HPWC mounting and cord length questions

kf93 · Jul 31, 2015

I'm in the planning stages of getting a tesla soon. We have solar on the house and I was going to install a HPWC in the garage. However due to the geometry and current furniture in the garage the most likely parking spot for the tesla is in the spot opposite the house supply panel, with our other vehicle right next to the wall where the supply box is on the other side. From talking to an electrician the easiest charging install would be to just run a foot or two of 220 through the wall from the supply panel to inside the garage, but then the HPWC cord would drape on the ground behind the other car across the garage to charge the tesla.

outside supply--wall--planned HPWC location-- non tesla car--- tesla car-- wall

So that leads me to a couple of questions:
How long is the cord for the HPWC, will it stretch across a 2 car garage to charge a car sitting on the other side from the wall?
Is it possible to occasionally drive over the cord or is that a big problem?

I guess the alternatives are (1) park the tesla on the side next to the charger, (2) run the charge cable on the ceiling and drop it down where the car is, but the garage door would hit it when raised or (3) mount the HWPC on the opposite side of the garage, requiring a longer install run of wiring.

SteveS0353 · Jul 31, 2015

kf93 said:
I'm in the planning stages of getting a tesla soon. We have solar on the house and I was going to install a HPWC in the garage. However due to the geometry and current furniture in the garage the most likely parking spot for the tesla is in the spot opposite the house supply panel, with our other vehicle right next to the wall where the supply box is on the other side. From talking to an electrician the easiest charging install would be to just run a foot or two of 220 through the wall from the supply panel to inside the garage, but then the HPWC cord would drape on the ground behind the other car across the garage to charge the tesla.

outside supply--wall--planned HPWC location-- non tesla car--- tesla car-- wall

So that leads me to a couple of questions:
How long is the cord for the HPWC, will it stretch across a 2 car garage to charge a car sitting on the other side from the wall?
Is it possible to occasionally drive over the cord or is that a big problem?

I guess the alternatives are (1) park the tesla on the side next to the charger, (2) run the charge cable on the ceiling and drop it down where the car is, but the garage door would hit it when raised or (3) mount the HWPC on the opposite side of the garage, requiring a longer install run of wiring.

The HPWC charge cable is about 25 feet long, with about 1" outside diameter. I would not recommend driving over the cable. It's alway preferable (and a bit cheaper to install) to have a shorter feeder length from the breaker to the HPWC. If you opt for that, a simple solution would be to interchange the cars in your garage. I doubt the cable is long enough to comfortably traverse a 2-car garage on the ceiling, even if the garage door would not interfere with it. But with suitable sized feeder cable, locating the HPWC in the most convenient location will work just fine.

Here's what I did ...

After some practice, backing the car into the garage is pretty easy with the rear camera display, backup lines on the display and parking sensors. I installed a couple of brackets on the side of the cabinet on the right of the picture, behind the car, and when I unplug the car, I use the brackets to keep the cable out of the way.

FlasherZ · Jul 31, 2015

Easiest is to swap locations in the garage if you can do that.

If not, it will cost you about ~$5/ft to extend the wiring, and I would put the HPWC where you expect to park the Tesla. Don't stretch the vehicle cord any longer than you have to.

m6bigdog · Jul 31, 2015

kf93 said:
I'm in the planning stages of getting a tesla soon. We have solar on the house and I was going to install a HPWC in the garage. However due to the geometry and current furniture in the garage the most likely parking spot for the tesla is in the spot opposite the house supply panel, with our other vehicle right next to the wall where the supply box is on the other side. From talking to an electrician the easiest charging install would be to just run a foot or two of 220 through the wall from the supply panel to inside the garage, but then the HPWC cord would drape on the ground behind the other car across the garage to charge the tesla.

outside supply--wall--planned HPWC location-- non tesla car--- tesla car-- wall

So that leads me to a couple of questions:
How long is the cord for the HPWC, will it stretch across a 2 car garage to charge a car sitting on the other side from the wall?
Is it possible to occasionally drive over the cord or is that a big problem?

I guess the alternatives are (1) park the tesla on the side next to the charger, (2) run the charge cable on the ceiling and drop it down where the car is, but the garage door would hit it when raised or (3) mount the HWPC on the opposite side of the garage, requiring a longer install run of wiring.

The cord is 25" and no you don't ever want to drive over the cord!!!
Not only damage the cord, but it could damage the HPWC or charge port/connector if tension is exerted on the cable as the car drives over the cable.

My suggestion is to bite the bullet and install the HPWC on the wall adjacent to the MS charge port, so you only have a couple of feet separating the HPWC/charger cable and the charge port.
I was going to do the install the easy way also (single car garage) but I'm glad I did it right by locating the HPWC close to the charge port!! Even my wife is very willing to plug in the car because it is as easy as it gets.

The ease and convenience of plugging in the charger cable cannot be over looked as it will be a daily occurrence and if it includes any extra effort (rolling up a dirty cord) it will be something you deal with each and every day as you own, use and garage the car.

jerry33 · Jul 31, 2015

Bear in mind that the effective length is shorter than 25' because you don't want stress at the connection points.

MorrisonHiker · Jul 31, 2015

Do you have two single car garage doors or one large two-car garage door? If you have two doors, one recommended location would be between the doors. That way it could be used by either car. That's where I had one of my 14-50 outlets installed.

http://www.teslamotors.com/sites/default/files/downloads/US/universalmobileconnector_nema_14-50.pdf

http://www.teslamotors.com/sites/default/files/downloads/universalmobileconnector_nema_14-50.pdf

I guess those links are both for installing a 14-50 outlet but they give you an idea of what to consider when planning an installation. I suppose it could be different for the HPWC.

Hmm. Looking at the two files, I guess they show it could be installed just about anywhere close to the rear (or driver's side) of the car to be charged. The HWPC does have a longer cable than the UMC so that could give more options.

kf93 · Jul 31, 2015

thanks for the recommendations. Above the garage is the master bedroom and we have one two car door, so between the doors won't work. I think swapping the cars will have to be the first choice, I need to move some shelves around to make room for the other car on the other side but I think I can make it work. The reminder about making it as easy as possible since it will be a 2x daily event was a good one, it needs to be easy and simple for both of us.

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HPWC mounting and cord length questions

kf93

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SteveS0353

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FlasherZ

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m6bigdog

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jerry33

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MorrisonHiker

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kf93

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