Best way to extend a charger cable

[Tycho]

Hi all, does anyone know the best way to extend a charging cable by a couple of meters? I have seen extension cables and would like to know if these are safe or if I should get a longer one installed by an electrician. If the latter would a regular electrician be able to do it or would I need a specialist? It is a 7kw home charger.

[NDA]

I've extended my 7kw commando cable - but that's probably not what your asking... it needed to be a fairly hefty (6mm diameter from memory) male/female cable.

[Tycho]

NDA said:

I've extended my 7kw commando cable - but that's probably not what your asking... it needed to be a fairly hefty (6mm diameter from memory) male/female cable.

Yeah, not quite the same. I've seen extension cables advertised online but I'd like to know if anyone has done this.

Something like this.

[NDA]

I am not an electrician, but that cable looks a bit thin for 7kw. My commando extension is as beefy as the cables Pink Floyd use for the lighting rig.

Tesla's (not sure what you have) do not like overheating cables - they'll drop the amperage to 16amp if they sense any overload. No idea how the car knows, but it seems to. I'm pretty sure 32amp needs a 6mm diameter.

[Tycho]

I think that is the 16amp/3.5kw came. If you select the 7kw cable it looks a bit different.

[NDA]

I have run an extension for 3 years without any issues.

The junction, which is outdoors, is protected by a weatherproof box I bought from Amazon. Works perfectly.

[No ideas for a name]

Tycho said:

Hi all, does anyone know the best way to extend a charging cable by a couple of meters? I have seen extension cables and would like to know if these are safe or if I should get a longer one installed by an electrician. If the latter would a regular electrician be able to do it or would I need a specialist? It is a 7kw home charger.

This very much depends on what you mean.

Are you thinking of extending the input to the EVSE or extending the output cable between the EVSE and the vehicle?

First is trivial.
Second is potentially dangerous - the Type 2 lead has a programming resistor in it which 'tells' the vehicle the maximum that it may draw.
So, if you were to put a 16A cable extension, the vehicle may not knpow, and draw too much current (it depends on how it is wired).

Of course, it would be fine to REPLACE a type 2 cable with a suitable longer type 2 cable.

As I say - it depends on the question.

[Tycho]

Thanks for the answer. I would need to have a longer cable to get to the EV from the charger. The link I put earlier is just a cable that you plug your current charging cable into and then that into the car.

[blank]

If it's a tethered type 2 "charger" where the cable is too short, you really need to replace it for a longer one. Various places online will sell them and it's simple for an electrician to swap in most cases (or DIY if you can).

Best place to start is the charger manufacturer as they may offer a longer cable to swap.

Extending is unlikely to work as the pins are too short (by design). You also lose the "lock" at the join, may have issues with resistance values messing up the indicated charge rate etc.

[Tycho]

blank said:

If it's a tethered type 2 "charger" where the cable is too short, you really need to replace it for a longer one. Various places online will sell them and it's simple for an electrician to swap in most cases (or DIY if you can).

Best place to start is the charger manufacturer as they may offer a longer cable to swap.

Extending is unlikely to work as the pins are too short (by design). You also lose the "lock" at the join, may have issues with resistance values messing up the indicated charge rate etc.

Thanks for all the replies, I'll contact the manufacturer and see what they say.