99% of the time, I park inside my garage (where my NEMA 14-50 is installed). On occasion, I would like the option of leaving the car in the driveway with the garage door closed. Any ideas for how to nicely run the carging cable through a wall (e.g., a little door or some such thing)? It is a cinderblock wall...
Run it under the garage door. I doubt that your door is going to have any problem with the cord. And I doubt the cord will be damaged by your door. Put something over it if you are super worried.
My ActiveE (awaiting lease expiration before the Model S can come) charged just fine in the garage, but its parking space is now, um, "busy." So I park it outside and the charging cable fits quite nicely under the roll-down garage door. Should this become unappealing / unavailable, I can always use a J1772 charging cable "extension cord" to run a length around and out a side window. Don't know if there is a Model S charging cable "extension cord," though. (If not, there's a marketing opportunity for someone.) Of course there all kinds of extension cords for an ordinary 115v circuit, but I don't think that is what you have in mind... -- Ardie And an "extension cord" could come in handy if you are ICE'd at the local public charging spot.
I've done exactly that many times with my Roadster HPC cable, so that Teslas passing through could top up.
Thanks for the ideas - my garage door opener is sensitive enough to send the door back up even if it hits something quite small - might need to cut a notch somewhere in the floor for the cable...
I run my cable under the door but didn't like the way the door deformed the sheath. I figured it would be trouble in the long term. So, I tacked 2" HVAC pipe insulation along the length of the bottom edge of the door with roofing cement. Inexpensive stuff. Weatherproof (SoCal weather). It's been there 2 years without trouble. Snug enough to keep the leaf blower debris out but not so tight that I can't tug the EVSE cable through with the door down. It sounds like you still might need to adjust your door limit switch though.
Get a diamond blade and a small rotary grinder, if you don't have one, then cut a channel for the cord to sit in under the garage door. Works great.
This is what I do! It's so easy/convenient that I have slacked off on clearing out the garage. (blush) One day, I promise . . . but till then, I have yet to park in my garage. The soft rubber stuff at the bottom of the garage door is fine. I even checked with Tesla when I got the car--they said they drive very heavy things over UMC cables and that I shouldn't worry. ;-) - - - Updated - - - Wow, that's sensitive--so you've tried it? (You don't actually say you have.) Originally I'd thought of cutting a round hole in the garage door and making some kind of sealing, grippy thing (so I wouldn't have to worry about rain getting in) to bunch up around the cable.
Most modern garage doors has a little screw that lets you adjust the sensitivity of the strike sensor. Example:
It's usually the position of the door when closed that you're actually adjusting. You don't even need to do this. If you're handy with the remote, you can stop the door just before it hits bottom. In fact what I do is leave a 2" gap, and leave the paddle just barely exposed. That way the person borrowing my charge cable can fish it out, then slide it back into the garage when he's done with it.
Just a FYI, per the NEC (National Electric Code), Running a Extension Cord through a wall is a No Go. Though, I am not sure exactly for under a garage door. I do that myself to charge my Electric Alfa Romeo. I believe it would be ok as long as the cord is not Pinched, but that is not quoting the code.
The charge cable isn't an extension cord and Tesla says not to use an extension cord with the car, period. Does the code consider an EV charge cable an extension cord?
No, the coupling means is not considered an extension cord. However, the uses not permitted for flexible cord (including types EV, EVJ, EVT, etc.) is governed by a set of rules defined in 400.8: So technically, no, 400.8(3) would prohibit running it through the door.
Flasherz is correct, it is not a Extension cord, though, a flexible power cord as such, is not permitted through a wall.