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[Yon]

How about just running a quality extension cord from another circuit... maybe the laundry room or kitchen or...

[Doctorbass]

No worrie with that...  i am in teh same situation as you and i have installed a 20A breaker circuit and also a QUALITY SURGE SUPRRESSOR protector to protect the Zero charger against voltage peak and spike. this will garanty you that your Zero cahrger will last longer. I also did that with my Maytag washer to protect the $$$ electronic iside.

What make breaker to pop when you have a garage door opener is the inrush current when the induction motor start.. then the stabilized current ls way lower.

Anyway... in all situation.. the worst that could happen is that you hit the garage door button while you forgot that your Zero is still on the same breaker and charging... and pop it...

The solution: reactivate it.. lol.. if you find that to avoid that few time it Worth paying 700$ of electrician fe.. it,s up to you but personally it hapenned to me during the 2 first years that i own a zero and i'm still able to sleep every night without any nightmare

Oh.. and .. personally i am more confident about myself installing a 20A circuit in my garage   than any electrician.. i saw a couple installing stuff and they just work too fast and dont pay atention to every détails like i do....

 
Doc

[JaimeC]

I trust myself to fatally electocute myself if I ever attempted anything like that.  This particular electrician has been recommended by several close friends and relatives.  I trust his judgement.

I do have other power tools (like an air compressor) in the garage.  I think for peace of mind it would be far better for me to have a dedicated circuit for the Zero and not have to worry about the garage door opener, the Battery tenders keeping my ICE bikes "alive" and the overhead fluorescent lights (not to mention the exterior motion detector lights).

Hey, I just sunk over $16K on a motorcycle. I'm not about to start pinching pennies now. That comes LATER.

[zr2ee]

I use the same circuit as my garage door opener and have never had an issue, If you use a extention reel however  be warned, unless you get the correct gauge for your application and completely unwind it before use it can get extremely HOT, melt and smoke! i unfortunately had to find this out through personal experience. Shame on me for not knowing better but people with electrical backgrounds will not be the only people to purchase these vehicles and it will happen to someone else.

[BrianTRice@gmail.com]

My garage has a single outlet and no door other than the garage door (very old style garage that is basically a concrete car port), so I at first just put in an LED lamp for the opener.

On the other hand, the breaker for the circuit has tripped due to outside loads on the same circuit and left me temporarily unable to open the garage to get to my bike. This particularly made me worry about charger quality issues, so I just put a surge protector and soon I'll put a timer on.


I would definitely avoid using an extension cord for a Zero; much better to use fixed-install circuits for that to minimize wear and quality issues and instead use an extension cord if at all for other, temporary loads.

[mrwilsn]

As long as you are spending money to put in a new outlet I would put in a NEMA 14-50. Then you will have enough juice to support a fast charger if you decide to get one down the road.  Also, installation of charging equipment at your home qualifies for 30% Federal tax credit and a new outlet qualifies.

Sent from my XT1060 using Tapatalk

[MostlyBonkers]

Excellent suggestion mrwilsn.

By the way, I think Jamie is lying. It's not a garage door, it's a portcullis and he lives in a castle! [emoji6]

+1 to just testing it a few times before coughing.

[stevenh]

I'd run two 20A lines while you are at it.  The labor and materials should not be that much more.  That way you are good for a secondary charger if you pick one up.  I have one extra charger and the faster charge times are nice.  I ran two new 20A circuits to my garage as soon as I placed my DSR order this year (I'm used to doing my own electrical).  My existing circuit was only 15A in the garage, and I wanted an additional one anyway, so I ran two.  I'd imagine a good piece of the labor cost is running the line, and running two is almost as easy as running one.

Steve

[JaimeC]

I spoke to the electrician last night, and two 20 amp lines is EXACTLY what he had in mind when he quoted me the price.  Also, he will be bringing the wiring up to "code" as the outlets in the garage are rather old.  So it looks like we're all on the same page.  Unfortunately, the earliest he can come and do it is Tuesday, May 3rd and I'm HOPING to get the bike this Saturday.  Fingers crossed that you guys are correct and I won't have any issues with our existing wiring...

[Kocho]

If you do get issues, I think you can set the power level for the charging to less than the max. Slower charging, but fewer potential problems, you can also use a longer or smaller gauge and lighter/cheaper extension cord at lower power levels.

[dvdwin]

Just run an extension chord from the house to the garage for the garage door opener. A 50' good quality extension chord runs under 40 bucks. Bam! Solution fixed.

[benswing]

i believe Zero's recommendation for extension cords is a maximum of 25 foot marine grade wire.

[Fivespeed302]

I've used a 50' 14 gauge extension cord many times without incident.

[JaimeC]

Dvdwin was suggesting the extension cord for the garage door opener, not the Zero. 

[benswing]

Dvdwin was suggesting the extension cord for the garage door opener, not the Zero. 

Oops, read it too fast.  Cheers!