PSA - DO NOT USE LECTRON ADAPTOR w/ Tesla Wall Charger on Rivian

[Dirty_B]

Jumping in here to mention that I have used the Lectron (pictured below) on and off for a while and it definitely overheats at 48A when plugged into a Tesla Wall Connector. The Rivian would do the right thing and derate to 6kw (from 11/12kw) every time, which was a bit too slow for my use case. I worked around it temporarily (don't do this, probably) by triggering a fan to start when home assistant sees something charging. I then confirmed with an infrared thermometer that nothing got hot (pins included) with the fan in place, but obviously this isn't a permanent solution.

You can almost certainly continue using one of these at lower current, but I'd definitely proceed with caution at its full 48A "rating". I guess I'll buy the slightly-more-expensive teslatap and see how it does.

Edit: also, I own two of the adapters and both behave the same.

I'd love to see empirical data on temp as it rates to rise over ambient at 48amp/240v (or whatever Voltage at amperage after X amount of time charging) for this adapter as well as other name brands ie TeslaTap's two models. Someone ...hint hint Outofspec Kyle maybe, could probably get some good hits with a test and results.

I've seen video reviews of L2 units themselves, but has anyone seen a test across the board of adapters and performance charging a Rivian/EV?

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[brancky3]

My Lectron works fine.

 

[connoisseurr]

It's interesting that there is this impression that a product is garbage if its available on Amazon.

When I went searching for an adapter I had the choice between the Lectron Adapter, and the Tesla Tap.

At the time neither of them were available on Amazon which annoyed me because I wanted fast prime shipping. I ended up going with the Lectron because of some issue with trying to order the TeslaTap in time.

I've haven't had any issues with the lectron, and I verified last night that it wasn't getting hot while charging.

In the entire time I've had it I haven't seen any indication of repeated problems with it.

In fact I would say the biggest problems are that it's not waterproof, and to my knowledge it doesn't have UL approval.

The TeslaTap also has issues in that the website for it looks/feels unprofessional, and doesn't clearly state whether the adapter is UL approved or if its waterproof. If you google those things you see some old information posted on Amazon where the product isn't even available from anymore. The old information stated that it was "virtually waterproof" which is rather meaningless, and that the cable and handle are UL approved. That's also meaningless.

So from a UL + Waterproof perspective neither the TeslaTap or the Lectron really fit the bill for home charging. Occasional use at a Tesla Destination charger is fine.

Can’t speak on the product being UL-listed but being made in the USA, with US-based customer service was enough to earn my business.

I’ve used mine at destination charger many timesc with a handful being in rainy or wet conditions. Have had zero issues. I can tell you the gaskets and seals on this thing are SUPER tight.

Last, I had purchased this when I had a Mach-E, and initially it was not compatible with the Rivian, due to a larger ground pin on the charger plug. I was able to contact customer support and they offered to upgrade my unit for free. I was responsible for shipping both ways. Was very ecstatic about that.

 

[Kunzene]

I'd love to see empirical data on temp as it rates to rise over ambient at 48amp/240v (or whatever Voltage at amperage after X amount of time charging) for this adapter as well as other name brands ie TeslaTap's two models. Someone ...hint hint Outofspec Kyle maybe, could probably get some good hits with a test and results.

I've seen video reviews of L2 units themselves, but has anyone seen a test across the board of adapters and performance charging a Rivian/EV?

Only one data point but:

Last night my tesla wall connector handle was at a steady 115 degrees while charging our Model 3.
Plugged into the TeslaTap charging my R1T it was at 131 and still rising when I stopped it.
Temp in garage was 80.

 

[CJdergroße]

Jumping in here to mention that I have used the Lectron (pictured below) on and off for a while and it definitely overheats at 48A when plugged into a Tesla Wall Connector. The Rivian would do the right thing and derate to 6kw (from 11/12kw) every time, which was a bit too slow for my use case. I worked around it temporarily (don't do this, probably) by triggering a fan to start when home assistant sees something charging. I then confirmed with an infrared thermometer that nothing got hot (pins included) with the fan in place, but obviously this isn't a permanent solution.

You can almost certainly continue using one of these at lower current, but I'd definitely proceed with caution at its full 48A "rating". I guess I'll buy the slightly-more-expensive teslatap and see how it does.

Edit: also, I own two of the adapters and both behave the same.

I am glad I saw your post, I replaced the Gen3 wall charger in my garage with my Rivian wall charger when I got my truck. No issues with the Rivian charger.

I moved the Tesla wall charger to my parents driveway, when I go over there to mooch their solar.

I had my Tesla Gen 3 replaced once before because it kept overheating, and would shut off, so I figured the de-rating was the Tesla wall connector (again) overheating. I knew it had firmware updates, so I believed they mostly fixed the overheating part, and just let it de-rate as heat built up to manage thermal issues. Was too late for a warranty replacement (again), and it rarely is used very long.

I’ll have to rent a Tesla and see if it’s the Lectron connector or the wall charger.

 

[RedSOB]

Looking for guidance here. We have a gen 2 Tesla charger and originally planned to use this with the lectron adapter. Now thinking we will just get a J1772 wall charger. I've seen a few on here mention getting the tesla J1772, for those...why not the Rivian wall charger? It's $50 cheaper if you have the pre-order pricing. I was thinking of getting the Rivian wall charger since our Telsa came with the adapter to use with a J1772. This way we are using an adapter by our car manufacturer and not a third party, hopefully protecting warranty concerns.

 

[Cosmacelf]

Looking for guidance here. We have a gen 2 Tesla charger and originally planned to use this with the lectron adapter. Now thinking we will just get a J1772 wall charger. I've seen a few on here mention getting the tesla J1772, for those...why not the Rivian wall charger? It's $50 cheaper if you have the pre-order pricing. I was thinking of getting the Rivian wall charger since our Telsa came with the adapter to with a J1772. This way we are using an adapter by our car manufacturer and not a third party, hopefully protecting warranty concerns.

I bought the RIvian Wall Charger at the $500 price. it works, but I wasn't overly impressed. The J1772 charging cable is massive, heavy, and fairly rigid. OTOH, it should never overheat .

The charger knockouts for electrical cables aren't well thought out - there's no way to actually attach normal electrical box connectors to the EVSE. Tesla's third generation Wall Connector is a dream in comparison.

Once you set the Rivian Wall Connector's max. charging amps via the WiFi app, you cannot set it higher without a call to RIvian support. People here have received their Wall Connector set at the factory during testing to like 12 amps and they had to call RIvian support to get it to charge at a higher current.

All that to say that I like the Tesla J1772 Wall Connector better, even at $50 more (or $250 less depending how much you'd have to pay for the Rivian Wall Connector).

 

[wwheelkid]

I just tested the lectron adapter (mine is completely black and got some heft to it - appears to be well made - I wonder if there are different versions) with my Gen 2 Telsa wall charger - 40 amp as i only have a 50 amp circuit. It was very cool and getting about 9kw - 18mph - but I didn't charge for long.

I do have the Tesla J1772 wall charger coming - which is significantly cheaper than the Rivian wall charger post price increase...btw I completely missed the boat on these "lower prices" as everything I have purchased from Rivian has been very very expensive.

 

[solaskaze]

Looking for guidance here. We have a gen 2 Tesla charger and originally planned to use this with the lectron adapter. Now thinking we will just get a J1772 wall charger. I've seen a few on here mention getting the tesla J1772, for those...why not the Rivian wall charger? It's $50 cheaper if you have the pre-order pricing. I was thinking of getting the Rivian wall charger since our Telsa came with the adapter to with a J1772. This way we are using an adapter by our car manufacturer and not a third party, hopefully protecting warranty concerns.

I am stuck in the same boat. Actually, I have the adapter already, and no truck. My Gen 2 is also power sharing (20 amp each, else 40 -- never 48, intentionally, even though upstream is rated @ 80), so if I ditch the gen 2, I have to ditch both. I am in the camp of: test the adapter first, and, if no luck, bail.

 

[jbowen52]

That is the same setup I'm using, so caution on it. My Tesla cable is never really warm, but the adaptor gets to around 148 degrees. Tesla Gen 3 wall chargers have a J1772 connector? Wasn't tracking that, but would be great if true!

Here is the Tesla Wall connector with the J1772 plug.
https://shop.tesla.com/product/j1772-wall-connector

 

[ironpig]

Looking for guidance here. We have a gen 2 Tesla charger and originally planned to use this with the lectron adapter. Now thinking we will just get a J1772 wall charger. I've seen a few on here mention getting the tesla J1772, for those...why not the Rivian wall charger? It's $50 cheaper if you have the pre-order pricing. I was thinking of getting the Rivian wall charger since our Telsa came with the adapter to use with a J1772. This way we are using an adapter by our car manufacturer and not a third party, hopefully protecting warranty concerns.

Look at all J1772 chargers and see what works best for you. Tesla's chargers are very well made so they are popular even if you don't own a Tesla.

I had a Tesla before my Rivian and I have used an original non-J1772 Tesla charger with a Lectron adapter for over a year with my Rivian and had zero issues. That said, if it was my first EV I'd get a Tesla J1772 charger for use with any EV.

 

[twall]

I have had my R1T for almost six months and have been charging it using my Tesla Wall Charger with a Lectron Adapter. Life has been great until a few weeks ago when I started to get charging errors and the truck wouldn't charge. My Rivian Service Center (Kansas City) have been working on my truck and even sent a technician to my house (45 minutes away) to inspect my charging set-up. Turns out the friction caused by the Lectron adaptor causes too much heat build up and fried my R1T charging port and cable assembly on my R1T! When they plugged in my truck at the SC, it fried their charging cable as a result of the bad port. Rivian is fixing the truck under warranty, but will not fix it again if I continue to use this adaptor. The Service Team has been FANTASTIC and we have been working together to figure this out, they are easily the best service I have had out of any cars I have ever owned.

Now the dilemma - buy a Rivian wall charger (might be quickest option) or sell the R1T and get another Tesla? I also have a Tesla Model Y, so if anyone has a Rivian charger with adapter charging a Tesla, I'd like to know if that works and what kind of charging speeds you get? Making the switch of chargers might work if I can get the Tesla charged effectively, but getting an electrician seems to be the short pole in the tent and there are some issues with wiring two chargers in my house that could make this venture pretty pricey, but not being able to get an electrician is the real issue at this time.

I love my R1T and the SC is awesome here in KC, but my wife and I both drive about 90 miles a day each, so charging is a must to make the EVs usable. I would appreciate anyones experience with using a Rivian wall charger on their Tesla, so we can figure out how to move forward.

I've been using a Lectron adapter connecting my R1T to my Tesla wall charger - no problem so far. Yours wouldn't be due to dirt in the adapter?

 

[bjcleaver]

I think if you are both driving 90+ miles a day and then have hours of nightly charging for both vehicles, the best and most flexible solution as others have mentioned is to have two Tesla chargers on a PowerShare setup - one J1772 and one Tesla. It's what we have in our garage, sharing a 60a circuit with my R1T and my wife's MY. The two chargers communicate with each other and dynamically distribute the 48a of power. We actually schedule our charging time to be mostly separate (me starting after 8:30pm, her finishing by 7:00am) but we've charged simultaneously and it's pretty flawless. Just takes all the charging stress away.

 

[2Labs]

Just another datapoint, I've been using mine daily (70-80 mi round trip daily use) since October with no issues, with my Tesla HPWC Gen 2.

I'm waiting around until V2G charging becomes more of a reality and then I'll probably upgrade to the Rivian Wall Charger for that.

 

[darediavel]

Few simple tricks.
1) 48amp is for emergency charging only. like you have a unplanned long drive and want to top up 100% before you start. For daily keep the change to 70% as per Rivian recommendations
2) Don’t plug/unplug the converter and cable while the converter is connected to the vehicle it would create heat or burn mark.
3) Tesla cars support amp change inside the car. For non Tesla vehicle, wallconnector webpage to make max amp to 40 or 38amp

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