21st Century Pony
Well-Known Member
- First Name
- Martin
- Joined
- May 21, 2022
- Threads
- 36
- Messages
- 1,976
- Reaction score
- 2,243
- Location
- Arlington, Virginia
- Vehicles
- formerly Ford Mustang Mach E 2022 Premium AWD ER, now a li'l bit of Lightning ER
- Thread starter
- #1
Folks,
I love getting stuff for free - free is a great price. However, with the growing use of EVs and the Tesla DC adapter's $230 replacement cost, plus its handy small size and its potential to walk away in vast parking lots especially after dark, I fabricated this locking plate, powder-coated orange, as a theft deterrent.
I had a piece of decent-gauge ELFA steel hanging plate in the basement from a long-ago house project.
I used a Dremel reinforced fiberglass cutting wheel attachment to cut the slots in the ELFA hanging plate's front and to cut away the excess steel, then I used long needlenose pliers to wrap the front steel tongues in onto themselves to provide a locking function once the plate is in its position on the Tesla adapter and the adapter is latched to the car. The empty voids to the left and right of the car's DC latch threshold under the charging cover gave me the idea for the curled-back steel tongues as a securing mechanism.
I also cut box voids into the ELFA plate's raised edges to provide locking anchor points for a small bicycle combination locking strap, available at REI. You can see the yellow bike strap in several pictures... I didn't snug it down as tightly as I intend to when charging at a Tesla Supercharger before I wander off to a grab a bite or to walk the dog, but you should get the idea from the pictures.
There are many ways to do this... the BEST way would have been for Ford / Tesla to design in a locking loop into the adapter's top latch mechanism. Obviously, we are left for now to our DIY efforts...
I at first monkeyed around with a solid aluminum rectangular billet I had laying around to immobilize the adapter's silver latch arm in its locked position, but thick aluminum billets tend to gum up tools etc... hence my eventual shift to thick-gauge steel for this project.
When the steel locking plate is in position and the adapter is locked into the car, they can only be removed (together) by pushing the adapter's now-hidden round silver latch detent into the adapter. The locking plate cannot be pulled back off the adapter, and after I bent it into the general shape of the adapter's top, it also cannot be shifted to the side. It can only be lifted slightly, enough to push the release silver detent.
Hence the yellow bike locking strap... when snugged down, it prevents the locking plate from being lifted enough to use the silver detent. And the side cuts I cut into the locking plate prevent the yellow bike lock strap from being shifted back off the adapter.
Cost, in my design and execution = three Dremel cutting wheels, and $20 to have my local powder coating shop coat the device a very bright color (they chose orange as they had a larger orange job in the works), just for psychological deterrence effect.
I hope this helps people generate ideas out there and keep their Tesla DC adapters from walking away to freedom. There are many ways to fabricate such Tesla adapter locks... this is my version of it.
The attached pics are labeled.
I love getting stuff for free - free is a great price. However, with the growing use of EVs and the Tesla DC adapter's $230 replacement cost, plus its handy small size and its potential to walk away in vast parking lots especially after dark, I fabricated this locking plate, powder-coated orange, as a theft deterrent.
I had a piece of decent-gauge ELFA steel hanging plate in the basement from a long-ago house project.
I used a Dremel reinforced fiberglass cutting wheel attachment to cut the slots in the ELFA hanging plate's front and to cut away the excess steel, then I used long needlenose pliers to wrap the front steel tongues in onto themselves to provide a locking function once the plate is in its position on the Tesla adapter and the adapter is latched to the car. The empty voids to the left and right of the car's DC latch threshold under the charging cover gave me the idea for the curled-back steel tongues as a securing mechanism.
I also cut box voids into the ELFA plate's raised edges to provide locking anchor points for a small bicycle combination locking strap, available at REI. You can see the yellow bike strap in several pictures... I didn't snug it down as tightly as I intend to when charging at a Tesla Supercharger before I wander off to a grab a bite or to walk the dog, but you should get the idea from the pictures.
There are many ways to do this... the BEST way would have been for Ford / Tesla to design in a locking loop into the adapter's top latch mechanism. Obviously, we are left for now to our DIY efforts...
I at first monkeyed around with a solid aluminum rectangular billet I had laying around to immobilize the adapter's silver latch arm in its locked position, but thick aluminum billets tend to gum up tools etc... hence my eventual shift to thick-gauge steel for this project.
When the steel locking plate is in position and the adapter is locked into the car, they can only be removed (together) by pushing the adapter's now-hidden round silver latch detent into the adapter. The locking plate cannot be pulled back off the adapter, and after I bent it into the general shape of the adapter's top, it also cannot be shifted to the side. It can only be lifted slightly, enough to push the release silver detent.
Hence the yellow bike locking strap... when snugged down, it prevents the locking plate from being lifted enough to use the silver detent. And the side cuts I cut into the locking plate prevent the yellow bike lock strap from being shifted back off the adapter.
Cost, in my design and execution = three Dremel cutting wheels, and $20 to have my local powder coating shop coat the device a very bright color (they chose orange as they had a larger orange job in the works), just for psychological deterrence effect.
I hope this helps people generate ideas out there and keep their Tesla DC adapters from walking away to freedom. There are many ways to fabricate such Tesla adapter locks... this is my version of it.
The attached pics are labeled.
Sponsored
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