WannabeOwner
Well-Known Member
Any tips on where to source good quality extension cables rated to handle EV charging in any weather conditions?
Mine came from Industrial Extension Leads. The important points are "tough impact resistant plug" and "industrial H07RN-F tough rubber cable" which will take plenty of abuse / scraping on tarmac and so on.
The cable is going to be running at max AMPs for hours on end, personally I wouldn't use anything undersized or the least bit damaged. Also check that the plug doesn't get warm (which may indicate that the house wiring isn't up to it ... old wiring in a garage etc. might well not be suitable for continuous running, flat out. You can dial-down the AMPs from the dashboard, so if plug gets more than lukewarm I would move the car / cable to a different socket, e.g. nearer the distribution unit in the house or reduce the AMPs.
If the cable is on a reel then FULLY unwind it first - and scatter about a bit, rather than coiling ti up neatly!
Important that the Socket is protected by RCD (or you piggy back an RCD adaptor), something else that dodgy old wiring at in the Relies Garage might be deficient on ...
There seems to be a general concensus not to run close to the limits on cable size vs length.
I bought "next diameter size up" on the grounds that the cable will be "longer" by virtue of the UMC length, and possibly it might get joined to something else in extremis.
How do I make use of the Blue industrial adapter 16A?
needs a Commando Socket. I have one, in addition to my Wallcharger, for Belt and Braces. its pretty flimsy pushing the UMC in/out, so I wouldn't want to be doing that often (or: if that is a requirement I wold get a more robust one). It should really have an interlock - i.e. when you turn the "switch" on it locks the plug in. You can get ones that you can pull the plug out whilst it is live ... if you are buying one anyway then best to get something better than that.
I thought this one looked good for £20:
Always staggers me that Companies don't put chapter and verse on their websites ... it would make a buying decision much more likely. No mention of the cable size, I could say "looks a bit skinny" but I'd only be guessing.
IP54 is "splash resistant" rather than "waterproof"
A same-length cable from Industrial Extension leads is a quid more, and I reckon more likely to be "bomb proof" ... but I've had plenty of other gear from Screwfix over the years, no complaints ... and the covered socket thingie will be handy.
We currently only have access to a 3 pin socket,
Just on a general point:
Losses from 13AMP will be greater than a 7kW wallcharger. Whether the numbers are significant I don't know (they appear to be in TeslaFi, but I dunno how it figures out what the Supply Power vs. Battery Gain is without a meter at the supply end!)
If you precondition the car on Shore Power it will make a significant dent in that 13 AMP supply ... so if you need to both Charge and Climate then charge rate will be significantly slower. Not a problem for most people, most of the time, mostly!