Level 2 Charging Issues @ Home

[lakeeriemonster]

Let me preface this post by saying I'm not an electrician, so the terminology I use will likely be incorrect.

I have a Rivian Wall Charger unit installed in my house - installed roughly a year ago - that has worked flawlessly until recently. 60A breaker. 4 gauge aluminum wire that was spliced to 6 gauge copper in the unit itself before connections were made. The aluminum wire was run before I bought the EV and was aware of the recommendations (? requirement) to run copper from panel to charger.

Over the last 2 months, I've progressively noticed issues where the unit will fail - it will pull 11 kW and then suddenly stop charging. Sometimes charging would reset if the car was left plugged in. Resetting the charger seemed to help. Recently, this has happened more frequently and currently, I cannot use the charger at all. The vehicle charges fine at my neighbor's Rivian wall charger and also charges fine on 110V outlet.

I've contacted Rivian and they are asking me to replace the aluminum wire with copper as an initial step. I'd obviously like to avoid this expense if it's not necessary. I talked with my electrician who thinks this recommendation is, frankly, bullshit. Can anyone with more knowledge than I weigh in on this issue and recommendation?

Appreciate it thanks!

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[R1Tom]

My charger connector started making poor contact with the truck after something like 12k miles. Started arcing and melted the connector a bit. Started as rare failure to point it was more than not. New charger completely solved it and hasn't happened again.

 

[SparkyR1t]

If your circuit breaker at your panel is labeled Al/cu. Then it can handle aluminum and or copper wire. That said running copper wire back to the main panel is always best. But a splice designed to connect aluminum wire to copper wire with the use of no ox on the connection. ( non oxidizing goop to prevent aluminum from oxidizing) will be ok as long as the aluminum wire has been sized correctly.

 

[SANZC02]

If your circuit breaker at your panel is labeled Al/cu. Then it can handle aluminum and or copper wire. That said running copper wire back to the main panel is always best. But a splice designed to connect aluminum wire to copper wire with the use of no ox on the connection. ( non oxidizing goop to prevent aluminum from oxidizing) will be ok as long as the aluminum wire has been sized correctly.

I agree, I would check the breaker but if the wire was already installed it should be fine, if it is not then the install was not permitted/inspected so I would be leery.

The feed from your street is probably aluminum so having aluminum in the mix is not in itself an issue. Copper and aluminum do expand and contract at different rates, I would have the junction from aluminum to copper checked to make sure nothing worked loose since the install.

Also double check J1772 plug and make sure you do not see anything out of the ordinary like arc marks or melted material.

If all that looks good I would push Rivian to have the charger serviced, I would leave out the 4 gauge aluminum run from the box to the copper lead once it has been confirmed as good, it only adds something into the mix for them to point to.

 

[lakeeriemonster]

Thanks for advice. Electrician confirmed no-ox connections used. I’ll have him make sure nothing has loosened.
Wiring was done when house was constructed 4 years ago so that was inspected. Thanks for feedback. I’ll press Rivian.

 

[jollyroger]

Honestly just tell Rivan you replaced the wiring with copper. If they want to send out an inspector let them have that expense.

 

[lakeeriemonster]

As others have mentioned, they’ve required photographs of install. Trust me this thought went through my head. I’d prefer to work with them in good faith. Really this was attempt to get opinion of someone other than Rivian or my electrician

 

[holmespun]

I've been having the same issues with my charger. Mine was originally wired with all aluminum, but my electrician just added a splice to 6 gauge copper in the charger. Didn't resolve the issue. Waiting to hear back from the Rivian charging team.

 

[SparkyR1t]

Something you could do on your own if you are comfortable. Open the box with the aluminum to copper splice. Turn off power first would be the safest way to do this. If you can safely leave that box open turn the breaker back on and begin charging your truck. Using an optical non contact thermometer monitor the temperature of the aluminum to copper splice. While it may warm to 100 degrees F or slightly higher over an hour or so of charging at 48 amps. It should not heat up quickly or much beyond that point. Heating would indicate corrosion has occurred at the splice. Also when I say an aluminum to copper splice it is not simply a copper wire twisted onto an aluminum wire it would be

a device made to connect copper to aluminum wire per attached photo

 

[dduffey]

I don't have a solution for you, but I had a similar experience with a Tesla wall charger using a J1172 adapter to the R1T.

About once a month the wall charger would error out mid charge and I would need to reset it. I swapped out adapters but it happened again (can't rule out the adapter though, same brand).

But for the past six months I haven't had the issue and I suspect it was a firmware update on the car, although not impossible that my neighbor pulled into the wall charger and updated the "charger" firmware via his Tesla (which happens automatically).

 

[Zoidz]

All the comments are spot on. This smells like a bad Al-Cu connection, whether oxidized or opening up due to heating. Once tightened, copper wire connections tend to not loosen over time. Aluminum connections can sometimes become less tight over time, expecially where conductor heating takes place.

 

[Darrellquadmotor]

Two months into owning the Rivian and my home charger looks like it failed to complete the charge and now has no lights on the box. Tried all the resets and even pulled the front plate off the box and reset the Wi-Fi to no avail. Put a request ticket into rivian support for the look at the charger as my phone shows that the voltage is going into the box and Wi-Fi is working but no output electricity to the truck. Could be l just got a bad box. It couldn't handle going up to 85% and Just cut it self off at 78% and been cutting off the last couple times I've hooked up.

 

[Quick]

I have a very similar issue with my S. My T and my Taycan both charge fine on the same charger. But my S demonstrates the exact issue you’re seeing. My charger is wired with copper 36” from my circuit, though - so not the EVSE.

My S is going in for service in a few weeks to get this and other things looked at. I’ve seen a number of trucks that have similar behavior and it’s an issue with the onboard charger.

 

[VenturaLuke]

Twice in the last 3 days I've had my truck add 5-15% charge and then error and stop charging. I have 23k miles on my truck, charging >70% of the time at home, and have never had an issue prior to this week. Wondering if it is something with a new software update or something.

 

[Skyline]

Have you checked what the min and max voltage limits are on the charger, compared to the voltage at the time of charging?

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