Camp Speaker issue: Shuts down quickly (FIXED/SOLVED!) USB-C charging specifics

[Ingen]

TLDR: Speaker doesn’t come charged from factory. Charge the first time via USB-C but your charger needs to be the right type. (See below).

There are a few threads on camp speaker issues, but what I discovered seems specific enough to start a new thread.

My camp speaker would connect and play for about a minute and then shut down and restart. It was driving me nuts, but I think I figured it out - The reason the speaker is connecting and shutting down after a little bit is because the battery is dying.

1. This is very important and is listed in the User Manual: The camp speaker does NOT come from the factory charged and won't charge in the dock when you first get your Rivian. You need to charge it the first time using the USB-C port on the back of the speaker. Note, when you plug in the speaker via USB-C, the light above the USB-C port has to pulsate or it's NOT charging. If it's a solid white or off it's NOT charging. I also found that you have to turn the speaker on to start charging.

2. Now this is where it got super-finicky. At first I used my MacBook 60W USB-C to USB-C charger at first (5V-30V), left it for two days on the charger and still had the shutdown issue (aka low battery). Then I tried a multi-port USB-A/C charger (5V-12V) and tried charging it that way. Same issue, it'd connect for a bit then it'd shut down. Finally, I used a USB-A 5w wall plug (5V 1amp) and then a USB-A to USB-C cable and it started to charge for real! This is when I realized the light has to pulse to indicate it's charging. I'm no engineer, but in my experience some electronics will NOT charge on 12V USB-C and will ONLY charge on 5V USB-C and it looks like the camp speaker is one of those super finicky devices.

3. Seems crazy that it won't charge off of a 12V USB-C, right? Well I went back and looked at the specifications on the user manual and 12V USB-C charging is specifically NOT an option according to the manual. It can only charge at 12V through the dock! Crazy!!!

4. I also did a hardware reset: holding the “connect” button for 30 seconds after it fully charged and reconnected Bluetooth, just to clear out any gremlins.

So far it’s fixed it for me… let hope it stays this way and helps others.

UPDATE: As @VSG pointed out later in the thread 12V USB-C is not a thing. Either way, I couldn’t get my speaker to charge without the right combination of charger and cable, so if you’re having problems my advice is to try a few different combinations of cables and chargers.


EDITED: 2024-02-11 for clarity.

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[moosetags]

Thank you for this information. I will give it a try. My Camp Speaker has never worked.

Brian

 

[JOSH565]

Thanks for the heads up. My delivery date is not till later this year, so I'll be ready to properly charge my camp speaker.

 

[iansriv]

There are a few threads on camp speaker issues, but what I discovered seems specific enough to start a new thread.

My camp speaker would connect and play for about a minute and then shut down and restart. It was driving me nuts, but I figured it out - The reason the speaker is connecting and shutting down after a little bit is because the battery is dying.

1. This is very important and is listed in the User Manual: The camp speaker does NOT come from the factory charged and won't charge in the dock when you first get your Rivian. You need to charge it the first time using the USB-C port on the back of the speaker. Note, when you plug the speaker via USB-C, if the light above the USB-C port isn't pulsating it's NOT charging. If it's a solid white or off it's NOT charging. I also found that you have to turn the speaker on to start charging.

2. Now this is where it got super-finicky. At first I used my MacBook 60W USB-C to USB-C charger at first (5V-30V), left it for two days on the charger and still had the shutdown issue (aka low battery). Then I tried a multi-port USB-A/C charger (12V-5V) and tried charging it that way. Same issue, it'd connect for a bit then it'd shut down. Finally, I used a USB-A 5w wall plug (5V 1amp) and then a USB-A to USB-C cable and it started to charge for real! This is when I realized the light has to pulse to indicate it's charging. I'm no engineer, but in my experience some electronics will NOT charge on 12V USB-C and will ONLY charge on 5V USB-C and it looks like the camp speaker is one of those super finicky devices.

3. Seems crazy that it won't charge off of a 12V USB-C, right? Well I went back and looked at the specifications on the user manual and 12V USB-C charging is specifically NOT an option according to the manual! It can only charge at 12V through the dock! Crazy!!!

Thanks for the info. I've had my car for about 4 months and have never used the camp speaker. I'll have to try it out just to make sure.

 

[Glembi2]

This is so helpful! Thank you for posting this info. My speaker has not consistently worked. This has to be the reason.

Edit: Hmmm. A MacBook 30w power supply seems to be working ok. Seems to have the right voltage output range as well

 

[Ingen]

This is so helpful! Thank you for posting this info. My speaker has not consistently worked. This has to be the reason.

Edit: Hmmm. A MacBook 30w power supply seems to be working ok. Seems to have the right voltage output range as well

I have a similar Apple Power Adapter with those specifications and it still didn’t work. ??‍ As long as the light is pulsating on the Rivian Speaker you’re good!

 

[SDH]

Why did they have to make it so user-unfriendly

 

[NY_Rob]

Why did they have to make it so user-unfriendly

It's Rivian.....

 

[Nexus]

I have a similar Apple Power Adapter with those specifications and it still didn’t work. ??‍ As long as the light is pulsating on the Rivian Speaker you’re good!

Maybe Rivian hasn't paid Apple licencing fees?

 

[VSG]

The camp speaker does NOT come from the factory charged and won't charge in the dock when you first get your Rivian.

This is true. Like many devices with a rechargeable battery, the first thing you need to do before using it is to charge the battery fully. This is in the manual, but it is the same thing you are told in the instructions for a new phone or laptop or tablet or earbuds, or smart watch, etc. This is needed because in some cases rechargeable batteries discharge by themselves over time, and in other cases they are deliberately not charged fully at the factory in order to comply with shipping regulations.

It may not be obvious that the same logic applies to a device that comes with your car, but it does. The Camp Speaker will not charge from the dock if it completely discharged, but once you've charged it by itself the dock will keep it charged.

I'm no engineer, but in my experience some electronics will NOT charge on 12V USB-C and will ONLY charge on 5V USB-C and it looks like the camp speaker is one of those super finicky devices.

That's not how it works.

USB-PD (power delivery) is a newer standard that allows USB to deliver a higher amount of power for devices like tablets that need it. The default for USB-C is 5V, and always 5V, unless both ends of the USB connection ALSO support USB-PD and ALSO agree to a higher voltage.

USB-PD supports 5V, 9V, 15V, and 20V.
NOT COINCIDENTALLY, those are the exact voltages that are shown on your image from the Camp Speaker manual and on the Apple charger in #5.

Note that 12V is not one of the options in any case because the current version of USB-PD doesn't support 12V. (12V used to be supported in previous versions of the spec, but it was deprecated.)

The Camp Speaker *does* support USB-PD, so if your charger does too, then the Camp Speaker will charge at a higher voltage - assuming you are using a USB cable that supports USB-PD. From the Rivian Owners Guide:

IMPORTANT​

The speaker needs to be fully charged before initial use. Undock the speaker and plug it into a power source. Use a USB-C cable with power delivery similar to a laptop charger instead of a phone charger for faster charging time. Check the charge level for a green light by pressing the Lantern button twice.​

As you can see, the manual explicitly references power delivery and the fact that the Camp Speaker can be charged at a higher voltage if your charger supports that.

Not all USB-C cables support USB-PD, so if you're using an old cable the most you will get is 5V because that is the default for USB-C.

Again from the Rivian manual:

CHARGING WITH A USB-C CABLE​

When the speaker is not docked, you can charge the speaker by connecting to a power source. Use a USB-C cable with power delivery similar to a laptop charger instead of a phone charger for faster charging time. Charging times may vary, but it takes between 3 hours (with power delivery) to 12 hours (without power delivery) to fully charge a depleted speaker​

Seems crazy that it won't charge off of a 12V USB-C, right?

First, there is no such thing as a 12V USB-C. USB-C by itself is 5V. USB-C with the additional USB-PD support does support voltages other than 5V, as mentioned above, but 12V is not one of them.

 

[Ingen]

@VSG
Thanks for the info. Like I said I’m no engineer just a regular old consumer who couldn’t get their camp speaker to charge no matter what usb-c charger and cables I used. Yes, I should have probably read the manual about the usb-c cable with power delivery. However, none of my cables are labeled as to being PD capable.

Either way, good to see that info you quoted from the manual. Thanks!

 

[Dark-Fx]

If it's dead-dead, there's probably a specific power/communication need for the charging circuit to work.

 

[Nano]

Is there a way to tell if camp speaker is fully charged? I’ve had my R1S since Sept and used the speaker once briefly but that’s it.

 

[Nano]

I just found my answer in the owner’s manual. Press the light button twice and if the light goes green it is fully charged

 

[s4wrxttcs]

I think there is a confusion over whether 12VDC is available with the PD protocol.

It's not available on all USB-C wall plugs, but it is surprisingly common.

You can certainly request that voltage. Not that I expect Rivian to support it.

I use something similar to the following, but it allows me to configure the requested voltages programmatically.

https://www.adafruit.com/product/58...MI0OW106KnhAMVcJtaBR0xkwvjEAQYAiABEgK7wvD_BwE

This is an example of one that supports 12VDC
https://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics...-lpcontext&ref_=fplfs&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&th=1

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