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Vehicle to Trailer Charging

tpkurt

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We'll be towing an Airstream with our R1T and we're looking to maximize boondocking capabilities, including sometimes running an air conditioner (3kw-ish). Our Airstream currently has a whopping 2.4kwh battery -- seems like a perfect Rivian-max-battery-shaped peg hole.

We were hoping R1T would be announced to have a 30a outlet (like the new hybrid F150), but no dice. So now we're sizing up the known and unknown possibilities. I'm seeing three options:

Option 1: Bidirectional charging -- fingers still crossed on this one, as they haven't confirmed either way.​
Option 2: Combining two 15a Rivian outlets to 30a -- There are parallel combiners for joining two 15a generators into a single 30a outlet. Anybody want to speculate whether this will be feasible on Rivian?​
Option 3: Accept Rivian 15a limit and buy a bigger Airstream battery/inverter -- use Rivian outlet to continuously charge battery, then run Airstream off of battery​

If I knew #1 and #2 were not possible, I'd upgrade the Airstream's battery & inverter today. Is anyone in a position to give me hope? or to quash my hopes?
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timesinks

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Disclaimer: these are only my speculations.

Option 1: Bidirectional charging -- fingers still crossed on this one, as they haven't confirmed either way.​
This seems like something that's unlikely given we haven't heard anything about it yet. I'd give you like a 1 in 100 chance of this being feasible.

Option 2: Combining two 15a Rivian outlets to 30a -- There are parallel combiners for joining two 15a generators into a single 30a outlet. Anybody want to speculate whether this will be feasible on Rivian?​
I'm going to bet the two 15A outlets in the bed are wired like a typical household duplex outlet -- on the same cable and subject to a combined limit of 12A continuous/15A peak. I would honestly be surprised if this isn't the case (my WAG is less than a 10% chance). This is more of a wild guess, but would also not be surprised if all of the 15A outlets for the whole vehicle were on the same circuit (my WAG on multiple distinct 15A circuits is less than a 20% chance).

But, even if the Rivian can supply multiple 15A loads simultaneously, I don't know of a (safe) way for you to aggregate a load in parallel across two circuits like that (and they are almost certainly GFCI-protected, which would need to be defeated to pull off any such shenanigans). So, overall, even if you get lucky above, I still don't think you're going to make this work.

Option 3: Accept Rivian 15a limit and buy a bigger Airstream battery/inverter -- use Rivian outlet to continuously charge battery, then run Airstream off of battery​
This is probably where you'll land. Build a bigger battery bank and stick an inverter-charger on it. Bonus points for some rooftop solar :)
 

Gshenderson

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How did humans survive for thousands of years without air conditioning? ?‍♂ ?
 

SANZC02

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Disclaimer: these are only my speculations.



This seems like something that's unlikely given we haven't heard anything about it yet. I'd give you like a 1 in 100 chance of this being feasible.



I'm going to bet the two 15A outlets in the bed are wired like a typical household duplex outlet -- on the same cable and subject to a combined limit of 12A continuous/15A peak. I would honestly be surprised if this isn't the case (my WAG is less than a 10% chance). This is more of a wild guess, but would also not be surprised if all of the 15A outlets for the whole vehicle were on the same circuit (my WAG on multiple distinct 15A circuits is less than a 20% chance).

But, even if the Rivian can supply multiple 15A loads simultaneously, I don't know of a (safe) way for you to aggregate a load in parallel across two circuits like that (and they are almost certainly GFCI-protected, which would need to be defeated to pull off any such shenanigans). So, overall, even if you get lucky above, I still don't think you're going to make this work.



This is probably where you'll land. Build a bigger battery bank and stick an inverter-charger on it. Bonus points for some rooftop solar :)
The only thing I am still curious about is the vehicle to vehicle charging that was mentioned early on. I have not heard it being dropped and the only way I can see it working is if they somehow have a way to pump out juice similar to a VtoH setup.

If that is going to be available, seems like there could be other options that may be able to take advantage of that feature.

I'm not an electrician so maybe one who knows a lot more than me can shed some light around if this could be viable.
 

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Zach05855

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CommodoreAmiga

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The only thing I am still curious about is the vehicle to vehicle charging that was mentioned early on. I have not heard it being dropped and the only way I can see it working is if they somehow have a way to pump out juice similar to a VtoH setup.

If that is going to be available, seems like there could be other options that may be able to take advantage of that feature.

I'm not an electrician so maybe one who knows a lot more than me can shed some light around if this could be viable.
Did Rivian ever release details on how the V2V worked? If it's a direct DC-to-DC connection then that doesn't help with V2H.
 

SANZC02

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Did Rivian ever release details on how the V2V worked? If it's a direct DC-to-DC connection then that doesn't help with V2H.
I was never able to get the details.
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