Protecting Charge Cable When Charging Outside

[Ohmster]

Use Case: Any BEV
Requirements: Home Charging w/ Garage
Materials: PVC pipe and elbows (1/2")
Tools: PVC Cutter & Glue
Difficulty Scale (1-10):

It's wonderful in the BEV world to be able to charge at home. If you do, you probably have an outlet or a Wall Connector. And that's great for charging 99% of the time. But what if you can't put the car in the garage for some reason? There are four choices....

1. Don't charge
2. Remove the reason you can't charge in the garage
3. Charge with garage door open
4. Charge with the garage door closed and pinching your power cable

OR

Buy a simple molded cable protector from Amazon or use my little 'gizmo'. Why not buy? The one we purchased was hard for my wife to fit the cable on (the diameter of the channel for the cable was almost the same as the cable itself) and it actually left indentations.

The 'gizmo' comprises of two lengths of PVC. It does not touch your cable at all. You can use straight or hooked like mine. Eight elbows, and 6 smaller pieces of PVC. All easily purchasable at your local DIY for around $10. Time to assemble is about 10 minutes if you have never made a diorama for your kids.

I liked the curved pieces of PVC as it's easy to tell someone how/where to place it. All you do is put the 'gizmo' over your cable straddling the point where your garage door would contact the cable....see pictures below.

Enjoy!

 

[White Shadow]

That's interesting. But honestly, I'd probably mount a wall unit externally, on the outside garage wall. Or at least a 240V outlet. Should be pretty easy to do on just about any garage.

My garage door has a bottom seal that's a like a big rubber tube, so it will close on a large cable without pinching it and still allow the garage door to be fully closed.

 

[Ohmster]

That's interesting. But honestly, I'd probably mount a wall unit externally, on the outside garage wall. Or at least a 240V outlet. Should be pretty easy to do on just about any garage.

My garage door has a bottom seal that's a like a big rubber tube, so it will close on a large cable without pinching it and still allow the garage door to be fully closed.

We had heavy wooden doors. The weight permanently damaged a cable I tested it with from a broken wall connector. We have two WCs for the S and Y in the garage. I didn’t want to put another one outside for the occasional external charging needs.

 

[White Shadow]

We had heavy wooden doors. The weight permanently damaged a cable I tested it with from a broken wall connector. We have two WCs for the S and Y in the garage. I didn’t want to put another one outside for the occasional external charging needs.

Yeah, that's understandable. I was considering putting a 240V outlet just outside the garage for family & friends.

 

[Trialman76]

I picked this up on Amazon and it’s working great so far.

SplashNcolor EV Charging Cable Garage Door Pass Through Garage Cord Protector https://a.co/d/dGFmp6h

 

[Ohmster]

I picked this up on Amazon and it’s working great so far.

SplashNcolor EV Charging Cable Garage Door Pass Through Garage Cord Protector https://a.co/d/dGFmp6h

That's great. It's the one I had ordered but was too difficult for my wife to use. Glad it works for you.

 

[P3dStealth]

I picked this up on Amazon and it’s working great so far.

SplashNcolor EV Charging Cable Garage Door Pass Through Garage Cord Protector https://a.co/d/dGFmp6h

Wow $20! that's just a 3d printed tunnel. Its something anyone can make on free programs like to tinkercad or you can just download for free from this link.

EV Charge Cable Garage Door Pass by bobobbybob

If you have an electric vehicle charging station in your garage but want to keep your car outside then you will need to run the charging cable under the garage door. This crushes the charging cable and can damage the casing or cause a short. This pass will cover the charging cable so that the...

www.thingiverse.com

 

[ElectricCanuck]

I use 6” section of 2x4. Works great!

 

[GtiMart]

I just put a kids mini plastic hockey stick besides the cable as it's the same thickness. Takes the major part of the pressure, good enough.

 

[NRVM3]

My garage door has a bottom seal that's a like a big rubber tube, so it will close on a large cable without pinching it and still allow the garage door to be fully closed.

My garage has a bottom tube seal as well. I put a dowel the same diameter as the charger cable inside the tube. It’s about one foot narrower than the door. The charger cable is placed under this one foot section. Perfect. No pinching at all.