Plug-in charger cable organizer?

I have been meaning to contribute to this thread too.

First I tried this and it sucked!
150 ft. 16/3 Capacity Carrying Strap-K-175 at The Home Depot

I returned it and bought this one.
CableTiesAndMore Online's Store-Medium Cable Clamp® - Orange

I bought it at home depot but for some reason I couldnt find it on their website to provide a link.

They come in 3 sizes. I bought a large one for my 50' 12/2 ext cord and a medium for my toyota evse.
They work great! I highly recommend them.

 

Toyota suggets you do not wind up the cable while in use.

 

Went to Habor Freight today, and purchased a $5 dog leash. Works pretty well actually, I secured an eye bolt to the supports in the garage attic, so it's a pretty smooth action. I did have to weigh down the holder a little, so the cable would stay up in the air. Would love to find a leash which is either motorized or has a much stronger retractable mechanism.

 

Ingenious!

 

Thanks, Electric Charge for the idea. I picked up the dog leash, but it didn't have any retractable power. Could have been a bad one. Instead I picked up the bike hoist kit and used the two pieces to make a manual hoist.

 

The leash definitely isn't strong enough to retract. In order to pull up, you hold the cord in place, let the leash retract some of the cord (without the weight of the plug/cable), then use the stop to pull more cord down (which pulls the plug up), and repeat.

Definitely not a great solution, but I have 2 cars parked next to each other, so I had to do something, since I didn't want the cable to block/hit any of the cars when entering the garage. I also have been thinking about using a pulley system (since I haven't been able to find a motorized/powerful retractable leash) maybe using an old wiper motor and an occupancy sensor, which brings it down whenever the PiP pulls in the garage.

 

Just a quick update ...

After using this setup for a while now, I am pretty happy with the leash. I now unwind the cord completely, so my garage door won't push on the cord, which would in turn put stress on the plug. I can unhide/plug the car in within seconds (will have to take a video), and once I am done, it's pretty easy to pull it out of sight, which is what I really wanted.

I might motorize the leash retraction mechanism, but for now this will do. I'm still looking for other solutions whenever I am at a hardware store, but if you have a garage with an open ceiling, I do recommend this cheap approach.

The only caveat now is that you have to leave the charger cable at home, which might be an issue if you have the ability to charge at work.

 

I had debated how and where to store the cord for a few months. I finally decided to try this method. A garden hose hanger. I cut it to accept the cord into the frame of the hanger. I melted the cut plastic so it would be smooth and not damage the cord and painted it a few weeks later.

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That camouflage looks surprisingly convincing!

 

I'm planning to cut a little door in the exterior of our garage addition (it's a storage area) so that we can store the charger inside. Ideally, I would love to find a reel that retracts, so that we could just grab and pull the plug to the car and then give it a tug to have it return. Would that little bit of tugging be bad for the cord? If not, does anyone else use a retracting reel that they could recommend? The simple alternative would be to just coil up the cord manually and slide it out of and into a box or something.

 

I just coil mine up and keep it in the car so it's always available.

Tugging on the cord wouldn't hurt as long as you're not swinging on it like Tarzan. Just don't tug on the plugs or anything other than just the cord.

 

wrapping the cord around a wheel would require the wall plug end to spin, no?

i just coil mine up on a garden hose hanger.

 

I've been pondering that question as I look for a better way to handle my 100 foot long #10 extension cord for my electric lawn mower.

 

think of a hose reel, the female end is always seperate, and doesn't move. the male end is on the reel, and is connected with o-rings.

the only other way to do it is to have the wall plug spin around on the reel. i think.

 

They do make cord reels that do that, but the good ones are rather expensive ($90-200). Doing that with an EVSE would be quite a trick.

 

yes, i have an overhead one in my barn, it's pretty sweet. i usually just use it for a work light. i also have a compressor reel that does the same.
but they are purpose built. how to retrofit an evse?

 

Probably possible, but is it worth it? I have my L2 cable strung along the front of metal shelving and tucked underneath with the car end of it draped over the top corner of a shelf two feet from the charging port. Not elegant, but you can't get more convenient.

 

exactly, works for me.

 

Yeah, a reel may not work. I may need to use a tool or hose retractor. I just need to figure out how to set it up so the plug can be pulled or retracted from the outside.

 

I went the easy route and just cut a notch in the outer door for the cord/plug and mounted a holster. I was going to use a cordpro, but it didn't really seem to make things easier than just coiling the cord and putting it on the holster.