Outdoor cover or box for UMC "wand"/connector?

[ilyak]

Hi Folks,

I recently had a wall connector installed in my garage. However, my garage is a bit of a ways from my house, so I occasionally leave the car out in the driveway. I have a NEMA 14-50 in my basement near a window, so I've put together a window cover that allows me to pass the UMC cord through to the outside while keeping the unit itself inside. This gives me a spot to plug the car in while it's in the driveway next to the house for day use. However, there's no easy way to place the "wand" connector end of the UMC indoors when it is not in use. As I live in a somewhat nasty climate, I am concerned about leaving the connector exposed to the elements when the car is in the garage or I am using it. I've been putting the connector into a SockIt box to keep it dry, but that's not very convenient to do every time, so I was wondering is anyone has come across any outdoor covers or enclosures for the connector end of the UMC. I would prefer to avoid installing a larger electric box type cabinet if possible.

Thanks!

 

[ilyak]

After doing some more research, I think that a while-in-use type outlet cover can work if I manage to find one that is tall enough to accommodate the UMC connector. So far I've not been successful.

 

[srs5694]

I don't know if the car end of the Mobile Connector is the same as the car end of the Wall Connector. If so, it should be reasonably weatherproof, since the Wall Connector has a NEMA 3R weather rating. Thus, if the plug ends are identical, you should be able to use any of several holsters, such as Tesla's Cable Organizer or various similar products available from third parties. Quite a few designs are available on Thingiverse, if you (or a friend, local library, etc.) have a 3D printer. The EV charge plug holster I've seen with the best weather protection is Clipper Creek's holster. It's designed for a J1772 plug, but you could use it with a Tesla plug with the help of my J1772-to-Tesla holster adapter (another 3D printing design; you'd need to print it yourself or have somebody print it for you). Even Clipper Creek's holster isn't what I'd call weatherproof, though; it just keeps the worst of the rain and snow off the plug. For something truly weatherproof, you'd need a NEMA 3R or NEMA 4 enclosure. It would need some sort of seal through which the cable would pass, and I don't even know if anything fitting that description exists.