Charging slowed… warm plug

[JamboF4]

This has begun happening more and more lately..the charge rate slowing noticeably due to warm plug. OEM charger, appropriate amp circuit, 20-80% charge history. 5000 miles. Anyone else? BTW, the plug IS pretty warm to the touch and 124°

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[mikehmb]

It de-rates amperage by design from a SW update earlier this year (you probably knew that).

Is it in direct sunlight by chance? If not, there may be something awry.

Mine is definitely not doing this.

 

[Aardvark]

While a fault in the plug is possible, there are more likely causes.
Have an electrician check the wire connector screw torques in your wall unit, and at the breaker box. If any connectors were even slightly under-torqued at installation, it's not uncommon for the heat-cool cycles of the wires to loosen the connections and increase resistance.
Because of the long continuous, high amperage draw, this is more common in EVSE than other appliances.

 

[mikehmb]

While a fault in the plug is possible, there are more likely causes.
Have an electrician check the wire connector screw torques in your wall unit, and at the breaker box. If any connectors were even slightly under-torqued at installation, it's not uncommon for the heat-cool cycles of the wires to loosen the connections and increase resistance.
Because of the long continuous, high amperage draw, this is more common in EVSE than other appliances.

^^^^ This

I had a NEMA 14-50 melt and attempt to fry my wall. Definitely listen to Aardvark here.

Use a commercial plug, not the standard dryer plug type which are not rated for the duty cycles of an EV charger.

 

[JamboF4]

^^^^ This

I had a NEMA 14-50 melt and attempt to fry my wall. Definitely listen to Aardvark here.

Use a commercial plug, not the standard dryer plug type which are not rated for the duty cycles of an EV charger.

It’s hardwired to a dedicated 60A circuit

 

[sacramentoelectric]

I had this issue too. At least for me, it was random and eventually stopped. I checked all the screw torques in my wall unit and breaker box. Everything was tight. I would get derating even when in cool temps and the handle would be barely warm to the touch. I have no idea why but I haven't had it derate in a while. I probably reset the vehicle but I don't know if that made any difference. If it keeps up, submit a ticket.

 

[JamboF4]

I had this issue too. At least for me, it was random and eventually stopped. I checked all the screw torques in my wall unit and breaker box. Everything was tight. I would get derating even when in cool temps and the handle would be barely warm to the touch. I have no idea why but I haven't had it derate in a while. I probably reset the vehicle but I don't know if that made any difference. If it keeps up, submit a ticket.

Thx, SAC

 

[Electrified Outdoors]

This happens on Tesla wall connectors as well here at my place. Mine is associated with high temps (summer) and a garage without climate control. Making it worse both chargers are mounted to the inside of an exterior wall which has a stone veneer on the other side (they radiate heat).

The Rivian vehicles give no error but I get a flashing red light on the Tesla chargers and charging speed can slow to as little as 5kw. Once the weather cools the problem lessens and goes away (Usually by October here in Maryland).

Ponte Vedra is a beautiful area. I imagine your temps are still a bit warm down there so this might be part of it too.

 

[Spaceball1]

There are a few other threads about this from earlier this summer. There was an update to either the trucks or charger that made this happen more often. My garage only gets to 80 F max in the summer and I don’t have this issue with our other EV in the same garage (granted it is a less amperage charger). It also didn’t have this issue last summer at all so something definitely changed

In my case, Rivian checked the truck when I was in SC for other things and everything checked out fine. They remote diagnosed my charger and said it needed to be replaced, but then gave me a run around because I didn’t have it installed by a licensed electrician ?‍ While arguing about that, they told me the charger issues no longer go through a dedicated group and just go through service, so I opened a ticket.

They said they were pushing a new firmware to the charger to see if it fixes it. Of course by that point it is getting cooler here, so the real test will be next summer I suppose.

Probably the best solution I found was manually setting either the truck or charger to a lower amperage to avoid it getting tripped for a warm plug. This overall will increase the amount of charge you get overnight as the de-rating it does is pretty aggressive.

 

[electruck]

To be safe, also check both sides of the connection (plug and port) for any signs of contamination (bugs, dirt, etc) and for any signs of scorching or melting.

 

[JamboF4]

This happens on Tesla wall connectors as well here at my place. Mine is associated with high temps (summer) and a garage without climate control. Making it worse both chargers are mounted to the inside of an exterior wall which has a stone veneer on the other side (they radiate heat).

The Rivian vehicles give no error but I get a flashing red light on the Tesla chargers and charging speed can slow to as little as 5kw. Once the weather cools the problem lessens and goes away (Usually by October here in Maryland).

Ponte Vedra is a beautiful area. I imagine your temps are still a bit warm down there so this might be part of it too.

Ordinarily yes, but garage is climate controlled…rarely over 80°. I’ll keep looking at symptoms and perhaps this forum can help sort it out.

 

[Mike Hunt]

This has begun happening more and more lately..the charge rate slowing noticeably due to warm plug. OEM charger, appropriate amp circuit, 20-80% charge history. 5000 miles. Anyone else? BTW, the plug IS pretty warm to the touch and 124°

Sometimes there is dirt, bugs or residue build up on the plug connectors. I clean the pins and slots whith a q-tip.

 

[PaythePiper]

Welcome to shit Rivian thermals. Everyone here will blame your hardware or wiring blah blah blah. Rivian’s are freaking picky with heat. It’s gotta be a software thing right?

my Tesla on the same universal wall connector? NEVER gives me an error and I’m in AZ where my garage is over 100 degrees at night. It’s just something we have to deal with in the rivian world

 

[Electrified Outdoors]

The other thing with the R1 is that the hot air from the condenser is routed around the frunk tub and blows out of vents in the front wheel wells.

So that route takes all that hot air right past the charge port.

with the Tesla units and the red light it can be the charger or the plug that is too warm (they don’t tell you which). When it’s warm outside the HVAC will run during a charging session to keep components cool.

One suggestion that has worked for some is to limit charging amperage during the hot months to 32 or 40 amps instead of the max 48.

blog post I made on this subject a while back:

https://eoutdoors.blogspot.com/2024/06/summer-tips-my-rivian-charing-is-slower.html?m=1

 

[JamboF4]

Sometimes there is dirt, bugs or residue build up on the plug connectors. I clean the pins and slots whith a q-tip.

Thx Mike..I’ll check

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