PSA - Keep Those EV Power Cords Tidy

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swaltner

Well-known member
Joined
May 25, 2013
Messages
114
Location
Wichita, KS
Just a PSA for everyone to keep those EV power cords tidy, really pay attention if you need to walk over one, and avoid what I've gone through over the last two months.

On Memorial Day weekend, I parked the Leaf at home and did what I've done almost 1,000 times before in 10 months of ownership, walk over the power cord to head inside. This time, not successfully. I apparently stepped on the cord with one foot, caught my other foot on the cord, tripped and fell to the floor dislocating and fracturing my shoulder. No stairs were involved, I just fell flat on the floor and hit "just right". The fracture was both on the humerus (the ball) and the glenoid (the socket) of the shoulder. A week later, open (not laparoscopic) surgery to fix the fractures with a plate, numerous screws, bone grafts, etc.... I'm currently six weeks out from surgery and still a long way to go on the road to recovery. The fractures are close to being healed (the pain has mostly subsided), so Physical Therapy starts in a couple weeks where I'll try to get my range of motion back. Being in my early 40's, and with the apparent success of the surgery, I should be able to fully recover. The original estimate before the surgery was a 4-6 month recover total.

In the past, I always mocked the Health & Safety group at work. I work in a technology company and they would write us up for having extension cords laying on the floor between rows of computer hardware. I guess I won't be mocking them any more and might become the Extension Cord Nazi at work. :)

I've had people joke that I need to put my medical expenses into my spreadsheet for tracking expenses on my vehicles. Oddly enough, even if I put it all my medical expenses, it only pushes out the payback time for purchasing the Leaf out a month or two. I drive about 1,000 miles per month and I replaced a pickup that got about 13 mpg as my daily driver. In 1 year and 10,0000 miles, the cost per mile of my Leaf is already down to what my pickup cost me over 11 years and 98,000 miles on a per mile basis. I kept the pickup as my ICE vehicle for long trips and to tow the trailer the couple times a year that I need that.

Just be careful out there. This was not how I wanted to spend my summer. :(
 
Damn, sorry to hear that, that's absolutely awful!

This is the reason that I have a dog leash with some weights hanging off the ceiling, so it pulls the cable up 2 feet or so in the air, can't miss it (and when it's not in use, it holds the J1772 plug, so the cable/plug never touch the floor).

Good luck with the recovery!
 
Wow... That is awful. I wish you a speedy 100% recovery.

My fear with the cord has always been stepping on it and damaging the cord itself. I have almost tripped over mine a few times.
 
We have two such cords in the garage, with two EVs.. Thus doubling the chances of something like this. I have actually tripped on the cord for the Leaf once. Fortunately, I didn't injure anything. I was more concerned about having damaged the cord or the J1772 socket on the car. Fortunately, both survived.
 
Swaltner: Great post, although it is unfortunate that you had to endure the injury. I took a similar fall last year, tripping over a rake that fell just as I walked out of my garage. I was being careful not to trip over the trickle charge cord(which was on the floor)and in doing so, knocked over the rake. That's all it took, as I stumbled forward 10 feet or so, trying to catch my balance. Of course that was a miserable fail, and I landed hard on the asphalt of my driveway. Besides having the wind knocked out of me, I had bruises all over, hurt for at least a month. But, nothing broken, thankfully. After that I raised the cord up over the car, placing the brick(my Mitsubishi I-MiEv has basically the same unit as Nissan)in the storage area and running the cord over by the wall and hanging it at spots from the heavy duty U hooks that yard tools hang from. Ended up being a good idea, and I should have done that from the get go. Oh well, live and learn.

In regards to the Safety Committee, I work in Risk Mgmt for an international retailer, and we see just what you mentioned...cords strung out on the floor, or power strips daisy chained together. The local stores' employees sometimes think we are just being picky, but the fact is that accidents happen, so anything that you can do to avoid breaking your shoulder or causing a fire, is a good thing.

Hope your recovery is speedy!

Lou
 
My solution to the cable on the floor issue (for me it is dirt on the garage floor due to living on a dirt road in the snowbelt) was to run it along the ceiling using bicycle hooks:
14379452051_af1e04ac6f_z.jpg


Although there are several others here who run the cable along the garage ceiling, I've long been puzzled that more EV owners don't do this. Not only does it reduce tripping hazards, it reduces the chance of damage to the EVSE/cable.

I hope the OP has a speedy recovery and appreciate the "PSA".
 
perhaps others have higher ceilings than that

dgpcolorado said:
My solution to the cable on the floor issue (for me it is dirt on the garage floor due to living on a dirt road in the snowbelt) was to run it along the ceiling using bicycle hooks:
14379452051_af1e04ac6f_z.jpg


Although there are several others here who run the cable along the garage ceiling, I've long been puzzled that more EV owners don't do this. Not only does it reduce tripping hazards, it reduces the chance of damage to the EVSE/cable.

I hope the OP has a speedy recovery and appreciate the "PSA".
 
kieranmullen said:
perhaps others have higher ceilings than that
My eight foot ceiling is pretty standard but for those who can't reach that high, or have higher garage ceilings, it is pretty simple to rig some sort of a sling or extension to hold the plug and cable lower, where it is readily at hand. Others have done this. Someone here was even playing with a retractable reel, although I think that would be more trouble than it is worth.

It helps to place the final attachment hook directly over the charge door when the car is in its usual parking spot. That way the loop of cable won't be in the way when walking around the car.
 
I had a Schneider EVLink 240v station installed in May. One of the selling points was the included cord storage. About half of the other EV charging stations I checked out had no place to put the cord and plug; you had to find something yourself. Having the integrated cord storage means I am not tempted to leave the cord where it can bite me.
 
lion said:
Damn, sorry to hear that, that's absolutely awful!

This is the reason that I have a dog leash with some weights hanging off the ceiling, so it pulls the cable up 2 feet or so in the air, can't miss it (and when it's not in use, it holds the J1772 plug, so the cable/plug never touch the floor).

Good luck with the recovery!

Having a hard time picturing this - can you supply a photo?
Thanks
 
Others have dealt with this issue before...

https://www.flickr.com/photos/gereports/4993249421/in/set-72157624963317860/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
 
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