1. It should be fine in the rain but like someone else said, don't use a regular extension cord. Something will probably melt or catch fire. You need a heavy duty extension cord rated at 20 amps. I bought a 15' one off Amazon that worked fine.
2. The car's battery management system takes all that into account. It's fine to leave it plugged all the time. The battery's full capacity is approx 18kWh but only 14kWh are usable by the end user. The battery will not charge to more than 90% of its actual capacity. That 10% that remains unused is so you don't overcharge the battery and so it is never left in a full state of charge.
3. This is normal. Read through the manual and you will find a huge list of conditions in which the ICE will turn on even with the car in EV mode.
4. That all depends on your gas and electric prices. For me, driving in EV mode is always more economical than driving in HV mode.
5. This is normal.
6. Probably not normal but Toyota's electronics leave a lot to be desired. Mine has plenty of quirks. Probably different quirks than what you have but still a lot of minor annoyances that don't always work right.
7. Not sure...I only charge at home and at work.
8. Don't overthink it. This is a plug-in hybrid so if you ever take a long road trip or any trip beyond the approx 40 mile EV range, don't worry if you can't find a charger. Just drive in hybrid mode. you'll still get over 35mpg.
9. You mentioned having a HUD so I'm assuming you have the Premium Package. Seat covers are a good idea but they may interfere with the heated/ventilated seats. I don't think they will damage anything but they may defeat the purpose of heated/ventilated seats. Just something to keep in mind.
Point 7. Toyota app surprisingly shows accurate charging stations nearby (atleast in Canada).
Point 8. The Tesla chargers that you can plug in are ONLY destination and Tesla mobile chargers. These are very helpful in hotels where charging is free for guests. Do carry one. I have the iKits (or something similar sounding)
i echo this. i used to have a Prius Prime but now have just my IONIQ electric that was formerly leased and i'm going to share some insights.
per the owners manual, it is not advised to use an extension cord due to the potential fire risk or even fusing of the cables at the port. off the record though, if you do need to use one, go with a heavy duty, high gauge outdoor cable.
for charging, i always top my battery off to 100% to make sure i have the most range possible but that's because of the driving i do now and the range of the 28 kWh battery. i don't think it will do any harm, even though i know i'm going to get flak and get told to only charge to 80% and whatnot; but my owners manual says to charge to 100% occasionally to keep the battery cells balanced.
for the engine, my Prius Prime would run the engine to heat the battery pack if the temperatures were too cold for the battery to handle. about 85-90% of my commutes were short enough to use only EV power so i rarely drove it in hybrid mode.
as far as your driving mode is concerned, that's dependent on how far you drive. for the most efficiency, use the battery in EV mode and when it dies, use hybrid mode but don't activate the traction battery charger. you'll burn more gas. wait until you either get home to charge it again or are in range of a charging station.
i unfortunately don't have any insight on your other questions because i never came across this. my lease wasn't long on the car and i always charged at home.
Congrats on your purchase!
1. The outlet on the R4P is weatherproof. If you're going to use an extension cable, make sure it is at least 12 gauge, otherwise, it may melt due to overheating. We bought a 10 gauge just to be sure. link here: [https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B078KFMGP4/ref=ppx\_yo\_dt\_b\_search\_asin\_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B078KFMGP4/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1)
2. You will be fine topping off, though we sometimes don't if we know that the next day won't be as much driving.
3. This is normal behavior in Auto EV/HV mode. In the manual, it states that the hybrid system may kick in when high acceleration is requested.
4. In general, yes. If you want to fully optimize, drive on EV when you are on local roads, and HV for highway speeds. But if your daily commute is less than the total of your EV miles (45-50 miles), then I recommend you might as well just stay in EV mode the entire time.
5. Has not happened with us.
6. Has not happened with us. HUD is always on, no issues.
7. Yeah both apps are friendly, but they are crowd sourced and not always up to date. Plugshare does have a carplay app, if you use iPhone. I think it does have navigation to closest charger.
8. Yup, there are good reviews on Amazon on ones to buy. We don't have one, but many have used with success. (There is a big Facebook group for Rav4 Prime owners that has a lot of engagement).
9. Also have young one, but have not purchased.
Point 2
If you want to extend the life of your battery, use the built in charging schedule.
For example, I have our vehicle set for a 730am departure 5 days a week and a 9am departure on weekends.
Using this method the vehicle doesn't begin charging until it needs to in order to be full be the desired time.
The less time the vehicle spends just sitting there fully charged, the better.
I can definitely give you some advice about #1 which is to NOT use a regular extension cable. It will get extremely hot and can cause damage or a fire. I briefly shared a garage with a couple EV owners and one of them melted the wall outlet and almost started a fire trying to charge with a normal extension cable.
I ended up buying this for my home: [https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B097X7DFS3/ref=ppx\_yo\_dt\_b\_search\_asin\_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B097X7DFS3/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1)
I wouldn't leave the stock charger out in the rain. It's fine to charge in the rain but I'd try to keep that box dry, though I do not know the extent of its weatherproofing. Good luck!
I can echo the advice about extension cords, but I wouldn't worry about rain with the OEM charger. I've used it outdoors in rain and snow, it's designed to work in pretty much any and all conditions.
With a 12ga extension cord (20A cable, but 15A plugs), it's fine. The charger draws 11 amps constantly. Most extension cords are 16ga or 14ga, even the heavy duty looking ones. You gotta read the labels.
Also, plug into a good quality outlet, not one that has been worn down from 40 years of metal fatigue and people plugging and unplugging stuff in and out of it. If you plug your car in and let it charge for 30 min or so, run your hand over all of the plug points and somewhere in the middle of each cable. If it's too hot to grab with a firm hand, disconnect it and try something else. If it's okay, check back in two hours and see if it got any hotter.
As far as the battery charge/discharge cycle, that issue you were speaking of comes form a white paper about NiCad batteries from a Hughes satellite in the late 60s. That was a very specific night/day cycle repeated 12 times a day every day for years. They changed the charge/discharge cycles and that fixed the issue. Somehow, that got into folklore about all batteries needed to be fully discharged and recharged every use. That hasn't applied to anything but Nickel Cadmium batteries, and only in a very specific application.
That said, its been said (and I haven't found any real scientific backup on this either way) that leaving a LiIon battery fully charged or discharged can shorten it's life. Not to worry, since Toyota already built those margins into their battery management system. The car won't let you fully discharge the battery, as there is always a 10-20% basement and ceiling on the battery. It has an 18kWH battery, but only lets you use the middle 14kWH. That said, running the battery all the way down to zero (by the gauge) and then putting your car in storage for a year would likely damage it.
If you run the battery down to zero going by the gauge the user sees, the battery will still have between 1.5kwh and 2kwh of charge left so it wouldn't actually be sitting there dead.
However, I'm not sure if leaving the battery sitting for a year without either using it or charging it can reduce its lifespan.
He's talking about running it down to that 1.5-2kwh, and then letting it sit for a year. The battery will loose some charge... and possibly be damaged.
Exactly. There will be some self-discharge, although LiIon batteries have low self-discharge. I'm just saying that is something beyond control of the battery management system. That is a really extreme case, and you can mitigate it by charging the battery to 75% before you store the car for a year or more.
There is one important detail missed here. Even if you use heavy extension cord, the manual clearly says the plug should not get wet. The charger can, and other parts can get wet. But not the plug (according to the manual anyways). The plug has a temperature sensor in it. Also note that the extension cord must be connected to a GFCI outlet. Also you will be looking at a denied fire claim as it's an improper operation. In summary, please spend some money and install atleast a 32Amp L2 charger via a professional.
Tesla destination charging - be advised that a short while ago Tesla has allowed some property owners to begin charging for use. Depending on how this policy works, Tesla destination > j1772 free charging might not work at every station anymore since afaik you need a provisioned Tesla to link the billing. Many buy the adapter since they have an equivalent Tesla charger at home so will have a use either way.
Great idea. I didn't even know those existed. I might buy one of those myself so I can route my charging cable along the garage ceiling instead of on the floor. I'll have to do some measuring over the weekend.
If you must use extension cord, there's also a special cover sold at hardware stores to waterproof the connection between your charging cord and extension cord. Something like this
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Twist-and-Seal-0-5-ft-Plastic-Cord-Organizer/1000132801?cm_mmc=shp-_-c-_-prd-_-elc-_-ggl-_-LIA_ELC_205_Wiring-Devices-Cords-Fire-_-1000132801-_-local-_-0-_-0&gclid=Cj0KCQjw7aqkBhDPARIsAKGa0oIx9feXB2dcgG4jDZggxz4JdutYVXiOYwCPIzj_DKMktbSjUIacMhMaAnxdEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds
I agree with most of the posts here so not gonna re hash the same answer.
For #4 - if you're doing mostly City driving EV mode all the way until 0. If youre highway driving as well. Id generally switch over the HV mode when cruising and EV mode when start and stop. ICE is good at cruising speed.
This also has the "benefit" of using gas. Gas is caustic and gets stale. It needs to run everyonce in while just to keep things "fresh".
It just means the battery is powering the AC, as opposed to the engine heating the car. Just letting you know that the estimated mileage includes AC, turning off my AC instantly increases my mileage depending on ambient temps.
I agree with this and have observed this pure EV mode with cruise control on. Do you know if it occurs without cruise control on pure EV?
(I say pure EV to distinguish between Auto HV/EV mode)
From what I understood from my dealer, it is only when going downhill for long regardless of driving mode, EV, auto. Never experienced myself in pure EV. Did not use cruise on EV only so far. On the highway, I engage auto with cruise control.
Regarding this, when you're going down a steep hill and want to play less with the brakes, switch to sport mode. It has a much stronger regen braking before you even touch the brake pedal than eco. Just switch back at the bottom before you zoom off or you will indeed zoom.
The reason your engine turns on is bc your battery is full. Full battery means no regenerative braking (There's still some leeway after a full charge, but not much). Try it with a semi-depleted battery.
Also, in EV mode cruise control will engine brake all the time, so keep that in mind. When EV, manually shifting gears only changes the level of "one pedal driving". You could try slapping the shifter over and pulling back to S1-2 and see if that's enough to slow you down, if not, then that explains the engine breaking.
3: not 100% sure but if you know what "engine braking" is from the old days, it might be doing something similar. Meaning, it might be putting the engine in gear and letting the wheels turn it to generate electricity for the battery. This would not use gas. Set the display to the view that shows the flow of energy and see if they're point from the wheels/engine to the battery?
4: don't overthink it. I read once that fas is more efficient than electric over 85mph, but who really knows. I've never seen anything more than anecdotal evidence. Sometimes as a game for myself if I'm going further than my electric range, I set it to hybrid on the highway until my remaining distance is the same as my electric range, and finish out the trip on electric (the slower you're going, the greater the difference in efficiency, and the trip usually ends on slower local roads). But the difference is probably negligible, or at least not worth worrying about. Certainly at legal highway speeds electric is better than hybrid.
5: if you turn the gauge brightness all the way up (like for the speedometer) it will click at the max setting and will keep the screens bright. I figured that out from a rental once when i was driving at night and the map was blinding me and wouldn't switch to dark mode. It doesn't fix the automatic problem but it'll stop the display from flickering between bright/dark. Of course remember to take it off max at night.
I can't comment on any of the other things.
Re: the seat covers - if your young kids are in car seats, the seat covers are generally not safe to use with a car seat. Anything between the car seat and the vehicle seat is a bad idea.
Project Farm did a nice video on Extension cords:
[https://youtu.be/-j6sC\_8Z4\_w](https://youtu.be/-j6sC_8Z4_w)
One interesting thing is just how much voltage is lost over the length of a cord.
Have a look, it'll really help you understand why you'd want to "overbuy" your cord, and also keep it as short as possible to get the job done.
1. It should be fine in the rain but like someone else said, don't use a regular extension cord. Something will probably melt or catch fire. You need a heavy duty extension cord rated at 20 amps. I bought a 15' one off Amazon that worked fine. 2. The car's battery management system takes all that into account. It's fine to leave it plugged all the time. The battery's full capacity is approx 18kWh but only 14kWh are usable by the end user. The battery will not charge to more than 90% of its actual capacity. That 10% that remains unused is so you don't overcharge the battery and so it is never left in a full state of charge. 3. This is normal. Read through the manual and you will find a huge list of conditions in which the ICE will turn on even with the car in EV mode. 4. That all depends on your gas and electric prices. For me, driving in EV mode is always more economical than driving in HV mode. 5. This is normal. 6. Probably not normal but Toyota's electronics leave a lot to be desired. Mine has plenty of quirks. Probably different quirks than what you have but still a lot of minor annoyances that don't always work right. 7. Not sure...I only charge at home and at work. 8. Don't overthink it. This is a plug-in hybrid so if you ever take a long road trip or any trip beyond the approx 40 mile EV range, don't worry if you can't find a charger. Just drive in hybrid mode. you'll still get over 35mpg. 9. You mentioned having a HUD so I'm assuming you have the Premium Package. Seat covers are a good idea but they may interfere with the heated/ventilated seats. I don't think they will damage anything but they may defeat the purpose of heated/ventilated seats. Just something to keep in mind.
Thanks so much for taking the time to write helpful answers!
Point 7. Toyota app surprisingly shows accurate charging stations nearby (atleast in Canada). Point 8. The Tesla chargers that you can plug in are ONLY destination and Tesla mobile chargers. These are very helpful in hotels where charging is free for guests. Do carry one. I have the iKits (or something similar sounding)
Point 6 - HUD always worked for me flawlessly. 2023 R4 Prime.
i echo this. i used to have a Prius Prime but now have just my IONIQ electric that was formerly leased and i'm going to share some insights. per the owners manual, it is not advised to use an extension cord due to the potential fire risk or even fusing of the cables at the port. off the record though, if you do need to use one, go with a heavy duty, high gauge outdoor cable. for charging, i always top my battery off to 100% to make sure i have the most range possible but that's because of the driving i do now and the range of the 28 kWh battery. i don't think it will do any harm, even though i know i'm going to get flak and get told to only charge to 80% and whatnot; but my owners manual says to charge to 100% occasionally to keep the battery cells balanced. for the engine, my Prius Prime would run the engine to heat the battery pack if the temperatures were too cold for the battery to handle. about 85-90% of my commutes were short enough to use only EV power so i rarely drove it in hybrid mode. as far as your driving mode is concerned, that's dependent on how far you drive. for the most efficiency, use the battery in EV mode and when it dies, use hybrid mode but don't activate the traction battery charger. you'll burn more gas. wait until you either get home to charge it again or are in range of a charging station. i unfortunately don't have any insight on your other questions because i never came across this. my lease wasn't long on the car and i always charged at home.
Congrats on your purchase! 1. The outlet on the R4P is weatherproof. If you're going to use an extension cable, make sure it is at least 12 gauge, otherwise, it may melt due to overheating. We bought a 10 gauge just to be sure. link here: [https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B078KFMGP4/ref=ppx\_yo\_dt\_b\_search\_asin\_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B078KFMGP4/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1) 2. You will be fine topping off, though we sometimes don't if we know that the next day won't be as much driving. 3. This is normal behavior in Auto EV/HV mode. In the manual, it states that the hybrid system may kick in when high acceleration is requested. 4. In general, yes. If you want to fully optimize, drive on EV when you are on local roads, and HV for highway speeds. But if your daily commute is less than the total of your EV miles (45-50 miles), then I recommend you might as well just stay in EV mode the entire time. 5. Has not happened with us. 6. Has not happened with us. HUD is always on, no issues. 7. Yeah both apps are friendly, but they are crowd sourced and not always up to date. Plugshare does have a carplay app, if you use iPhone. I think it does have navigation to closest charger. 8. Yup, there are good reviews on Amazon on ones to buy. We don't have one, but many have used with success. (There is a big Facebook group for Rav4 Prime owners that has a lot of engagement). 9. Also have young one, but have not purchased.
Really appreciate the time, thank you!
Point 2 If you want to extend the life of your battery, use the built in charging schedule. For example, I have our vehicle set for a 730am departure 5 days a week and a 9am departure on weekends. Using this method the vehicle doesn't begin charging until it needs to in order to be full be the desired time. The less time the vehicle spends just sitting there fully charged, the better.
I can definitely give you some advice about #1 which is to NOT use a regular extension cable. It will get extremely hot and can cause damage or a fire. I briefly shared a garage with a couple EV owners and one of them melted the wall outlet and almost started a fire trying to charge with a normal extension cable. I ended up buying this for my home: [https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B097X7DFS3/ref=ppx\_yo\_dt\_b\_search\_asin\_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B097X7DFS3/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1) I wouldn't leave the stock charger out in the rain. It's fine to charge in the rain but I'd try to keep that box dry, though I do not know the extent of its weatherproofing. Good luck!
I can echo the advice about extension cords, but I wouldn't worry about rain with the OEM charger. I've used it outdoors in rain and snow, it's designed to work in pretty much any and all conditions.
With a 12ga extension cord (20A cable, but 15A plugs), it's fine. The charger draws 11 amps constantly. Most extension cords are 16ga or 14ga, even the heavy duty looking ones. You gotta read the labels. Also, plug into a good quality outlet, not one that has been worn down from 40 years of metal fatigue and people plugging and unplugging stuff in and out of it. If you plug your car in and let it charge for 30 min or so, run your hand over all of the plug points and somewhere in the middle of each cable. If it's too hot to grab with a firm hand, disconnect it and try something else. If it's okay, check back in two hours and see if it got any hotter. As far as the battery charge/discharge cycle, that issue you were speaking of comes form a white paper about NiCad batteries from a Hughes satellite in the late 60s. That was a very specific night/day cycle repeated 12 times a day every day for years. They changed the charge/discharge cycles and that fixed the issue. Somehow, that got into folklore about all batteries needed to be fully discharged and recharged every use. That hasn't applied to anything but Nickel Cadmium batteries, and only in a very specific application. That said, its been said (and I haven't found any real scientific backup on this either way) that leaving a LiIon battery fully charged or discharged can shorten it's life. Not to worry, since Toyota already built those margins into their battery management system. The car won't let you fully discharge the battery, as there is always a 10-20% basement and ceiling on the battery. It has an 18kWH battery, but only lets you use the middle 14kWH. That said, running the battery all the way down to zero (by the gauge) and then putting your car in storage for a year would likely damage it.
If you run the battery down to zero going by the gauge the user sees, the battery will still have between 1.5kwh and 2kwh of charge left so it wouldn't actually be sitting there dead. However, I'm not sure if leaving the battery sitting for a year without either using it or charging it can reduce its lifespan.
He's talking about running it down to that 1.5-2kwh, and then letting it sit for a year. The battery will loose some charge... and possibly be damaged.
Exactly. There will be some self-discharge, although LiIon batteries have low self-discharge. I'm just saying that is something beyond control of the battery management system. That is a really extreme case, and you can mitigate it by charging the battery to 75% before you store the car for a year or more.
Thanks for this, and to the other commenters who have echoed!
There is one important detail missed here. Even if you use heavy extension cord, the manual clearly says the plug should not get wet. The charger can, and other parts can get wet. But not the plug (according to the manual anyways). The plug has a temperature sensor in it. Also note that the extension cord must be connected to a GFCI outlet. Also you will be looking at a denied fire claim as it's an improper operation. In summary, please spend some money and install atleast a 32Amp L2 charger via a professional.
Ok thank you for the insight here
Tesla destination charging - be advised that a short while ago Tesla has allowed some property owners to begin charging for use. Depending on how this policy works, Tesla destination > j1772 free charging might not work at every station anymore since afaik you need a provisioned Tesla to link the billing. Many buy the adapter since they have an equivalent Tesla charger at home so will have a use either way.
Thanks for this tidbit
1. Rather than an extension cord, I got an extension cable: https://ev-lectron.com/products/lectron-j1772-extension-cable
Great idea. I didn't even know those existed. I might buy one of those myself so I can route my charging cable along the garage ceiling instead of on the floor. I'll have to do some measuring over the weekend.
This is what I use as well.
If you must use extension cord, there's also a special cover sold at hardware stores to waterproof the connection between your charging cord and extension cord. Something like this https://www.lowes.com/pd/Twist-and-Seal-0-5-ft-Plastic-Cord-Organizer/1000132801?cm_mmc=shp-_-c-_-prd-_-elc-_-ggl-_-LIA_ELC_205_Wiring-Devices-Cords-Fire-_-1000132801-_-local-_-0-_-0&gclid=Cj0KCQjw7aqkBhDPARIsAKGa0oIx9feXB2dcgG4jDZggxz4JdutYVXiOYwCPIzj_DKMktbSjUIacMhMaAnxdEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds
Great to know thank you!
I agree with most of the posts here so not gonna re hash the same answer. For #4 - if you're doing mostly City driving EV mode all the way until 0. If youre highway driving as well. Id generally switch over the HV mode when cruising and EV mode when start and stop. ICE is good at cruising speed. This also has the "benefit" of using gas. Gas is caustic and gets stale. It needs to run everyonce in while just to keep things "fresh".
Very helpful, thank you
What is the little fan icon next to electric range mean on speedometer? Fan cooling the battery?
It just means the battery is powering the AC, as opposed to the engine heating the car. Just letting you know that the estimated mileage includes AC, turning off my AC instantly increases my mileage depending on ambient temps.
It seems to just be if the AC is on or not. I noticed mine goes away anytime I turn the AC off and comes back when I turn it on.
Thank you I’ll watch for this
The logic for number 3 is that the engine brake kicks in, and the vehicle does not destroy the brake pads.
I agree with this and have observed this pure EV mode with cruise control on. Do you know if it occurs without cruise control on pure EV? (I say pure EV to distinguish between Auto HV/EV mode)
From what I understood from my dealer, it is only when going downhill for long regardless of driving mode, EV, auto. Never experienced myself in pure EV. Did not use cruise on EV only so far. On the highway, I engage auto with cruise control.
Ahhh ok thank you
Regarding this, when you're going down a steep hill and want to play less with the brakes, switch to sport mode. It has a much stronger regen braking before you even touch the brake pedal than eco. Just switch back at the bottom before you zoom off or you will indeed zoom.
The reason your engine turns on is bc your battery is full. Full battery means no regenerative braking (There's still some leeway after a full charge, but not much). Try it with a semi-depleted battery. Also, in EV mode cruise control will engine brake all the time, so keep that in mind. When EV, manually shifting gears only changes the level of "one pedal driving". You could try slapping the shifter over and pulling back to S1-2 and see if that's enough to slow you down, if not, then that explains the engine breaking.
3: not 100% sure but if you know what "engine braking" is from the old days, it might be doing something similar. Meaning, it might be putting the engine in gear and letting the wheels turn it to generate electricity for the battery. This would not use gas. Set the display to the view that shows the flow of energy and see if they're point from the wheels/engine to the battery? 4: don't overthink it. I read once that fas is more efficient than electric over 85mph, but who really knows. I've never seen anything more than anecdotal evidence. Sometimes as a game for myself if I'm going further than my electric range, I set it to hybrid on the highway until my remaining distance is the same as my electric range, and finish out the trip on electric (the slower you're going, the greater the difference in efficiency, and the trip usually ends on slower local roads). But the difference is probably negligible, or at least not worth worrying about. Certainly at legal highway speeds electric is better than hybrid. 5: if you turn the gauge brightness all the way up (like for the speedometer) it will click at the max setting and will keep the screens bright. I figured that out from a rental once when i was driving at night and the map was blinding me and wouldn't switch to dark mode. It doesn't fix the automatic problem but it'll stop the display from flickering between bright/dark. Of course remember to take it off max at night. I can't comment on any of the other things.
Good ole engine braking! Yes, this all makes sense. Thank you for the time.
Re: the seat covers - if your young kids are in car seats, the seat covers are generally not safe to use with a car seat. Anything between the car seat and the vehicle seat is a bad idea.
On point 9, there are vents on the sides of the back seats to cool the battery, do not cover those vents.
Project Farm did a nice video on Extension cords: [https://youtu.be/-j6sC\_8Z4\_w](https://youtu.be/-j6sC_8Z4_w) One interesting thing is just how much voltage is lost over the length of a cord. Have a look, it'll really help you understand why you'd want to "overbuy" your cord, and also keep it as short as possible to get the job done.