“Slower due to warm plug” charging error

[DuoRivians]

My R1T has recently been charging funny at home with my Rivian wall charger.

It would start charging at normal speed, eg 10.4 kW, but about an hour or so later, I would see an error displayed on the car screen: “Slower due to warm plug”

The charging speed would then slow down to 7kW.

The charging plug doesn’t feel hot at all.

If I stop charging, unplug, re-plug, and start charging again, the car will charge at full speed 10.4kW again. But, an hour or so later, the same issue will occur.

DCFC doesn’t appear to be affected at all.

Has anyone else come across this issue?

Screenshot of car display here.

My Rivian wall charger:
- Software version V03.01.47
- Model W1-1113-3RV7

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[Dave Cundiff]

I got the same "Slower due to warm plug" message at a Rivian-operated and branded Level 2 charger last week, on a hot sunny day. I was happy they let me charge at all! I just enjoyed the charge, without trying to speed anything up or reset anything.

I looked up the relationship between temperature and resistance, tentatively confirming my suspicion:

"According to the general rule, the dependence of resistance on temperature is that the resistance increases as the temperature increases in conductors and decreases with the increasing temperature in insulators." https://unacademy.com/content/upsc/study-material/physics/relation-between-temperature-and-resistances/#:~:text=According to the general rule,the increasing temperature in insulators. [In other words, conductors generally conduct less well, and insulators generally insulate less well, when they're hot.]

Assuming "unacademy.com" is a reliable source on this question, that means pushing the same amount of current through a wire that's already hot ... makes the wire hotter! At least in theory, this is a positive feedback loop with no obvious limit. That could be very dangerous if the current weren't controlled.

I trust the engineers figured out how to throttle back the current at the right time and in the right amount to maximize safety without unduly compromising charging speed. I don't mind if they're cautious! I'd rather have a slower charge than a preventable fire.

I've heard that some people drape a wet cloth over their adapters when it's sunny. That sounds like a great idea -- if and only if the adapter is the only part of the circuit where excessive heat can cause this problem. What do others know?

Thanks in advance, and best to all!

 

[echerod]

My R1T has recently been charging funny at home with my Rivian wall charger.

It would start charging at normal speed, eg 10.4 kW, but about an hour or so later, I would see an error displayed on the car screen: “Slower due to warm plug”

The charging speed would then slow down to 7kW.

The charging plug doesn’t feel hot at all.

If I stop charging, unplug, re-plug, and start charging again, the car will charge at full speed 10.4kW again. But, an hour or so later, the same issue will occur.

DCFC doesn’t appear to be affected at all.

Has anyone else come across this issue?

Screenshot of car display here.

My Rivian wall charger:
- Software version V03.01.47
- Model W1-1113-3RV7

I got the same message, so I tried another L2 48A charging station and was able to charge at 11kW. After checking with customer support for my charging station (Wallbox) they believe it’s a faulty plug. I recommend you try a different L2 48A charger before you do anything else.

 

[DuoRivians]

To clarify, this is my Rivian wall charger at home I’ve had for a year+ now. No issues until now

 

[tk21]

My R1T has recently been charging funny at home with my Rivian wall charger.

It would start charging at normal speed, eg 10.4 kW, but about an hour or so later, I would see an error displayed on the car screen: “Slower due to warm plug”

The charging speed would then slow down to 7kW.

The charging plug doesn’t feel hot at all.

If I stop charging, unplug, re-plug, and start charging again, the car will charge at full speed 10.4kW again. But, an hour or so later, the same issue will occur.

DCFC doesn’t appear to be affected at all.

Has anyone else come across this issue?

Screenshot of car display here.

My Rivian wall charger:
- Software version V03.01.47
- Model W1-1113-3RV7

I have been getting this too recently (last month)

03.01.47
hard wired, 60A circuit, been installed/used for 12 months.

also happens when charging my wife’s Pacifica (I see the slowdown on the app).

I asked Customer Service to push a firmware update when reporting the issue and got the double birds…

 

[tk21]

To clarify, this is my Rivian wall charger at home I’ve had for a year+ now. No issues until now

Same (posted my situation a minute ago)

 

[stewart]

I got the same "Slower due to warm plug" message at a Rivian-operated and branded Level 2 charger last week, on a hot sunny day. I was happy they let me charge at all! I just enjoyed the charge, without trying to speed anything up or reset anything.

I looked up the relationship between temperature and resistance, tentatively confirming my suspicion:

"According to the general rule, the dependence of resistance on temperature is that the resistance increases as the temperature increases in conductors and decreases with the increasing temperature in insulators." https://unacademy.com/content/upsc/study-material/physics/relation-between-temperature-and-resistances/#:~:text=According to the general rule,the increasing temperature in insulators. [In other words, conductors generally conduct less well, and insulators generally insulate less well, when they're hot.]

Assuming "unacademy.com" is a reliable source on this question, that means pushing the same amount of current through a wire that's already hot ... makes the wire hotter! At least in theory, this is a positive feedback loop with no obvious limit. That could be very dangerous if the current weren't controlled.

I trust the engineers figured out how to throttle back the current at the right time and in the right amount to maximize safety without unduly compromising charging speed. I don't mind if they're cautious! I'd rather have a slower charge than a preventable fire.

I've heard that some people drape a wet cloth over their adapters when it's sunny. That sounds like a great idea -- if and only if the adapter is the only part of the circuit where excessive heat can cause this problem. What do others know?

Thanks in advance, and best to all!

Your assessment is correct. Resistance increases as the conductors get warmer. Meaning that you can't get the same throughput on a hot conductor of the same size as when it is cold. This is why superconductors are kept really cold. Draping a wet cloth would certainly increase the cooling if the humidity is low, but electricity and water are generally not a great combination so I would opt to accept the lower charge rate. BTW I'm a power systems engineer and have been dealing with this phenomenon for most of my career.

 

[tplociniak]

Been having the same issue with my Rivian EVSE, it also wasn't communicating in the app any longer so I tried a reset and repairing. Since then I have not had the slower charger message. I have had some weird anomalies with it going from 10.5 kw to 0 and back up again several times a minute. But overall it has cleared up and is charging normal again

 

[Superdad]

I’ve had the same issue recently after charging with no issues for 18 months and seemed to have “fixed” it. Ymmw

I tightened all of my electrical connections at my breaker box and inside of the Rivian wall mount unit- they were already tight though. I gave them all another 1/8th turn.

I disassembled the evse plug and found what seemed to be a temperature sensor zip tied to the cables. It was all bound up. I undid the temp sensor(assumed) and moved it and left it not zip tied during reassembly. It is all tight and packed in there so I’m confident if things do get hot it will still register.

No problems since. It’s been a week and I charge from 30-75% daily.

 

[mikehmb]

Rivian released an update last year that explicitly addressed this - it derates the onboard charger if the connector gets too warm. This is normal behavior so therefore nothing to be concerned about.

The cause can be from charging resistance (more prevalent with debris on the electrical contacts), but it can also be from just sitting in the sun. Mine has done this when charging on a particularly sunny day with the charge handle directly exposed to the sun in 90+ temps.

 

[DuoRivians]

Rivian released an update last year that explicitly addressed this - it derates the onboard charger if the connector gets too warm. This is normal behavior so therefore nothing to be concerned about.

The cause can be from charging resistance (more prevalent with debris on the electrical contacts), but it can also be from just sitting in the sun. Mine has done this when charging on a particularly sunny day with the charge handle directly exposed to the sun in 90+ temps.

It’s in the 50s/60s at night here when I charge. And it’s only been recently doing this. When I unplug and replug and charge, it’s fine again for some time. It doesn’t appear to be truly determined by the plug temperature

 

[mikehmb]

It’s in the 50s/60s at night here when I charge. And it’s only been recently doing this. When I unplug and replug and charge, it’s fine again for some time. It doesn’t appear to be truly determined by the plug temperature

Huh, weird. Then I’d put in a ticket. Sounds like a SW bug based on the responses above, but could be something more.

 

[rjte84]

I was having the same issue recently. I have the latest update on the R1T and 3 months with the truck. I use an EnelX wallbox charger (FPL Evolution provided charger). From my side everything was fine until the temperatures started to hit over 90’s F (South Florida). After 1 - 1.5 hr I started to get the degraded charging rate (9.5 kW to 6.2 kW). During the nights it was fine, but if I tried during the day it was a NO NO after 10 am.

I did a little test with a commercial fan, pointing the same to the plug and it worked fine, no degraded rates with a charging time over 6 hrs. The plug was cooler, as expected. We will have a 95-97 F temperature in the upcoming days and I will test again.

 

[Honey]

To clarify, this is my Rivian wall charger at home I’ve had for a year+ now. No issues until now

I'm having the same issue right now.

 

[RivianRunner]

When Rivian makes the switch to NACS charge ports, you can all celebrate, get a Tesla Wall Connector, and enjoy full power charging with no over-heating issues at a measly 48 amps! The CCS connector is marginal and poorly designed for Level 2 charging.

It wasn't even designed by a company that wanted the transition to EVs to be quick and painless.

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