Odd 120V electrical issue- anyone else?

[BigSkies]

I've now had two odd electrical issues with my 120V outlets. I'm curious if I'm an outlier, or if this has happened to anyone else.

I borrowed a friend's cusimax induction cooktop for a recent camping trip. When powered from the Rivian, the cooktop would only get the pan mildly warm. It would heat up a little bit, but I could put my hand directly on the pan without major discomfort. This cooktop works perfectly fine in my house. I tried it with the same pans, same amount of water, etc to eliminate variables. It will bring a small pan of water to a boil in no time at all on house power.

I have a second cooktron induction cooktop that still works perfectly fine powered by the Rivian.

A second issue we had a while back was one of those little 120V to 12V power bricks was totally fried after using it in the Rivian. I know those are cheap, and it could have been a problem with the power brick. But now I suspect something else could be going on. This one is fairly important to me, as it was powering a fairly expensive piece of medical equipment my wife needs while traveling.

Any thoughts on what's going on here? I'm at a total loss on this one.

Sponsored

 

[mikehmb]

Check the max power draw from that cooktop. If it’s anywhere near 1500W at peak it may be browning out.

 

[BigSkies]

Check the max power draw from that cooktop. If it’s anywhere near 1500W at peak it may be browning out.

It has a max draw of 1800W (as does the one that works well), however, I was using it on the 1400W setting. Would that still be a potential issue?

 

[Dark-Fx]

It has a max draw of 1800W (as does the one that works well), however, I was using it on the 1400W setting. Would that still be a potential issue?

Most induction cooktops work by cycling the element on and off to reduce the power. You're still drawing 100% of the rating but it might only be for 80% of the time to achieve 1400W.

The inverter in the Rivian will reduce the system voltage during a current spike. Lots of devices don't like this or won't work properly with voltage jumping all over the place. I see this happening when we have our 120V string of lights on at the same time as our induction stove. The brightness of the lights pulses about every half second.

 

[mikehmb]

It has a max draw of 1800W (as does the one that works well), however, I was using it on the 1400W setting. Would that still be a potential issue?

@Dark-Fx just commented on it … yes, if it’s rated higher than 1500, and is cycling to hit its max, it’ll never get there and is either not heating up due to current limitations or is clipping on its own.

Either way, gotta stay under 1500W (I’d go 20% under just to be safe).

 

[Trandall]

@BigSkies the Rivian 120V outlet uses a DC-AC inverter. This means output power is not a true AC sine wave but either a simple square wave or a pulse-width-modulated wave. Sensitive electronics sometimes don't play nice particularly with square waves. This may also be contributing to your issues.

 

[BigSkies]

Good to know. Thanks for the input everyone!

 

[joelster]

What do you mean by power brick? Is this a 12VDC to 120VAC inverter or is this a 120VAC to 12VDC transformer or is it something else?

 

[BigSkies]

What do you mean by power brick? Is this a 12VDC to 120VAC inverter or is this a 120VAC to 12VDC transformer or is it something else?

It was just a small 120V to 12VDC transformer.

Sponsored