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[biolife]

Well, I started moving into a new place a few weeks ago, and am finally now getting settled more. Previously I've been parking my bike in the garage and plugging it into the same outlet that the garage door is plugged into. The wiring was a bit hazy, so I was definitely in the market for something custom (and cheap!).

The previous owner had installed a 240V dryer outlet outside, where he apparently had a washer and dryer for the upstairs suite. Since he'd taken the appliances, we had a spare 30A 240V outlet, with wiring that ran past the garage and onto the patio.

I spent a bit of time with my brother figuring things out (he did a lot of the work, thankfully, though he definitely has more experience than myself!), then headed to Home Depot today to get a few parts.

We started out by flipping the breaker, just to prevent any potential mishaps. Next, we disconnected the wire from the dryer receptacle on the patio and ran the wire straight into the garage. From there, we installed a new electrical box and connected the wire to the receptacles. The wire running to the dryer receptacle was 10/4, and while that's really thick and caused some frustration in installation, we decided against replacing the wire - too much trouble and too much money for little benefit.

From there, we connected ground to both, daisy-chained the neutral and connected a hot wire to each one. Then we finished off with a nice $1.37 faceplate to make it look pretty.

All in all the cost to do this was just under $15, and now we've got side-by-side receptacles each on their own 15A circuit, which means my bike can have it's own receptacle for charging, I can get a quick charger and plug it in right beside the regular charger, and we've got plenty of power in the garage should we need to use the pressure washer, air compressor, etc. without worrying about tripping the breaker.

It's not the prettiest setup, that much I will admit, but it's definitely practical!

[oobflyer]

Cool! Gotta have outlets in the garage - I just moved to a new house too. The entire garage has exactly one 120V outlet (the laundry is inside the house). I brought my J1772 charger with me, but it's not installed yet. So my electric bike and electric car have to take turns sharing the one outlet.
But, I hired an electrician to run a new 30A circuit for the car, and to add three more 120V outlets throughout the garage. Can't wait!

[NoiseBoy]

Why don't you keep a 240V outlet as well? Useful if you ever get an elcon or some accessory chargers that will run at the higher voltage.

[oobflyer]

I got the J1772 adapter from Harlan at Hollywood Electrics so I can plug 4 Delta Q Quic chargers into my car charging station simultaneously. I haven't tried it yet, but will as soon as I can!

[BSDThw]

Your normal onboard charger run also with 240VAC

[CliC]

You probably violated some codes, too, in sharing the neutral at least. But that may only be a problem for you when you sell the place..

[biolife]

I guess I left out a core piece of information that will make everything a little more clear.

The place we moved into is a teardown that is doing to be ripped down in a year or so, as the whole block has been rezoned from single family dwellings to low-rise apartments. The previous owner sold it to a land acquisition company, and they were looking for tenants for a fixed-term lease. They offered a killer deal, with the place being about $1500/month for what would normally cost probably around $2600-2800/month, since there isn't really an option to extend the lease. Seemed like a great deal to us. The new property agent said he doesn't really care what we do with the place, so we've got full reign to basically play around with whatever we want until the city grants approval for the demolition (approx. 1 year).

That hopefully explains why we're not keeping a 240V around and why it's probably not to code either!

Next on the list is a garage door opener remote. I think I'll probably find a place somewhere under the dash to secure this so that I don't have to dance around locking the door and closing the garage.

[hein]

Hmm, I don't understand why you did not just run 240V into the garage since you had the opportunity ?
Find some black/red/white/yellow-green romex.

'daisy chaining' ground is a bad idea, IMHO. All grounds should only ever get together at the distribution panel.

$5 gets you a simple 240V - 20A outlet with the 2 'horizontal' blades

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Leviton-Prograde-20-Amp-Double-Pole-Single-Outlet-Ivory-R51-05821-0IS/100357020?cm_sp=BazVoice-_-RLP-_-100357020-_-x

Snip the regular plug from an appliance / computer cable, and replace with a 240V / 15A (3000+ W) plug ($10)

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Pass-Seymour-15-Amp-250-Volt-NEMA-6-15P-Industrial-Grade-Plug-PS5666XCCV4/100206376

Now you will charge using just 6Amps and even a 14 gauge cable and plug will stay nicely cold. Less loss, less risk.

fwiw,
Hein