Charging in the middle of the garage

[tjbonzo]

I park on the right side of a two car garage which means the charge port is in the middle of the garage. I rigged up a way to have the charge "handle" suspended in the middle above my charge port. I can easily pull it down and plug in, then unplug and lift it out of the way. I use a J1772 with adapter - but no reason this won't work with a wall connector (assuming the cord is about 3/4" thick). DISCLAIMER 1: I am not a carpenter. Carpenters please look away now. DISCLAIMER 2: My garage is not a show room, it is a garage. Neat freaks look away now.

2 10' 1x4 boards
3 5/16" 3.5" bolts with washers (12) and nylon lock nuts(3)
6 608ZZ bearings (lots to choose from on Amazon)
Scrap 1x2 boards, about 8-10" (6) (or use some of the 1x4 board)
1 used Gatorade bottle + some sand (counterweight)
A bunch of 1.5" screws (or whatever you have laying around)

Hopefully the attached photos are enough to give you an idea of how it works. The 1x4 boards are scabbed together and span the 16' garage. The 1x2 boards suspend the bearings that the cord rides on. The Gatorade bottle is wire-tied to the cord near the charger and allows me to simply lift the charge handle up to the top of the contraption and stay there until I need to plug in.

 

[Kuhz]

 

[BluestarE3]

The counterweight is my favorite part.

 

[tjkessler]

I like the bearing idea, what does the bungee cord do?

 

[Hkbruin]

I like your first attempt at this! I’ve been considering something similar but with a swivel arm or an articulating arm. I imagine there could be some considerable weight depending on how much cable is suspended. My concern is the height of the arm, as it would need to be high enough not to hit the glass roof or back glass, and lower than the garage door rolled up. Yours seems to meet all those criteria!

 

[tjbonzo]

The bungee cord (and rope) was left over from my original attempt. I previously used a rope with a turnbuckle to span the width of the garage. The bungee cord helped support the charging cord. Now I'm just using the 1x4 to store my rope, bungee, ...

The main obstacle was to find something to span the garage under the garage door. I considered conduit (to heavy and flexed too much), rope (not structural enough for hanging pulleys - my bearings are really just home made pulleys), metal 2x4 studs (wood is easier to work with).

The bottom of the span is 6'8" off the ground. I occasionally bump my head on the charge handle when the car is not in the garage, but have learned to walk around it finally .

Some "gotchas" if you try this setup.

1. Make sure the automatic garage door attachment will clear your 1x4.
2. Make sure your trunk will open without knocking into your 1x4 span.
3. If your counterweight is too heavy it pulls at the cord when charging - Gatorade+sand is easy to adjust.
4. Might consider 3 stacked bearings instead of 2.
5. Angle the pulleys down to help with the cable "retracting". Wall pulley is lower than handle pulley.
6. The "pulley" at the handle end is positioned over the car NOT in the center of the garage where you walk when two cars are parked.

 

[eprosenx]

The bungee cord (and rope) was left over from my original attempt. I previously used a rope with a turnbuckle to span the width of the garage. The bungee cord helped support the charging cord. Now I'm just using the 1x4 to store my rope, bungee, ...

The main obstacle was to find something to span the garage under the garage door. I considered conduit (to heavy and flexed too much), rope (not structural enough for hanging pulleys - my bearings are really just home made pulleys), metal 2x4 studs (wood is easier to work with).

The bottom of the span is 6'8" off the ground. I occasionally bump my head on the charge handle when the car is not in the garage, but have learned to walk around it finally .

Some "gotchas" if you try this setup.

1. Make sure the automatic garage door attachment will clear your 1x4.
2. Make sure your trunk will open without knocking into your 1x4 span.
3. If your counterweight is too heavy it pulls at the cord when charging - Gatorade+sand is easy to adjust.
4. Might consider 3 stacked bearings instead of 2.
5. Angle the pulleys down to help with the cable "retracting". Wall pulley is lower than handle pulley.
6. The "pulley" at the handle end is positioned over the car NOT in the center of the garage where you walk when two cars are parked.

View attachment 364572

So why not swap which car is parked in which position so you don't have to stretch the wires over them? ;-)

 

[tjbonzo]

So why not swap which car is parked in which position so you don't have to stretch the wires over them? ;-)

I can park my car much closer to the wall than my wife, so if I park on the left we can easily walk between cars, BUT I couldn't open the driver door. If I park on the right then I squeeze it very close to the wall and we can walk between cars AND I can open the driver door. The Prius is plugged into 110V (plenty for it's 12 mile range battery), but we can easily plug into the 240V charger if it needs a quick boost.

 

[JBare]

I can park my car much closer to the wall than my wife, so if I park on the left we can easily walk between cars, BUT I couldn't open the driver door. If I park on the right then I squeeze it very close to the wall and we can walk between cars AND I can open the driver door. The Prius is plugged into 110V (plenty for it's 12 mile range battery), but we can easily plug into the 240V charger if it needs a quick boost.

Probably don't want to use Summon on the regular but if so then you could swap?

 

[VT_EE]

I solved this problem by installing two wall chargers (one on either side) and buying an Tesla -> J1772 adapter. No bungee cords required

 

[jkoya]

I park on the right side of a two car garage which means the charge port is in the middle of the garage.

Nice write up !! I'm in the same situation as you. We have the same Schneider EV Link as you for our 2016 Volt and a Tesla HPWC for the Model 3. I've just been walking behind the rear bumper and plugging in as I never thought of what you posted.

 

[Dana1]

I can park my car much closer to the wall than my wife, so if I park on the left we can easily walk between cars, BUT I couldn't open the driver door. If I park on the right then I squeeze it very close to the wall and we can walk between cars AND I can open the driver door. The Prius is plugged into 110V (plenty for it's 12 mile range battery), but we can easily plug into the 240V charger if it needs a quick boost.

Model 3 has Summon. The wall charger has a thicker, relatively heavier cord than what the cord in your pictures appear to be. If you still want to Rube Goldberg the garage why not use fairleads and a pulley which are easily available at any marine store and won’t damage your cords?

 

[cpa]

You're not Rube Goldberg's grandson by any chance?

 

[Sophias_dad]

Looks great, but I'd much prefer if you'd used a continuous 2x4x16'. It would also naturally give a bit more space to the cable passing through the bearing holders.

I bet a good pull will bring that 1x4 down on both your cars, where a 2x4x16 would hold more than most people weigh at the middle of a 16' span.

 

[ArcticStation]

@cpa "You're not Rube Goldberg's grandson by any chance?"