Looking for short granny lead

I am looking for a short, 2 metres long, portable charging lead for an EV. (Domestic French plug to a type 2 plug). I can park next to the socket so do not need metres of un-needed cable. Does anyone know if and where these are available or can be made up?

I read Granny Lead and thought of some similar to reins for a toddler!

Have a rogue and naughty Granny? - buy a Granny Lead !!

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Ah yes, I see your confusion. The clue is – this is the motoring section. :wink:

I think Lidl.fr usually has 3 types including this.

Thanks for your suggestion Karen. I checked but could only find a 5 metre long lead. I did note that their rates for fast DC charging are quite competitive

I would have thought, like my Plug-in Hybrid, there would need to be some sort of control box between the mains and the type 2 plug for the car. My control box (Porsche Universal Charger) is supplied with two different mains cables, a normal 13 Amp supply cable with UK rectangular pin plug for 3kWH charging rate or much heavier a 32 Amp high current supply cable for 7.2 kWH rate. I run off the 32 Amp cable in the UK having had a 32 Amp blue “Commando” type socket installed on an outside wall of my house. In France I run off an extension I made up, with a Schuko plug at one end to go into one of the external sockets at my house and a water proof IP67 flying UK type socket at the other end, into which I plug the UK 13 amp cable leading to the control unit. I have done it this way, because Porsche wanted £280 for the Schuko plug mains lead that would plug into the Universal Charger using a proprietary plug made by the German charger manufacturers. I made up a 30 metre extension cable with the Schuko at one end and the waterproof UK socket at the other for a very modest €45.

But you can’t just plug the car straight into a domestic socket MIk.

Sorry John I should have been more explicit. I thought the term “Granny lead” implied there was a box of tricks in the lead between the domestic and car plugs. The problem I had was - the box of tricks is close to the domestic plug end and not the car end otherwise could have simply cut out a length of cable and replaced the domestic plug (Schuko ???)

I have solved my problem by stuffing the long lead +box of tricks into a cut off piece of abandoned mail box tacked under our existing mail box (beneath which an exterior domestic plug has been installed) to avoid having metres of untidy cable and box hanging around in the rain.

I now need to monitor it to see if it causes any overheating problems.

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:+1: Necessity is the mother of invention :slightly_smiling_face:

Hopefully your “stuffing” of the cable has deformed/crossed any kind of coil you might have made in the storage process - you don’t want to make a nice hot electro magnet.

One way to reduce the amount of cable stored away would be to drop down vertically from the box, go across the ground to nearest point on the vehicle, continue along under the vehicle then bring it up vertically to plug into the charging port. This will avoid the dangerous trip hazard you have created in the picture which could result in damage to the vehicle socket or, at worst, cause someone to fall & suffer an injury.

I say this as an EV owner, & an electrician who has spent most of his life running temporary mains cabling in public spaces.

I appreciate your comments Badger. My more polite friends call me The Bodger. When I said “stuffed” I meant that I tidily coiled the spare wire into the box trying to be careful not to create overly tight bends. I was vaguely aware of creating an electro magnet from my school physics lessons (too many years ago!) but I have no way of predicting the effect. All I intend to do is keep a regular temperature check for the first few charges - unless you really think I am being too risky?

There is no risk of the cable tripping anybody up because I park with the mailbox slightly overhanging the bonnet so there is no way to walk between box and car.

That’s good to know. The best way to avoid this is to lay/“coil” the surplus cable on the ground in a figure 8 configuration as this makes the electromagnetic field collapse.

Also good to know. A pet hate of mine is seeing terrible cable management at charging points, but it seems to be the norme & is often shown in reports about EVs i.e. it does not set a good example.

I respect your expertise Badger. Thank you.