From a Prius Prime owner

And the manual warns against the use of extension cords.

The extension cord also looked to have some damage .

Good reminder .

 

I bought this extension cord to use for my PRIME. 12/3 SJEOW 25ft. (also available in 50ft or 100ft) rated 15A. It remains super flexible even in sub-zero temp. So far working great. Absolutely no heating up.

 

And don't crush the wire under the garage door or anything else.

 

meh

been using an extension cord for 7 years

 

Indeed!

I have used an extension chord at my mom’s place, but it’s a monster-thick sucker, rated at 16A. Even that was getting a little warm — barely noticeably so, but definitely. I was looking for, but couldn’t find, one rated at 20A.

Of course, even with a properly-rated extension cord, you still have to be very cautious of the rating of outlet you plug it into. Then again, outlets are (well, should be!) breaker-protected.

 

people do stupid things unfortunately. some learn the hard way, what can you do?

 

Video guy was foolish, plain n simple.

You can't use crap extension cords and get away with it.

If you need to use an extension cord, a high QUALITY extension must be used, use the shortest length possible to do the job.


Rob43

 

I love charging in the snow and seeing the extension cord melt a trench in the snow
HOT, especially on those frigid nights, than ICE in the morning.

 

I bought this 20 amp extention cord on Amazon.
Works great!
AC WORKS Heavy Duty Durable Extension Cord (25FT- % 125V) - - Amazon.com

 

Closing a garage door on a cable can damage the cable and possibly cause a short circuit .. .. it blames the wrong gauge of its inexpensive extension BUT now it does it on its original charging cable .. This guy in this video did not learn anything from his little adventure ... he only delayed the fire of his house.

 

Can't fix stupid.

Surprised he didn't daisy chain some power strips to add some flair to that setup.

As many on this forum know, you CAN use an extension cord with a Prime as long as follow common sense:

• Buy a high quality cord rated for that amperage (12 gauge or thicker). No cheapo one from your local hardware store!
• Keep the length as short as possible. Don't use a coiled up 100 ft cord when a 10 ft one will do!
• Protect the cord from the environment/weather/other sources of damage.

 

Yes... the problem looks like the cord was damaged by the edge of the metal garage door. The burn marks were likely caused by arcing from the cord to the grounded metal door.

If the door has a fat and compressible weather strip, he might have gotten away with his make-shift method of plugging in his car. But getting away with something does not make it a good idea.

Odds are that the edge of the garage door eventually will damage anything run under it. "Extension cords must not be used as a replacement for standard electrical wiring for a building. Never use an extension cord where it is put through a hole or opening in a wall, inside a dropped ceiling or under flooring. It is against the National Electrical Code to connect extension cord wiring through doorways or other structural openings like windows."

 

I sometimes charge outside my garage, too. I made a little bridge to protect the cord from the door. It cost nothing since I made it from a couple pieces of scrap wood and a piece trimmed off of a spare piece of vertical blind stapled to the wood to make a little tunnel for the cable. Since it's only a little over an inch high and the door has a bottom gasket, the door doesn't even know it's there.

 

I run my charging cable under my garage door all the time. I use a scrap of wood to protect the cord from being crushed. But how would one properly install a charger outside a garage? Install an exterior outlet on the outside of the garage? I've been meaning to come up with a more permanent solution one of these days, but I guess I don't know what a more permanent solution should look like?

 

How much pressure does it take to crush the cord? Is the door opener adjusted correctly, or does it need readjustment?

From installing a garage door opener long ago, I seem to remember a mandatory adjustment procedure for both final position and maximum down-force. The basic idea was to prevent killing a human or amputating a body part fallen under the door. The down position shouldn't be so far down as to compress the bottom gasket enough to cut an extension cord. Nor should the opener push down with enough force for a blunt (non-knife) edge to cut the cord, but instead should reverse and pull up if it encounters that much resistance.

All this should be well documented in the installation instructions. Just in case anyone else ever reads such items, or retains them for future reference.

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Normally when having reason to close the garage door on an extension cord, I place a board of equal or slightly greater thickness next to it, to take any load. But on the occasions that didn't happen, there where no signs of compression or indentation on the cord jacket.

 

Hard to say. It will depend on the size of the pressure point and how often it gets repeated in the same spot. And different cables will have different levels of protection. The Prime's EVSE cable does not feel particularly strong to me. I do my best to not even step on it although I'm sure an occasional step won't hurt.

 

If you’re going to be hard on your stuff, expect to replace it more often.

 

This is how I do it:



This is an outdoor GFCI outlet on a dedicated 20amp circuit. I also added a 6in, right angle extension cord so all I literally have to do is just plug it in:

 

by the same logic, it was ok to reuse & reuse & reuse the O-rings on the space shuttle Challenger's SRB's ...... until it wasn't. If you have to do such things contrary to what the manufacturer says, you should have at LEAST buy one with #10 wire .... it'll decrease your odds of disaster.
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