Wall Charger with SplitVolt

[marbro67]

I just had the Wall Charger installed using the SplitVolt Splitter and I'm mildly pleased with the outcome. My situation is that where I want to park the truck is probably 100" as the crow fly's from the electrical panel. The cost to run a circuit was going to be just too much, plus my panel is full. So, my first priority was to try utilize any circuits I already have. On the side of the garage I've got an AC unit that cools a room above the garage. Its a guest room and rarely used. Working with an electrician, we decided to tap into that circuit and install a modified SplitVolt splitter. I say modified because the SplitVolt is designed to use NEMA plugs and work with a electric dryer.

The electrician inserted the SplitVolt in between the panel and the AC unit. The main line goes into the SplitVolt and then their technology directs power to either the AC Unit or the Wall Box but never both. When the AC turns on, it shuts off the power to the Wall Box. When the AC turns off, it returns power to the Wall Box and thus continues to charger the truck.

It does take a few minutes for the Wall Box to reboot and reinitialize but once it does, it picks up where it left off.

I say I'm mildly please because what I've learned is that the speed of charging is not based upon the Wall Box but the circuit. If you can't tell, I'm not an electrician and though this might have been obvious to some, it wasn't to me. The circuit we tapped into was 240v, 30amp but the SplitVolt is capped at 24amp. The result is I'm getting about 11 mi of range for every hour of charging. My daily driving is 50 miles so with an overnight charge, I can top if off so it works. In retrospect, I could have done the same set up using the portable charger because it supports up to 32 amps. This would have saved me the cost of the Wall Box and probably a few dollars in labor. But its there now so I'm sticking with it.

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[Gator42]

The install is clean and it frees up the portable…

 

[Cosmacelf]

Nice! I always like using a wall charger anyways since they are more robust and usually last longer. FYI, Splitvolt web site: https://www.splitvolt.com/

 

[sub]

The circuit we tapped into was 240v, 30amp but the SplitVolt is capped at 24amp.

A continuous load (which an EV charger is classified as ) is only permitted to run 80% of the circuit breakers rating. So 30*.8 = 24 amp is the max you can charge on a 30 amp circuit. So the SplitVolt device is not limiting your max charge speed at all.

If you removed the splitvolt and the AC unit and hooked the charger directly up to the 30 amp circuit, you would still be limited to 24 amps of charging.

In retrospect, I could have done the same set up using the portable charger because it supports up to 32 amps. This would have saved me the cost of the Wall Box and probably a few dollars in labor. But its there now so I'm sticking with it.

The Portable charger has a 14-50 plug - which requires a 50 amp circuit. You can't (safely) put a 14-50 outlet on a 30 amp circuit.

Hopefully sometime in the future Rivian (or someone else) will offer adapters that permit the portable charger to be safely used on 30 amp circuits, but that is not something currently available. Until then, the hardwired charger you have is the only thing Rivian sells that can be used on a 30 amp circuit. So no, you didn't waste money buying the hardwired charger.

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