Would you lay down another 25mm conduit to future proof

Do i need to put a wire in for 2/3 so anything in future can be fished through

b0rn2sk8 said:
I'd suggest using a flexible conduit, plenty of choice at CEF, Nylon or PVC is fine:


Pick one twice the size of the cable you'd expect to use for the charger and can be glanded in at each end. A 6mm 'EV Ultra' type cable in SWA is about 22mm so a 50mm conduit will be plenty big enough. You'll be able to squeeze in some other table like Ethernet for networking down to the garage (wifi, cameras etc) or potentially another power cable for standard circuits.

Why not stick in 2 ducts while you are there for future expansion, that is the OCUK way.
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b0rn2sk8 said:
Yes, put in a pull cord in the conduit.

Of those options on the Amazon link, I would get the bigger 32mm conduit and put in place a suitable adaptable box (wiska box) at each end to gland the conduit into. Bigger is easier to pull through.

Make sure you protect the ends of the cable, any water getting into it will ruin it. Leave plenty of slack at each end.
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Thanks, the 32mm conduit has arrived. How much slack would you put on each side after it comes out of ground. 30cm each side?

I can’t see to find any wiska box that will take teh 32mm conduit. Do you mind giving me a link on amazon?

How do you suggest i protect the ends of the cable - with what?

Sorry for the questions but all news to this and want to get it right.

Can I bung it up with something like this?

 
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b0rn2sk8 said:
I think most wiska branded boxes only have 20mm knockouts anyway. You’d need to use a box without knockouts and make your own hole with a hole saw or step bit - that’s standard practice.

You don’t need to bung them if they are glanded into a box with the bits in the kit you linked.

As do slack either side for the conduit, that just depends on where you want to ‘end it’. If you gland it into a box, you just need enough to get you to where the box will be mounted.

That comment was aimed the cable for the charger. You need to leave good a meter from where it will be terminated to make sure there is plenty of length to make the relevant terminations inside the charger/consumer unit.

As for protecting the ends, plastic bags and tape that will stand up to water. Multiple layers to give it its best shot. I’d get it installed sooner rather than later.

Could the garbage end not go into the garage itself? Most chargers have an option for rear entry and that saves having surface clipped cable where possible. The cable is SWA isn’t it so it can be directly buried?
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Thanks again for this. Really appreciate it.

The kit I got did not come any box. Just the conduit and some adaptors you see on pic. So therefore can i just bung it on the non-garage side. Re Ultra EV cable, i am not installing it just yet now. I just want to do some future proofing and give me flexibility for future.

When you say garage end, do you mean feeding the conduit directly into garage now . Yeah I think that would be a good idea actually. It will then just mean all i need do is bung the non-garage end.

The plan is to put 2 32mm conduits down.

1. Will be for future Ultra EV cable
2. Ethernet Cat5/other power

Any other suggestions or do think I have all based covered now?
 
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