Where did you mount your home EVSE in the garage?

[Deleted member 12643]

Hi folks,

I'm looking into leasing a '14 Leaf and have been researching EVSEs and have a question about garage mounting locations. I plan on having a 240v outlet installed and most likely get the Clipper Creek HCS-40P with the NEMA 14-50 plug.

Is there a recommended location to mount them in the garage that provides the best flexibility? Did you have it mounted in one spot, but regretted it and wished you had it mounted somewhere else? I plan on parking the Leaf on the right side of the garage for the most part, and the 25ft cord will reach the Leaf if I have it parked outside the garage (~19-20' deep).

The subpanel in my 2 car garage is at the rear wall of the garage, directly in the center. Entry door to the home is on the left of the rear wall. The main panel is on the (outer) right side of the garage, right by the meter. Does it make any difference whether to have the EVSE connected to the subpanel or the main panel (assuming the subpanel is able to handle the load)?

thanks in advanced for any tips!

 

[alcalira]

My garage already had so much stuff blocking the walls (workbench, shelving, HVAC equipment) that there was only a small patch of wall on the side available. So we parked the LEAF on that side and kept most of the cord coiled up. Now that we have two LEAFs I'm finding that I can park them both facing forward in the garage and the cord easily reaches both cars.

I don't think there is any "best" place--it all depends on your situation. One thought--if you plan on parking outside to charge sometimes, perhaps mount the EVSE nearer to the garage door and back your LEAF in when parking in the garage?

I don't know about the panel questions. We had an unused electric dryer outlet in the garage, so I just had the electrician disable it and run a line from the junction box in the attic to the EVSE location and install an outlet there. Our EVSE (Leviton) plugs into that.

Remember you don't absolutely have to have your Level 2 EVSE ready when you bring your car home for the first time. Trickle charging overnight, and public charging during the day, does the trick for many of us, and will give you more time to research and plan the installation.

You will love your new LEAF!

 

[davewill]

I agree, there's no "best place". They all have drawbacks. I originally had mine mounted on the wall in front of the two parking spots, figuring I could reach either car. Made sense from a LEAF perspective. That was fine until I got the RAV with the charge inlet on the left rear. I couldn't reach it at all in one spot, and in the other it was decidedly "in the way" when plugged in. Backing in worked OK, but I didn't like doing it, and I was sure I would scrape the car sooner or later if I continued.

I ended up moving the EVSE to the wall beside the spot I was using. From there, I get out of the driver's side and immediately grab the plug and plug it in. It worked with both the LEAF and the RAV. It won't reach the other space, but if I ever end up with two plugins to park, I'll just have to bite the bullet and put in a second circuit and EVSE.

 

[smkettner]

In the front of the garage between the kitchen door and workbench. Never an issue with LEAF.

The cord can be seen plugged into the 14-50 outlet just below the central vacuum.

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=13581

Maybe you need to post your own pic with intended placement.

 

[ericsf]

Mine on the wall opposite to the garage door so that the LEAF's "nose" is right in front of it. It's definitely the most convinient placement for 99% of my usage but:
- My cord is long enough to go all the way outside and I can plug the car while it's parked in front of the garage and close the door. It's nice when I need the space in the garage to work on a project and charge the car at the same time.
- If you get another EV or a PHEV in the future, the front location may no longer be the best location. I think driver side is the most common location for the charging port.

 

[pdaunno]

My garage is very similar to yours with the exception that my circuit breaker box is located in my basement and not in the garage. I had the 220v outlet installed on the front wall and about 2/3 over from left to right. The LEAF is parked on the right side and this will make it very convenient. My Clipper Creek HCS-40P with the NEMA 14-50 plug is due to arrive tomorrow. I opted for convenient and out of the way but of course that depends on your own needs.

 

[Nubo]

Mine on the wall opposite to the garage door so that the LEAF's "nose" is right in front of it. It's definitely the most convinient placement for 99% of my usage....

My choice as well. Charging consists of me moving the handle from its hook on the wall, to the car 4 feet away. Doesn't even require any coiling or uncoiling of the cable.

 

[Boomer23]

Side wall near the front of a nose-in parked car. We have exposed studs (typical uninsulated Calif garage) and I mounted a plywood board between two studs and screwed the AV unit to the board.

Power comes in via conduit from an externally located power panel. I opted for AV's 25 foot cable so that the J plug can reach a car parked anywhere in the garage and also can reach a car parked in the driveway.

 

[Publius]

I put mine on the side wall near the garage door. I back in (my wife pulls in), which allows us to have a lot of space between the cars on the driver side, and because of the charge station location, I can charge in the garage or in the driveway (without having to pull right up to he door), and I don't have to worry about tripping over the cord when I'm parked in the garage (which is what I do 99% of the time). It works for me, but I think a lot may depend on access to the panel. I got lucky that my desired location also happened to be the easiest to wire.

 

[GlennD]

I put mine on the back side of the panel at the front of the garage( Southern California has outside panels).

I originally had a 5 meter cable. This required me to back in. Leviton had a super deal on a 25 foot cable. With this I can drive in and the cable just reaches.

 

[derkraut]

In the front of the garage between the kitchen door and workbench. Never an issue with LEAF.

The cord can be seen plugged into the 14-50 outlet just below the central vacuum.

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=13581

Maybe you need to post your own pic with intended placement.

OOOOH! I wish my garage was that neat.

 

[bowthom]

Hello,
Yeah, I wish mine was that neat too.
I put my EVSE on the right side wall of the garage so the leaf can be pulled in front wise or backwards or parked in the driveway and my Blink cable will plug in. I put a longer cord on my Open EVSE so it reaches behind to the second park spot.

 

[fooljoe]

Ceiling "mounted" (aka hung it from a hook.) I use a dryer plug in my garage that's behind my washer and (gas) dryer on the right side of the car. I made a 10' adapter from a dryer cord to an L6-20 receptacle and routed it to the rafters with bicycle hooks, where I plugged in my upgraded EVSE, then used more bicycle hooks to route the J-cord from there to the front of the car.

I've since replaced the L6-20r with a 14-30r and plugged my open-EVSE into it instead, and I've added a Rav4-EV, so when I want to park it in the garage instead of the Leaf I can easily move the J-cord from the front of the car to the back left. The Rav usually charges from its own 40 amp EVSE mounted on the side of the house near the driveway though.

 

[cgaydos]

Good question. There are probably more factors involved that you'd think of initially.

My main electrical panel is on the middle of a side wall inside a two car garage, so I mounted the EVSE next to it after verifying that it could reach both cars should I ever get a second EV. Well, I *did* end up getting a second LEAF and found that while the 18' cord could reach the second LEAF it had to go over the first car, and that tended to scratch the paint in the process.

So, I planned to move the EVSE to the front of the two cars. Then, as posted here a few months ago, the garage door spring broke making it nearly impossible to raise the door (heavy two-car-wide door). While we waited for service I was able to still use the EVSE because the cord could fit under the door - something that would not have been possible if I'd moved the EVSE to the front.

So, now my plan is to leave the EVSE at the side wall and install a second 240V outlet near the far car and use the EVSEupgrade for that. I have all the parts, just waiting for a moderately warm weekend ....

 

[kubel]

Due to me being broke, I'll be mounting my OpenEVSE as close to the breaker panel as possible- rear corner of the house near the driveway. It's sort of convenient since that's where the side door is to the house. Right now it's plugged into a stove outlet in the kitchen and running out the side door. ::cue banjo::

Ultimately I want to run 240V 50A to the garage to feed a subpanel and mount the EVSE on the inside of the garage near the corner. That way I back into the garage and don't have to run the cord any more than 5ft or so to the car.

 

[Deleted member 12643]

thanks everyone for sharing your setups. that other thread that smkettner posted with the photos was very helpful, too.

Sounds like having it installed in the rear center of the garage will work out. The garage is 19' deep from the rear wall where the EVSE will be mounted, so a 25' cord should reach the car if it's parked out in the driveway as well

 

[davewill]

... Sounds like having it installed in the rear center of the garage will work out. The garage is 19' deep from the rear wall where the EVSE will be mounted, so a 25' cord should reach the car if it's parked out in the driveway as well

I wouldn't count on that last part. You'll lose length as the cable falls to the floor and then as it has to rise back up from under the garage door. I'd say you might JUST make it outside if the car is a LEAF and even then the door might have to be open...and that assumes you don't have to route around any obstacles inside the garage.

 

[Deleted member 12643]

ah great point, i should go back and measure the drop from the EVSE to the floor as well as the rise on the plug end and see how much slack I have left at that point

thanks!

... Sounds like having it installed in the rear center of the garage will work out. The garage is 19' deep from the rear wall where the EVSE will be mounted, so a 25' cord should reach the car if it's parked out in the driveway as well

I wouldn't count on that last part. You'll lose length as the cable falls to the floor and then as it has to rise back up from under the garage door. I'd say you might JUST make it outside if the car is a LEAF and even then the door might have to be open...and that assumes you don't have to route around any obstacles inside the garage.

 

[dgpcolorado]

Like some others here, I mounted mine on the side wall fairly near the garage door; it can be used inside or outside of the garage. Then I routed the cable along the ceiling on bicycle hooks to keep it off the floor since I live on a dirt road in the snowbelt and accumulate a lot of mud on the floor in winter. It also keeps the cable out of the way and avoids tripping hazards. And the location I chose can easily service a future EV with the charge port on a different part of the car (although the front port on the LEAF is, by far, the best design).

 

[joerivct]

My garage wall is cinder block, so I mounted a plywood panel to the cinder block, then ran a cable from the breaker panel in the cellar (about 50 feet away) to the plywood panel, as shown in the pic. I also added a 120 v outlet so I can run a trickle charger when needed. I opted for the plug version so I can easily move it if needed.