Small Refrigerator Blew the Inverter

[Owner]

Perfect! Thanks Kevin and Barnum, the fridge is plugged into the laundry room right next to its breaker box. I'll report back after at least 24 hours.

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[KBabione]

GFI: home outlet with fuse/breaker that one could reset if tripped?

That's what I was thinking...If the fridge power supply is bad the GFI would trip and would tell that's where the issue is. Of course, if it doesn't trip you don't know anything, but it's worth a shot.

 

[Owner]

I am curious what year the op Rivian is? I just got a 2025 Tri in January and the outlets randomly quite working and so far they checked wiring and replaced the inverter. Now they are going for the fuses to try to fix it. I did not run anything that should have caused this so am thinking it is a Rivian issue. I just dropped it off at service today. Last week they worked on it most of a day and could not get to the issue.

2026. NACS port and a useable wireless phone charger! Sounds like yes, maybe its the cars.

 

[Owner]

That's what I was thinking...If the fridge power supply is bad the GFI would trip and would tell that's where the issue is. Of course, if it doesn't trip you don't know anything, but it's worth a shot.

If it doesn't trip after say 3 days, I would be a lot more comfortable trying it again in the Rivian. Maybe not for my upcoming multi week trip but a shorter trip.

 

[justinkitswa]

That's what I was thinking...If the fridge power supply is bad the GFI would trip and would tell that's where the issue is. Of course, if it doesn't trip you don't know anything, but it's worth a shot.

Unfortunately on two prong power adapters it's not certain that a GFI would trip due to harmonics issues. Not saying it's impossible, just that it's not within the requirements of a GFI to operate due to noisy power electronics.

A GFI looks for a differential of current across the line and neutral circuits. So if current is "leaking" out of the circuit (more current flowing on the line side than what is returning on the neutral) that's when a GFI operates. Harmonics do sometimes trigger GFI trips as the waveform of the current can cause spurious tripping, but you can't count on it.

It could just be a bad inverter too in the Rivian. I'd be nervous to plug it in again if it were me - I'd use the 12 volt plug.

 

[MikeInFlagAz]

Sounds like the same/similar issue I had. For almost 6 months I had plugged a 120vac -> 12dc power supply w/ cigarette lighter type outlet for my Garmin Overlander instead of running a 12v extension from the back of the vehicle. I plugged this power supply into front 120vac outlet. That combo draws maybe one amp. One morning got into the car and just as you described, tuning on the 120vac outlet resulted in the car disabling the outlet after about 5 seconds. Took the car in for service and they replaced the fuse and the inverter. I now use a Pecron 3kw power supply to run a 900 watt microwave, induction burner, and toaster when I camp but I will recharge the Pecron from the car's rear outlet which draws about 750 watts for a couple of hours. I also use a Starlink Mini plugged into the rear 120vac outlet quite often. I plug a Dometic cooler into the rear 12vdc outlet. No repeat of the failed inverter so far with a couple of multi-day camping trips since the replacement.

 

[VSG]

I'm wondering if more than one or two people out there have attempted to use their Rivian with a refrigerator or cooler plugged in and for what length of time?

Yes, thousands of people have been doing this for years. It is absolutely not a problem - not even close to a problem - unless there is a fault in your refrigerator or in your truck.

I personally keep my Dometic refrigerator running for weeks at a time in the bed of my truck without a problem, and have been doing this since 2022 - four years. It's only around 40W when running, which is comparable to an iPad charger.

If it's a bad inverter, then it's not a very common problem. While I'm sure inverters go bad occasionally, this is the first case I remember reading about other than @MikeInFlagAz above.

 

[CharonPDX]

That one should be plenty small. I power a bigger one regularly off 12V or 120V in mine. (depending on if the 12V is in use by another device or not.)

 

[scissormetimberz]

Probably a “no duh” question but ill ask anyway, was total wattage close to the 1500w capacity? Did you have other things plugged in drawing power? Manual says its shared across all devices

 

[Windblade]

Based on experience, portable compressor fridges often have substantial startup surges. If the compressor cycles frequently to maintain temperature, those repeated inrush currents can stress the Rivian’s DC‑AC inverter. Because the Rivian converts DC → AC, and the fridge immediately converts AC → DC, you end up with double conversion losses plus the potential for electrical noise or harmonics. For DC‑powered accessories, we always try to use the vehicle’s convenience plug to avoid that entire conversion chain.

For AC inverter performance, we’ve actually used our R1S as a “portable power station” during an ice storm this past February. With no grid power for ~4 days, we ran critical household loads (staying under the 1500W limit): lights, the full‑size refrigerator overnight, a portable baseboard heater, and occasionally charged a smaller portable power station. The inverter (and R1S) handled all of it without any issues.

 

[NY_Rob]

I asked the service center that same question and they strongly suggested to use the standard household plug.

Yeah, they're wrong about that!
By their method, you're taking 12 volts DC from the Rivian's low voltage bus, stepping it up to 120 volts and converting it to AC, feeding it in to your cooler which is rectifying it back to DC and stepping it back down to 12 volts DC again.. that is terribly inefficient and can cause all sorts of frequency/semi-sine wave issues. As long as your cooler draws less then the Rivian's 12V outlet is rated for, just plug in and go direct 12 volt DC to DC and you'll have no problems since your cooler runs on 12 volt DC power internally.

 

[Owner]

Probably a “no duh” question but ill ask anyway, was total wattage close to the 1500w capacity? Did you have other things plugged in drawing power? Manual says its shared across all devices

A little more background 'might' be helpful.

The weather was a bit on the warm side, maybe around 80 in the evening when plugged in while camping. During this time I did also have a starlink plugged in at the back for some time, while the refrigerator was plugged into the middle console plug. The refrigerator contents were still cold in the morning.

That evening was at a hotel and the Rivian was charged for a long spell overnight at a Tesla destination charger. I noticed the second morning that the inverter had gone out and the food was warm.

So there could have been some contributing factors:

1. Tiny refrigerator + starlink mini + warm/hot conditions but not unbearable
2. Using the outlets while charging the car at the same time.

Starlink Mini: 20W-60W
Refrigerator: 45W

Devices well below the maximum.

 

[elatrickWheels]

Sounds like you have the same BougeRV as I do, and for me it’s worked great. I bought it specifically because it fits in the sub-trunk area, based on @KBabione’s recommendation. (Thanks, Kevin!) We recently used it on a two-week road trip and it worked great. The way I use it is to plug it into the 12V outlet in the car, leaving the 120V outlet available for kettle or induction cooktop. I also carry the 120V cable with me, so that when we stop at a motel instead of a campsite, I take the fridge inside and plug it into the 120V. Sorry that your experience has not been good, but for me a similar setup is working very well.

 

[NY_Rob]

In talking to support and service I still have no clear answer why this happened all I know is what got fixed. I had been told it was the wiring initially but the service record states the inverter was removed and replaced along with a fuse. The service took a week.

I hope you didn't have to pay for that repair? They have a $1 fuse that is supposed to protect the inverter and associated wiring and as long as your device puled less then the outlets were spec'd for you didn't abuse or cause the equipment damage.

 

[Owner]

Yeah, they're wrong about that!
By their method, you're taking 12 volts DC from the Rivian's low voltage bus, stepping it up to 120 volts and converting it to AC, feeding it in to your cooler which is rectifying it back to DC and stepping it back down to 12 volts DC again.. that is terribly inefficient and can cause all sorts of frequency/semi-sine wave issues. As long as your cooler draws less then the Rivian's 12V outlet is rated for, just plug in and go direct 12 volt DC to DC and you'll have no problems since your cooler runs on 12 volt DC power internally.

you might be onto something. The Rivian person who I spoke to was one of the mechanics, but he may or may not have been one of their electrical people. From what I understood at the service center they only have two people who work on any electrical problems. One who works during the day and one who works at night. So the simple solution could perhaps be to just plug in the refrigerator (its not a cooler technically) into the 12V DC outlet.

Sounds like you have the same BougeRV as I do, and for me it’s worked great. I bought it specifically because it fits in the sub-trunk area, based on @KBabione’s recommendation. (Thanks, Kevin!) We recently used it on a two-week road trip and it worked great. The way I use it is to plug it into the 12V outlet in the car, leaving the 120V outlet available for kettle or induction cooktop. I also carry the 120V cable with me, so that when we stop at a motel instead of a campsite, I take the fridge inside and plug it into the 120V. Sorry that your experience has not been good, but for me a similar setup is working very well.

This is so nice to hear as it is consistent with Rob above. I was trying to avoid moving the refrigerator from the vehicle completely. But I think I can do this and also use the Jackery in some kind of combination. Perhaps power the Jackery on the 120, the fridge on the 12V and the fridge into the Jackery depending and never move them from the vehicle (okay I'm being a bit lazy here but you get the drift).

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