Placement tips for wall charger?

[charlieaf92]

Greetings

Really excited to be purchasing a Model 3 in the near future. In preparation I'm getting a wall charger ready to go. Unfortunately our two car garage features a support pole in the center, which means my wife's driver's door isn't accessible if she parks on the right. So, she will continue to park on the left and that means I will have the Model 3 on the right side of the garage.

Right now I'm planning on putting the wall charter near the garage door, on the wall so that I can walk the cable around the rear of the car to plug it in. It isn't perfect but I can't see a better configuration unless I was to park on the left side.

Figured I'd make a quick post here to see if anyone has tips/tricks/learnings or things they wish they'd done differently in terms of charger placement. Any ideas input is greatly appreciated!

FYI I went with the 18' charger cable because I figured there could be situations in the future where I'd want to charge a friend's car in the driveway.

Thanks in advance!
Charlie

 

[Biscuitman]

Greetings

Really excited to be purchasing a Model 3 in the near future. In preparation I'm getting a wall charger ready to go. Unfortunately our two car garage features a support pole in the center, which means my wife's driver's door isn't accessible if she parks on the right. So, she will continue to park on the left and that means I will have the Model 3 on the right side of the garage.

Right now I'm planning on putting the wall charter near the garage door, on the wall so that I can walk the cable around the rear of the car to plug it in. It isn't perfect but I can't see a better configuration unless I was to park on the left side.

Figured I'd make a quick post here to see if anyone has tips/tricks/learnings or things they wish they'd done differently in terms of charger placement. Any ideas input is greatly appreciated!

FYI I went with the 18' charger cable because I figured there could be situations in the future where I'd want to charge a friend's car in the driveway.

Thanks in advance!
Charlie

Congratulations on the soon to be M3.
Could you simply back into the garage ?
The 2nd Gen Chargers were superior as they had a 25’ option , not sure why they went down to 18’.

 

[charlieaf92]

Congratulations on the soon to be M3.
Could you simply back into the garage ?
The 2nd Gen Chargers were superior as they had a 25’ option , not sure why they went down to 18’.

Good question, and something I've considered actually. My gut feeling is that it would become a hassle to back in vs. pull straight in. I've never owned a car with the added parking aids that the Tesla has though, so perhaps it wouldn't be difficult. Do you back in?

 

[RoBoRaT]

Greetings

Really excited to be purchasing a Model 3 in the near future. In preparation I'm getting a wall charger ready to go. Unfortunately our two car garage features a support pole in the center, which means my wife's driver's door isn't accessible if she parks on the right. So, she will continue to park on the left and that means I will have the Model 3 on the right side of the garage.

Right now I'm planning on putting the wall charter near the garage door, on the wall so that I can walk the cable around the rear of the car to plug it in. It isn't perfect but I can't see a better configuration unless I was to park on the left side.

Figured I'd make a quick post here to see if anyone has tips/tricks/learnings or things they wish they'd done differently in terms of charger placement. Any ideas input is greatly appreciated!

FYI I went with the 18' charger cable because I figured there could be situations in the future where I'd want to charge a friend's car in the driveway.

Thanks in advance!
Charlie

A picture of your garage and location of the Main Electric Panel will help give us a better picture of your situation.

I'll give my 2 cents in a sec....

Here's my setup. 2 car width garage with 25' HPWC (Gen 2) with some slack to reach across front in parked EV. Our electric panel is just opposite wall of the HPWC. I picture yours is mirror opposite of my garage.

 

[Biscuitman]

Good question, and something I've considered actually. My gut feeling is that it would become a hassle to back in vs. pull straight in. I've never owned a car with the added parking aids that the Tesla has though, so perhaps it wouldn't be difficult. Do you back in?

I live in a home built in 1919, so my garage is detached and too narrow for my car.
I have the charger located on the side of my home and charge the car in the driveway.
You should have no problem backing in I would think.

 

[KenC]

Greetings

Really excited to be purchasing a Model 3 in the near future. In preparation I'm getting a wall charger ready to go. Unfortunately our two car garage features a support pole in the center, which means my wife's driver's door isn't accessible if she parks on the right. So, she will continue to park on the left and that means I will have the Model 3 on the right side of the garage.

Right now I'm planning on putting the wall charter near the garage door, on the wall so that I can walk the cable around the rear of the car to plug it in. It isn't perfect but I can't see a better configuration unless I was to park on the left side.

Figured I'd make a quick post here to see if anyone has tips/tricks/learnings or things they wish they'd done differently in terms of charger placement. Any ideas input is greatly appreciated!

FYI I went with the 18' charger cable because I figured there could be situations in the future where I'd want to charge a friend's car in the driveway.

Thanks in advance!
Charlie

I would consider backing in. The backup cam is quite good, large screen, fairly bright camera. The screen lines don't match the sides of the car, but you can paint lines, or tape lines on the floor of your garage so you can match the screen lines, and get perfect alignment.

If that doesn't work for you, some people have figured a way to hang the charge cord, even with a garage door. That might improve the convenience of plugging and unplugging every day.

 

[animorph]

This is how my second wall connector is placed, in the front of the garage on the wall on the passenger side of the car. I have to walk around the back of the car to plug it in. It's in a double-wide garage. The first charger is mounted at the front of the garage on the other side, so it is on the drivers side of the car we use the most. That's the ideal position if it works with your wiring and parking.

If you get a long enough cord (we have Gen 2 24ft here) you can have the connector at the front of the garage and still reach the charge port if you back in. So I thought that was my most flexible installation. We have the 8ft cord on the first charger, so it is not as flexible but is neater.

The one thing I don't like about walking around the back of the car is that the length of cord required is enough to drag on the floor if you let it. You'll need to handle the cord, not just the plug, and it gets a bit dirty in our garage.

There are a few members who have routed the cord on an arm from the ceiling. Just pull it down to the charge port! If you are handy that might be an option for you. While I could do something like that mechanically, it would look crappy, so I stuck with the wall mounting. That's something you could add later.

Think of your traffic patterns in the garage. How are you going to walk around the garage with the cars plugged in? Is it convenient enough to plug in each day? There was one installation thread I remember where not blocking the motorcycle space was a key.

 

[sewing1]

My NEMA 14-50R is by my electrical panel at the front of my garage. I back in. The backup cameras really make it easy. I now prefer it to driving front first into my garage.

 

[CharleyBC]

In our old house, it was on the left near the garage door, just perfect for charging a Tesla. In our new house that didn't work out easily for assorted reasons, so I installed it on the right. Walking the cable around the car has proved to be far less of a nuisance than I predicted. I sort of nudge it under the rear bumper so it's not getting stepped on when accessing the trunk.

I seem to recall seeing photos where someone had installed the charger overhead on the ceiling or a beam, and the cable hung down in just the right place for left-rear charging.

 

[freeAgent]

I would always choose to place the plug/charger near the garage door/driveway rather than deeper into the garage. The reason being that if in the future I need to charge my car in the driveway or I have a friend with an EV that they need/want to charge in the driveway it's possible and/or much less hassle. Walking the cable around the car is not difficult.

 

[GT!!]

A support pole in the middle of the garage ... wow what a bad design! Do you have two single garage doors or a double door? If singles, perhaps you could put the charger between the two? I've seen this done even when the space is very tight. Otherwise I think your plan is the only option unless you want to try to do something custom hanging from the ceiling or could you attach it to the support pole in the middle?

 

[I<3URANUS]

I put mine directly under my panel. Was very easy to install.

Edit, I do tend to back in now though.

 

[AZAV8R]

Greetings

Really excited to be purchasing a Model 3 in the near future. In preparation I'm getting a wall charger ready to go. Unfortunately our two car garage features a support pole in the center, which means my wife's driver's door isn't accessible if she parks on the right. So, she will continue to park on the left and that means I will have the Model 3 on the right side of the garage.

Right now I'm planning on putting the wall charter near the garage door, on the wall so that I can walk the cable around the rear of the car to plug it in. It isn't perfect but I can't see a better configuration unless I was to park on the left side.

Figured I'd make a quick post here to see if anyone has tips/tricks/learnings or things they wish they'd done differently in terms of charger placement. Any ideas input is greatly appreciated!

FYI I went with the 18' charger cable because I figured there could be situations in the future where I'd want to charge a friend's car in the driveway.

Thanks in advance!
Charlie

That’s where I put mine. Works fine there.

 

[charlieaf92]

Thanks for all the great responses everyone! Yes, there is a pole right in the center of my garage (part of the house is directly above and needs the support). It is awful for parking and opening doors - and because it is just a 2 car garage the space between the cars, with the pole, can be hard to even walk past when going up the center because the car mirrors are generally right there at the pole as well.

The panel is on my wife's side, so I spent the day running conduit up the wall, across, towards the garage door, and down. The wall charger will be a few feet from the garage door opening, on the passenger side of the Tesla. I may attempt backing in and see how I like it, but I've generally found that I'm in more of a hurry when I get home than when I'm leaving - so the added time/effort to back in probably isn't worth it for me. A lot of it will also depend on spacing to open the driver's door relative to the pole and/or the garage wall if I back in.

Thanks again - can't wait to officially join the community!
Charlie

 

[drtimhill]

Right now I'm planning on putting the wall charter near the garage door, on the wall so that I can walk the cable around the rear of the car to plug it in. It isn't perfect but I can't see a better configuration unless I was to park on the left side.

Dont forget with an EV its ok to back in (with ICE cars you should not do that to avoid CO poisoning). Though backing in would not be my first choice (tricky). I think your idea is fine, provided you dont mind maneuvering the charge cable each day (it's quite thick and heavy).

 

[Philly 2222]

Greetings

Really excited to be purchasing a Model 3 in the near future. In preparation I'm getting a wall charger ready to go. Unfortunately our two car garage features a support pole in the center, which means my wife's driver's door isn't accessible if she parks on the right. So, she will continue to park on the left and that means I will have the Model 3 on the right side of the garage.

Right now I'm planning on putting the wall charter near the garage door, on the wall so that I can walk the cable around the rear of the car to plug it in. It isn't perfect but I can't see a better configuration unless I was to park on the left side.

Figured I'd make a quick post here to see if anyone has tips/tricks/learnings or things they wish they'd done differently in terms of charger placement. Any ideas input is greatly appreciated!

FYI I went with the 18' charger cable because I figured there could be situations in the future where I'd want to charge a friend's car in the driveway.

Thanks in advance!
Charlie

I have a similar reality in my garage, however I've found (over the past year) that the very small reality of walking the cord around the car is not an issue at all. Placing the charging unit in closest proximity to my Electrical panel saved significant dollars on the installation. The Tesla unit came with a length of cord that was easily long enough to reach either side of my garage (as well as outside if I chose to leave the car plugged in outside of the garage - rarely). Backing in is do-able however like you are thinking I almost never back in. Having the home charging set up has been fantastic and a small inconvenience (rarely noticed once you begin using it). Good luck with the new wheels - best car ever!

 

[jrweiss98020]

Can you drop a post from the overhead, between the cars? That would also help future-proof in case you decide you want to park on the other side some day...

 

[vickh]

Thanks for all the great responses everyone! Yes, there is a pole right in the center of my garage (part of the house is directly above and needs the support). It is awful for parking and opening doors - and because it is just a 2 car garage the space between the cars, with the pole, can be hard to even walk past when going up the center because the car mirrors are generally right there at the pole as well.

The panel is on my wife's side, so I spent the day running conduit up the wall, across, towards the garage door, and down. The wall charger will be a few feet from the garage door opening, on the passenger side of the Tesla. I may attempt backing in and see how I like it, but I've generally found that I'm in more of a hurry when I get home than when I'm leaving - so the added time/effort to back in probably isn't worth it for me. A lot of it will also depend on spacing to open the driver's door relative to the pole and/or the garage wall if I back in.

Thanks again - can't wait to officially join the community!
Charlie

Car mirrors are a factor for me too with a tight space, I wish there was a way to disable auto unfold and just use camera. Also lately there's more delay with auto leveling too so I end up using camera anways.

 

[PianoAl]

Definitely back in. It's fun. Here's a video showing my guide lines that make it easier:

Since that video, we got rid of the truck (great decision), so now it's so easy that even my driving-averse wife can do it.

As long as the cord can reach, I don't think you can make a wrong decision. The car won't let you drive away when plugged in.

 

[Sam1]

The 2nd Gen Chargers were superior as they had a 25’ option , not sure why they went down to 18’.

probably to do with power loads over 25’ and the cable getting too hot.