Charging a Rivian from various outlets (tried 120v through the 14-50 mobile charger too)

[Rob O]

I’m at an Airbnb right now and have been using Rivian’s included “convenience” charger off a 20A / 120V circuit in the garage. The 240V options at this property are too far/inconvenient to use. I dial down the Amp setting in the vehicle, plug into standard wall outlet (with nothing else drawing from that circuit), and see 25-27 miles of charge added overnight ... which is enough to offset the 22 mile commute I’m making from the rental to our destination each day. Works.

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[boonrag]

Thank you RPO for posting a charging thread. I have a situation at work with a 50amp welders plug. I see that there is an adaptor to 14-50r but the manufacturer states that this is a Tesla product. Is there a ground issue for non Tesla EVs?

 

[HaveBlue]

That should work 6-50 to 14-50. There's a ground but not neutral. Check the wire on the backside of that plug. Looks sketch. Also follow it back to the panel and verify the breaker size

 

[rpo]

Thank you RPO for posting a charging thread. I have a situation at work with a 50amp welders plug. I see that there is an adaptor to 14-50r but the manufacturer states that this is a Tesla product. Is there a ground issue for non Tesla EVs?

You'll be fine. It doesn't care if there isn't a neutral on 240v connections for any electric cars (that I've heard of).

 

[boonrag]

Thanks for giving me confidence guys. It worked. It is wired to a 60Amp breaker. I put the Mobile charger on it and set it to 32Amps. I was only getting 11 miles per hour of charge and got a little worried that the cable of the mobile charger felt warmer than usual. Dropped the Amps to 24 and got 8 miles an hour. It covers my commute.

 

[rpo]

Thanks for this write-up. Would love to see photos of some of these adapters.

Posting pics in a few minutes!

 

[Dark-Fx]

Does this seem ridiculous to anyone else? Why can't it go into a low power state while charging? Just enough to run the BMS and unlock/wake? It has the long term storage mode right? There's no way to do that and enable just enough to charge? Maybe burn 100w excess power vs 600w?

Rivian has gotten way better about power usage while charging than they were when they first started shipping.

 

[rpo]

And here are the requested pics in order from the source outlet all the way to how I get that to the car charger. If the outlet is close enough to the car, you could just use an adapter to a NEMA 14-50 outlet and then plug the mobile charger right into that, but that's rarely the case, and that is where using an extension cord comes in handy.

First, here are adapter to get various outlets TO a 14-50.

240v/30 amp twistlock to NEMA 14-50:

240v/50 amp dryer outlet to NEMA 14-50:

240v/30 amp dryer outlet to NEMA 14-50

Another 240v/30 amp dryer outlet to 14-50:

120v/20 amp (NEMA 5-20) to 14-50. This is a standard 20 amp household outlet, but you'll charge 50% faster than using the standard 15 amp plug that comes with the mobile charger.

Here is the Quick 220 that can combine two household outlets (so long as they are on opposite phases) using standard household outlets NEMA 5-15 or 5-20 to get 2900 to 3800 watts of power in total. The outputs are a 240v/20 amp outlet (NEMA 6-20). I then use a 6-20 to 14-50 adapter to get to a plug that the mobile charger can use as seen in the second pic below. P.S. there are also 5-20 to 5-15 adapters on the male ends in case the household plugs are only 15 amp, otherwise those get removed if 20 amp plugs are available.

Those are all of the adapters, but you still need to be really close to the outlets....unless you have an extension cord. You can buy an extremely heavy 14-50 extension cord, but it is unwieldy and usually a bigger gauge than what you need. And that is why I made this extension cord below that is a NEMA 6-20 (240v, 20 amp) 10 gauge extension cord. It's hardly heavier than a standard 12 gauge extension cord, but I can get 3800 watts through it which is good enough for a 50% charge overnight (sufficient 99% of the time in my experience).

To get to and from the 6-20 plugs on the extension cord, I use a 14-50 to 6-20 on the male end which the adapters shown above can all plug into and then a 6-20 to 14-50 adapter on the female end which the Rivian mobile connector can plug into.

 

[HaveBlue]

In many areas GFCI and AFCI are becoming required for all breakers on new construction. Something to keep in mind as the Quick 220 won't function on those circuits.

 

[tusharparmar]

I’m at an Airbnb right now and have been using Rivian’s included “convenience” charger off a 20A / 120V circuit in the garage. The 240V options at this property are too far/inconvenient to use. I dial down the Amp setting in the vehicle, plug into standard wall outlet (with nothing else drawing from that circuit), and see 25-27 miles of charge added overnight ... which is enough to offset the 22 mile commute I’m making from the rental to our destination each day. Works.

I am temporarily charging this way until I get alternate solution and getting similar charge overnight but I didn't dial down the amps

Is it necessary to do that? If yes then to what number?

 

[tusharparmar]

I drove Teslas for nearly 10 years and made quite a few adapters so I could charge at hotels, family/friend's homes, AirBNBs, etc. And since I just got my Rivian, I tested out the charger with some of my adapters to make sure it would accept 120v through the 14-50 240v connector since I saw some other posters asking if it was possible (and since that was the basis of my adapter collection).

I can confirm the Rivian WILL charge with just 120v through the 14-50 adapter. Obviously, if the source is not capable of 50 amps, you must dial down the amps in the Rivian the moment you plug it in or you'll flip a breaker or worse.

For anyone trying to charge where you have standard 15 amp 120v outlets but there's a higher amperage outlet available, being able to use that can greatly increase your charging speed. The charging overhead appears to be about 600w (meaning the first 600w does NOT make it into the battery). A 5-15 outlet (120v, 15 amps) will deliver about 1400w which means 800w goes to the battery.

But if you have a 5-20 outlet (120v, 20 amps), those numbers go up to 1800w and 1200w to the battery (50% faster charging).

If you come across a 5-30 outlet (120v @ 30 amps, RV parks sometimes have these), that'll get you 2700w and 2100w to the battery (260% faster than a standard outlet) and will actually give you about a 25% charge in 12 hours.

Dryer outlets are great too. You can usually get 40 to 50 amps from these (7500w to 9400w, and you can fully charge in roughly 12-16 hours. A 6-30, 6-50, 10-30, or 14-50 outlet can be found in most homes with an electric dryer.

I have also made a random collection of twistlock connector to 14-50 adapters that are sometimes found at the base of light poles in hotel parking lots. Definitely ask for permission before just plugging in, and I have always had to dial down the amps WAY below what the outlet was rated for (because the lights were running on the same circuit).

Only have standard 120v outlets? You *might* be able to combine two together and get 240v @ 12-16 amps using a Quick 220 box (quick220.com). The outlets have to be on different phases for this to work, and the Quick 220 will only turn on if they are, so it is safe to plug into various outlets until you find a combo that works. I have done this many times at AirBNBs testing out the various outdoor (and sometimes indoor) outlets. One note...this will NOT work if any outlet is on a GFCI since that will get triggered. But it is good for 2800w to 3700w when it works and is at least 2.6x faster than a regular outlet.

I also got a 75 foot, 10 gauge extension cord and put 6-20 plugs on each end (240v @ 20 amps) to reach to where the outlet(s) might be. My adapters can get from any outlet to a 6-20 and through the extension cord and then from the 6-20 on the other end to the 14-50 plug on the Rivian (or Tesla) charger on the other end. This way I can get nearly 4000w through a somewhat lightweight extension cord this way from dryer outlets, etc (instead of lugging around a 50 amp extension cord that weighs 100 lbs, and yes, I have that too).This cord also plugs right into the Quick 220's outlet.

And I advise against this, but I also had a few 50 amp breaker to 14-50 outlet adapters that I sometimes would pop right into the electric panel at an AirBNB. Yeah, shame on me, but I always offered to pay for my energy consumption with the host and never once had one accept payment.

Again, if anyone does this with adapters, you MUST dial down the amps in the Rivian to whatever the continuous load capacity of the source is capable of (80% of the rated capacity) or the lowest rated connection in between because otherwise the Rivian will try to pull 40 amps by default. If you are not familiar with electric outlets, you probably don't want to do any of this. But if you are experienced, feel free to ask me questions as I have tried nearly every combo over 200k miles of roadtripping Teslas into the middle of nowhere...and then trying to charge!

Is it safe and advisable to use dryer 3 pin outlet for EV charging? If yes, are there any realiable adapter available to convert from 3 pin plug to 4 pin one shipped with Rivian?

 

[Rob O]

I am temporarily charging this way until I get alternate solution and getting similar charge overnight but I didn't dial down the amps

Is it necessary to do that? If yes then to what number?

Yes. The Rivian “convenience charger” might have some fail safe logic in it that prevents any issues, but you should always set Amps in the truck to 80% of the circuit. So, even if you had a 50A plug available, you’d set the truck to request 40A. This is even more important if the truck is set at the default 48A (max for R1T/S) and you’re on a 15A 120V circuit, because not doing so increases the risk of tripping the breaker ... or worse, fire.

 

[CommodoreAmiga]

Is it safe and advisable to use dryer 3 pin outlet for EV charging? If yes, are there any realiable adapter available to convert from 3 pin plug to 4 pin one shipped with Rivian?

Yes, I own (and have used) this adapter, successfully, with the Rivian Portable EVSE. You have to remember to drop the charging current down to 24A in the center screen, and Rivian doesn't remember the setting, so if you unplug and replug (like I do when going to dinner and coming back to the AirBnB) you have to remember to reset it. Annoying. But aside from that quirk, the adapter works perfectly.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B19X4NXN

 

[BG_ATX]

I’m at an Airbnb right now and have been using Rivian’s included “convenience” charger off a 20A / 120V circuit in the garage. The 240V options at this property are too far/inconvenient to use. I dial down the Amp setting in the vehicle, plug into standard wall outlet (with nothing else drawing from that circuit), and see 25-27 miles of charge added overnight ... which is enough to offset the 22 mile commute I’m making from the rental to our destination each day. Works.

I’m new to EV charging. I attempted to use the portable charger on a regular wall outlet while traveling (120V), but the circuit kept tripping. Reading your post, it sounds as if I need to “dial down the amp setting” in the Rivian. What is the safe value to use, 20A?

 

[Rob O]

I’m new to EV charging. I attempted to use the portable charger on a regular wall outlet while traveling (120V), but the circuit kept tripping. Reading your post, it sounds as if I need to “dial down the amp setting” in the Rivian. What is the safe value to use, 20A?

For 20A circuit you’d set the truck to 15A (80% rule). You could even do 12A to be saferer and probably get the same range added either way.

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