Charging options remote site off grid with 8kw propane generator?

[mightypile]

If you can only produce 8kW, the plug-in mobile adapter is probably your best bet. But if you can produce more than the stated 8kW from your genset, the wall box may add value. I hard-wired my Rivian wall charger to a 60A breaker and can pull 48A all night long for 11kW charging. Munro and Associates say you should be careful with this because some breakers are rated for 60A, but were not designed for hours of constant load. They have examples of melted breakers, but I've checked mine periodically and all seems fine after a year of regular use. This is significantly faster than the 32A max through the plug-in mobile charger that comes with the Rivian. I am not off-grid, and I have a standard 200A panel from the utility feeding my home and EV charger.

I have also briefly charged my R1T, just for experimentation purposes, from an Anker Solix battery. It never worked until I connected neutral to ground with an off-the-shelf plug (https://www.amazon.com/neutral-ground-bonding-plug/s?k=neutral+ground+bonding+plug). So I learned the Rivian is definitely sensitive to floating neutral.

Best of luck!

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[HaveBlue]

I would use the smaller charger. I think the Rivian has a hard time remembering what amperage to draw at a particular location and will default to the most it can. The Gen set won't be happy if charging is stopped and then restarted and the car wants to draw 48A. The Neutral is unused on 240V. Only the ground and hots are wired through but make sure the gen is earthed. An RV needs the neutral on the 14-50 to get the split phase 120V. I'd just set aside 4 hours to charge the R1 and be done. A small solar system with only a few of KW of storage isn't worth straining. Leave it for the cabin. Our cabin has power and room for a 60A circuit so I'll be set. We actually got rid of our huge propane tank and went to 40# bottles to run the stove, BBQ and a wall furnace in a pinch. Usually electric heaters and a fireplace suffice.

 

[Electrified Outdoors]

Man this is so cool to see a bunch of folks talking about off grid living. I like the idea of having the grid as a backup and having renewables as the primary.

 

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

Following.

Also, there was another thread on here just a few weeks ago where someone had made a dozen or so different types of adapters. I believe there were pictures. Have you seen that one?

 

[RayzorBEV]

My solution to stay off grid while living within the city limits; a 15.5kW solar sytem with three Tesla PowerWalls to keep my house powered up 24/7 and to occasionally charges my two Rivians, one Tesla and one Zero electric motorcycle

 

[Electrified Outdoors]

My solution to stay off grid while living within the city limits; a 15.5kW solar sytem with three Tesla PowerWalls to keep my house powered up 24/7 and to occasionally charges my two Rivians, one Tesla and one Zero electric motorcycle

Are you completely disconnected from the grid?

 

[RayzorBEV]

Are you completely disconnected from the grid?

I should be able to because my system's maximum capabilities is approximately 400% that of my average monthly usage; weather dependent, of course

 

[WSea]

My solution to stay off grid while living within the city limits; a 15.5kW solar sytem with three Tesla PowerWalls to keep my house powered up 24/7 and to occasionally charges my two Rivians, one Tesla and one Zero electric motorcycle

Is that a commercial RTU on your roof?

 

[Electrified Outdoors]

I should be able to because my system's maximum capabilities is approximately 400% that of my average monthly usage; weather dependent, of course

That's awesome.... in that case you would want to stay on... Feed thst excess back to the grid. Especially if your utility pays retail vs wholesale.

I have community solar right now. Mainly because of the payback time, wife doesn't want panels on roof, and we don't plan to be here long term... Maybe another 3 years or so. Our dream is to build our forever home with grid being the backup. Design from the get go with a solar roof. 100% offset plus some extra for future needs.

 

[RayzorBEV]

Is that a commercial RTU on your roof?

Yes it is

 

[docwhiz]

There are a lot of comments and threads about this topic. If you end up relying on generator, you'll need 1) to ensure it's an inverter generator (mentioned previously) plus 2) some adapters to ensure the truck recognizes that the power is clean and grounded. See this thread for a ton of back and forth over the topic and some suggested brands to stick with when purchasing adapters.

https://www.rivianforums.com/forum/...erator-and-charging-adapter.11645/post-289569

An old school generator makes a nice sine wave but the problem is noise on the line and lack of frequency control.
Inverter generators can make a "pure sine wave" but the wave may be distorted due to sloppy electronics.
The metric to look for is total harmonic distortion (THD) which should be less than 5% for reliable operation of devices.

 

[BrentInCO]

My solution to stay off grid while living within the city limits; a 15.5kW solar sytem with three Tesla PowerWalls to keep my house powered up 24/7 and to occasionally charges my two Rivians, one Tesla and one Zero electric motorcycle

1 Tesla Powerwall = 13.5 kWh, correct?

If your vehicle’s battery state of charge were low (<20%), you need to charge your vehicles during the day, when the sun is providing energy, rather than draw energy from the Powerwall(s) overnight to recharge to ~80%+?

 

[Myricky]

Thanks for all the replies.

Thought I would update my original post.

The Rivian mobile charger works great with my 8kw Winco generator. It is not an inverter generator but is a high end gen set and the grounding and sine wave appear sufficient. The car seemed to negotiate a 34 amp charge rate at least that is what showed on the screen. Miles added were given as 14 miles per hour.

 

[Electrified Outdoors]

Thanks for all the replies.

Thought I would update my original post.

The Rivian mobile charger works great with my 8kw Winco generator. It is not an inverter generator but is a high end gen set and the grounding and sine wave appear sufficient. The car seemed to negotiate a 34 amp charge rate at least that is what showed on the screen. Miles added were given as 14 miles per hour.

Yeah, Rivian appears to show two amps higher than actual charge rate of the charger. The mobile charger is limited to 32 amps but I have a 40 amp Shockflo and that shows as 42 amps on the Rivian screen when connected. Not sure why.

Is your Winco a PS8? Those are nice units!!

 

[Myricky]

Yes Winco PSS8B2. Love it.

I should have mentioned, in case it wasn’t obvious, I was charging at 240v.

Here is a video clip of the setup and charging...

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