Inside or Outside?

So, I have a dilemma.

The car is going to spend half of its time outside and half inside. I have the option of whether the tethered charger goes inside or outside too.

So half the time I will either have the charger inside with the cable coming out under the garage door (suitably protected of course) or the charger outside with the cable coming in under the garage door.

Any thoughts? Anyone gone for an indoor charger for any reason? I thought on balance it would give me security and better weather protection as if it needed it.

My car and charger sit out on the drive all the time with no problems so really its a matter of what is most convenient for you.

I still haven't had the need to install an EVSE (thank you work for providing an L2!) but I've thought about this myself because I'd like the ability to charge from both inside and outside.

In my situation I decided I will eventually install one inside the garage closer to the door garage opening. I decided this to keep it protected and it would also be a little closer to my breaker box. Plus in the winter I would rather deal with everything out of the snow, but that's not everyone's case.

I agree to install where it's most convenient for you. Check you local codes too, you may need a disconnect if installing outdoors, which will add cost.

Mine is inside, near the garage door. IT came with a fairly long cord. I had a mailbox on the wall right near there, and remounted it on a hinged panel with a piece of drainage pipe going through the wall large enough to pass the handle through. So, with the mailbox back against the wall, it covers the hole, and if the cord is coming through, it has enough clearance to pass behind it (the hinged panel sits maybe an inch or so off of the wall). Unless you look really carefully, you wouldn't know it was there. I made two foam plugs, one solid, and one with a notch in it - the notch just lets the cable through and seals things up nice. Many of the EVSE's out there are rated for use outside, but getting the wiring to them and keeping things watertight takes a little more work and cost than leaving it inside.

Why not get two price quotes and pick the lower cost option?

Don't think cost is going to vary. I've asked for an isolation switch anyway and everything is very close at hand so no more wiring really.

Like the idea of having some form of access to put it through. That's got me thinking if I could bore a circular hole large enough to get the charger handle out through with some form of bearing race to protect the wire and allow it to run freely.

So here's the business end of the charging wire ready to go, the 9 week wait for the other end is eating me now though :x

One thing many people don't read or understand in the fine print is that when in use, you don't really want the excess cable wound on the EVSE...it acts like an inductor coil and can heat up slightly, wasting energy. The coils need to be really loose, or ideally, not coiled at all. In the military, when we had excess power cable, we wound it into figure-8 loops, just for this reason. Otherwise, it becomes slightly like an electro-magnet. Crossing the fields in the figure-8, cancels those fields.

I'd had that thought too. Same reason why anyone using the standard 3 pin charger should be wary about using a wound up extension reel even if it is nominally rated adequately.

The facility on the top of the Rolec is obviously designed for storage when not in use. My current plan (no pun intended :lol: ) is to feed the tethered cable through a suitably protected slot in the lower portion of the garage door frame and put a blank female socket on the outside of the frame in a sheltered location so it can be plugged in outside when not in use. I reckon I need about 2 meters outside to comfortably reach the car's charging port which leaves 3 meters inside, approx 3 coils. I think I will just rig a series of hooks on the wall to route the surplus tethered cable in a large loop which I can easily remove if required.

Trying to persuade Mr Nice Man BMW to lend me a demo so I can a) test the charger / circuit in real life use and b) get my dimensions right to plan everything. Here;'s hoping!

So, the tease is on the driveway and everything's working as it should I hope

Car on charge



and the electricity monitor showing the draw



The baseload was probably about 250 watts when that pic was taken so it's pulling pretty much exactly 30amps at ~230v

Final solution to the external charger location.

It's a kind of spot the Level 2 charger game

Are you giants? Or do you live in very short houses?

:lol: it's in that position cos it's out the reach of prying little hands, out of the weather and gives plenty of cable to reach the car without it being backed up against the garage door.

It's okay to unplug and I'm no giant :lol:

Love your solution! Though for a moment I felt I was playing Where's Waldo.

The cable is hidden behind a vertically hinged UPVC profile that simply flips opens to allow the charger to be removed and used.

If required, the charger and cable can be withdrawn from under the side post (it's held there with a small retaining clip) and then used inside the garage instead.