Block heater with break-away magnetic connector

Just to clarify: The break-away would attach to the male plug at the car's grill?

 

wow, I wasn't even aware that breakaway plugs were available for
120vac rather than just safe low-voltage. If you figure out who
makes it for the fryers, please post it. Hmm, maybe some running
around at the hubbell and eagle and leviton sites might turn up
something..
.
_H*

 

Ari,

Were you able to find out any more about the potential of creating a magnetic breakaway cord or connector for the Prius EBH?

A week ago, my neighbor showed me his magnetic breakaway cord on his fondue pot. I was intrigued for sure

Since then, I too have been researching various sorts of breakaway cords. I looked at more mechanical methods first. But I am fearful of the pulling force required for them and what that sort of stress does to the conductors. Even with a fixed receptacle under the bumper (vs. a dangling cord).

Found some nasty truck fires where the fire investigation suggested that the cause may have been related to stressed insulation and/or the wire itself within the cords.

I am just trying to prevent the inevitable when I back out of the garage after forgetting to unplug

Jim

 

The fire service uses outlets (inlets?) that use a spring to eject the extension cord when the ignition is switched on. While more complex than a magnetic connection, the parts are available.

Here's one: Kussmaul Electronics Co., Inc. Super Auto Eject Data Sheet , though not a model I'm familiar with. The linked page says it is wired to the starter circuit, but the ones I've used are linked to the ignition, and you can hear the cord spring out of the ejector and strike the floor (or wall).

 

Thanks for the link. Great products at Kussmaul. Not sure I'd want that big receptacle on my Prius but I may put one on my truck for a battery tender. I have a truck that sits 95% of the time and is used for towing an RV only. I could put one of those in the rear bumber (diamond plate aluminum and large enough).

But I really like that auto-eject feature and will continue to research this. Not sure if anyone has seen the inside of their front bumper for any reason (crash repair etc). Wondering if it's packed with sensors for air bag deployment of if one of those receptacles could be put in from the back-side, say behind a hinged license plate bracket???

I realize that this talk is sort of the "lazy man's way out" but it can also be a safety consideration on that one day a year I leave the house "stupid" for some reason.

Jim

 

Not to worry, eventually, one of the plugs going to the EBH will pull free. I've driven off [to work] and forgot to unplug the EBH a few times. Either the NEMA 5-15 plug from the car will pull out of the extension cord, or the extension cord will pull free from the outlet in the house!

Would you please measure the gap between your fry'ers magnetic plug? If it's 0.5 in, then that's a normal width for NEMA plugs. You could solder/glue some steel blades in a normal female plug and hope that the steel will hold the magnet in place... Or just allow the steel blades to bend out of the femal NEMA cord.

 

Another possibility:

The tension of the car backing out will damage the wiring of the EBH before the plug lets go.

 

I also would be very interested in something of this nature. I've seen them on my deep fryer, electric skillet and quite a few more newer appliances. I will soon be picking up an 08 Touring and I don't expect to see warm weather for a while now in NE Ohio. I have a wall outlet right in front of my garage bay that will be ideally suited for a block heater on a timer.

I was thinking of installing a very low wattage red light that would be on anytime it is plugged in and placing that right in front of the car so that I can't miss it when backing out in the morning. I can easily see myself forgetting it otherwise.

Anyone who manages to track down a simple solution will have my eternal gratitude.

David

 

I can't find anyone that sells just the plug. You could try retrofitting one of these. The cord pulls out of the back of it. You could solder leads into the two holes meant to go to the fryer and attach a plug, and connect the EBH to that.

 

I'm working with a small start up building a magnetic breakaway device for block heaters (easyplug.ca). We are still in the process of building our prototype but I was wondering how much you guys would pay for a magnetic connector.

 

Well if you ever want it tested on a Prius, I could give you my opinion.

Wayne

 

From the web site, it looks like the company doesn't actually make ANYplugs yet. Wonder how far out their time line is.

.

 

this would be nice for a plugin plug.. just drive away in the mornig after a charge

 

I realise that this is an old thread. I was not able to check easyplug. I assume the venture did not live up. However, I did discover magnoplug (sorry can't publish URL yet) which seems to be fairly recent. Oddly, their kickstart funding failed. Looks like they still have a good attitude and from their press release, they seem to be going ahead anyway. I'll certainly contribute if their create a new funding opportunity.

 

You could attach a 1/16" steel cable to the wall and to the body of the plug of the extension cord. Make the cable a couple of inches shorter than the cord. It will pull out the plug with no tension on the cord as you drive away.

For discussion/educational purposes only. The usual caveats apply. This may be a stupid idea, check with U.L. laboratories, a competent engineer and anybody else you might need to before actually doing this. Blah blah blah.