Swing Arm Ideas for Cable?

[billhoke]

Hey all,

I just got my LEAF, and already I'm thinking that cable management is kind of clumsy for something I may be doing multiple times per day - unwinding the cable to plug it in and then winding it back up on the spool provided on the Blink. I'm wondering if any of you have purchased or crafted any nifty swing arms (or other gizmos) to park the plug in the air above the car's charger door.

I looked at existing swing arms on the market for water and air hoses, such as at http://www.ultimatewasher.com/car-wash-equipment.htm but the prices are high and of course they are designed for a different purpose.

Pipes, however, are cheap ... what about something made from commonly available supplies at the hardware store? Any thoughts?

Thanks!

Bill

 

[Gonewild]

That is way to complex when all I have to do is unloop one round of the cord to plug my car in.

 

[derkraut]

That is way to complex when all I have to do is unloop one round of the cord to plug my car in.

+1. My Blink plug-in connector is less than 4ft from the Leaf charging access door.

 

[billhoke]

Yeah, I thinking I'm coming to the same conclusion: a swing arm is overkill.

Not completely deterred, though, I went back out and used a few bungie cables to run the charger cord across the rafters to directly over the charger door, with just enough stretch to plug it in without straining the connection. That seems to work fine.

Score two points for the path of least resistance.

 

[OrientExpress]

I have a very tight garage with almost every inch being used. The Blink cable management reel was simply way too big, and since the Leaf is parked directly in front of the charger, I came up with a simple yet effective solution.

I first took the car cable and figured out how much cable I actually needed, and then wound up the balance and zip-tied it together and to the 220 plug cable.

I went down to Home Depot and got a $2.99 "J" hook and screwed it to the adjacent cabinets after asking my wife how high to place the hook so she could easily store the cable when not in use. I also secured the car charger cable with a strain relief to keep the wound up portion of cable out of the way.

This solution has worked great for us, and it just cost $2.99.