Charge Point Cabinet, Antidote to Ugly Charge Points?

[Jason71]

Apart from the Anderson A2 pretty much all the home charge points out there are pretty ugly in my opinion and even if the charger itself is not too bad (EO mini is fairly subtle) if its tethered, then the cable and plug look messy. My charger needed to sit right on the front of my house and the aesthetics bothered me. I considered an Anderson but it would not fit my prefered location, a 35cm wide brick pillar. There is also the issue of the cost and the 3 month lead time so what to do......
In the end I put the charger (Rolec) inside my garage which is on the other side of the aforementioned pillar and brought the tethered cable through the wall to the outside but I still wasn't happy even with just the cable coiled up on the outside. So in the end i went custom and had a cabinet made for the cable. I'm pretty pleased with the result.

Obviously I only had the cable to worry about but there is no reason why you could not put something similar over the the whole charge point. This one is made from Aluminium. The only issue I can foresee with one that houses the entire charger is the possible blocking of the "smart" mobile signal, though some might consider that a plus .

 

[Russinating]

Nice. Where did you get it made or is this your day job?

 

[drewpost]

I really like that. Nicely done! Our M3 is in our garage now but when we can replace my wife’s car with an EV, well need something outside and this fits the bill perfectly. Bookmarking this!

Question- did you detach the type 2 connector end in order to pass the cable through the garage wall and then reattach it on the other side?

 

[Jason71]

Nice. Where did you get it made or is this your day job?

Noo I work in IT. It was made by a local engineering firm i have had some dealings with through work. Their main business is actually home cinema, projector screens, projector lifts, av racks etc most of which is laser cut, welded, powder coated metal all of which they do in house so they can do one off stuff easily that requires the same processes. I got a bit of a special deal but I asked him what he would charge if anyone saw mine and asked and he said you would be looking at maybe £400. I guess that might sound like a lot but bespoke stuff always is and i guess its less than the difference in price between a Rolec and an Anderson!
I don't know if I am allowed to post the details here, not sure if there are rules about "advertising" but I have no financial interest in the company myself so here goes. https://www.puretheatre.com/ (if you did contact them ask for Chris)

 

[Gatsojon]

Nice neat job

 

[Avendit]

11/10 for awesomeness. Custom made stuff always rocks . Great that it hides the cables too. I'd be tempted by a floor standing/touching equivalent so I didn't have to be quite so neat with the coils!

 

[Jason71]

I really like that. Nicely done! Our M3 is in our garage now but when we can replace my wife’s car with an EV, well need something outside and this fits the bill perfectly. Bookmarking this!

Question- did you detach the type 2 connector end in order to pass the cable through the garage wall and then reattach it on the other side?

No. I unbolted the white garage door frame from the pillar. Made a channel in the bricks and brought the cable under the bottom of the wood and up between the two and into the channel. I sleeved it with some plastic conduit to protect the cable from the bricks. Its not very neat inside the garage but I don't care about that. disconnecting the cable might have been an easier option but this only took an hour or so and I didn't want to invalidate my warranty on the charger or anything so I opted for this route.

 

[arg]

Question- did you detach the type 2 connector end in order to pass the cable through the garage wall and then reattach it on the other side?

If you were going to do that, the thing to do is detach the entire cable assembly at the chargepoint end. That's easy to do with almost all chargepoint designs (and ultimately it's a service item - these cables will get damaged/wear out).

Taking the Type2 connector off the end of the cable on the other hand is almost impossible as they are usually crimped - so it's a case of cutting the cores, obtaining new crimp pins and needing a crimp tool that's enormously expensive if you don't happen to have access to one.

 

[Jason71]

If you were going to do that, the thing to do is detach the entire cable assembly at the chargepoint end. That's easy to do with almost all chargepoint designs (and ultimately it's a service item - these cables will get damaged/wear out).

Taking the Type2 connector off the end of the cable on the other hand is almost impossible as they are usually crimped - so it's a case of cutting the cores, obtaining new crimp pins and needing a crimp tool that's enormously expensive if you don't happen to have access to one.

Thanks. good to know. if I needed to do it again I probably would do it that way. I was just reticent to dismantle my 2 day old charge point at the time. If I ever need to do it again I guess it would be to replace the cable so would have to be done that way. i would probably turn off the power first though

 

[Jez_GB]

No. I unbolted the white garage door frame from the pillar. Made a channel in the bricks and brought the cable under the bottom of the wood and up between the two and into the channel. I sleeved it with some plastic conduit to protect the cable from the bricks. Its not very neat inside the garage but I don't care about that. disconnecting the cable might have been an easier option but this only took an hour or so and I didn't want to invalidate my warranty on the charger or anything so I opted for this route.

You said you worked in IT as if that meant you weren’t handy - sounds like you are handy enough