An App to easily change and save Amps on Rivian Charging (like Tesla)

[dotnetdude]

I charge at 16 amps at home and 30 amps at my office (using mobile chargers on NEMA 14-50). My Tesla remembered those locations. I was shocked when getting a Rivian (absolutely love my Rivian) that this basic functionality wasn't available. So I finally got around to building an app to do just this. Change amperage as you'd like to reduce strain on the battery, set lower amperage on different sized breakers, etc- control your amperage how you'd like! It's a useful feature that Tesla, Ford, VW, and all others have provided for years on their apps, but not Rivian (even though their API supports it).

Completely free for now until (if ever) there are features that start costing money on my side! If you like it, feel free to buy me some guac for the effort!

Please leave feedback and report bugs as you see them. For now it's available on public beta in TestFlight (iOS only). It will be released officially after a round of bug fixes.

https://testflight.apple.com/join/auWkjVrP

IMPORTANT: This is all local only- no server. Your login information is on your device only and not stored.

Sponsored

 

[SwampNut]

I don't use location limits, but recall seeing something in the UI about setting them, so...what's different about this? When I charge from my generator while dry camping it has some prompt or something about location-based limits.

 

[dotnetdude]

It only lets you set one location. For me specifically, I need a different amperage setting at work and at home. I wish they would just build it into the official app to allow multiple locations like Tesla does. But in the meantime, I built this for myself to do just that and figured I would publish it for the community.

 

[Time2Roll]

Why charge at 16 amps with a 14-50 connection?

 

[therealcmj]

Are you using the portable charger or a permanently attached charger (called an EVSE)?

If the latter then the EVSE will limit it correctly completely automatically. There's a set of dip switches usually inside the (screw on) cover of every EVSE I've looked at. Your Rivian (or any EV) will never draw any more than than the EVSE allows, no matter what you set the limit to in the truck.

If the EVSE is not correctly set to the appropriate limit for the wiring and breaker then it's a potential fire hazard and you should immediately fix it. And probably call your electrician back and make them change the settings for you so they learn to do it for their next customer.

 

[dotnetdude]

My family and I have been driving Teslas and Rivians for 8 years, combining over 500,000 miles. We have never used anything but our mobile chargers. Always on NEMA 14-50 switches. Always installed with whatever breaker we have available. Never any issues other than tripping the breaker every once in a while due to wrong amperage setting.

I charge at 16 amps on one of our NEMA 14-50 plugs because even though the wiring and outlet supports more, our breaker is only 20 amps. So we charge 20% below that. It is perfectly fine, not a fire hazard.

 

[SwampNut]

This reminds me of an old tech joke that I love, which is how many software developers does it take to change a lightbulb? The answer is screw that it’s a hardware problem. In this case a $30 breaker would fix the problem, but let’s write software instead. lol

To be clear, this is all in fun because it’s the sort of thing that I would do also. I’ll spend two hours writing a script to save 20 minutes of repetitive work.

 

[dotnetdude]

Sounds good.

It's been requested by hundreds of users for years for Rivian to add this capability and they just don't listen even though it's already available in their API. "that could bork factory software"? I am using their official API lol not doing some behind the scenes sketchy software implementation.

 

[hammick]

I absolutely cannot believe the feedback I've received from the Rivian community lol. I made a completely safe app using Rivian's official API and figured I'd publish it to the community FOR FREE to help whoever else has been wanting this feature for years. No matter what reason, some people like to control their amperage- it's a useful feature that Tesla, Ford, VW, and all others have provided for years on their apps, but not Rivian (even though their API supports it). Since I posted this, both here and Reddit has been nonstop complaints, negativity, sarcasm, etc about a free, helpful app that someone is offering to the community.

What an awful first experience with this community, holy smokes.

Thanks for providing this. We have an off grid vacation home and I'm always changing the charging amps depending on the time of day, time of year and amount of sun. Been using an adjustable charger that can charge at 6, 8, 10 or 12 amps. You app will allow me to use the Rivian portable charger and go as high as 24 amps in the summer when the afternoon sun is blazing and then dial it way back in the winter when the sun is scarce.

Don't let the negative nellies get you down.

 

[SwampNut]

did you know that you can skip over posts and not respond when you have absolutely nothing useful to add? This cannot damage the Rivian software at all. I’ve installed it and will be testing it in a few days because I will be in situations where I want to limit charge at two new spots.

 

[SwampNut]

I charge at 16 amps at home and 30 amps at my office (using mobile chargers on NEMA 14-50). My Tesla remembered those locations. I was shocked when getting a Rivian (absolutely love my Rivian) that this basic functionality wasn't available. So I finally got around to building an app to do just this. Change amperage as you'd like to reduce strain on the battery, set lower amperage on different sized breakers, etc- control your amperage how you'd like! It's a useful feature that Tesla, Ford, VW, and all others have provided for years on their apps, but not Rivian (even though their API supports it).

Completely free for now until (if ever) there are features that start costing money on my side! If you like it, feel free to buy me some guac for the effort!

Please leave feedback and report bugs as you see them. For now it's available on public beta in TestFlight (iOS only). It will be released officially after a round of bug fixes.

https://testflight.apple.com/join/auWkjVrP

IMPORTANT: This is all local only- no server. Your login information is on your device only and not stored.

EDIT: I absolutely cannot believe the feedback I've received from the Rivian community lol. I made a completely safe app using Rivian's official API and figured I'd publish it to the community FOR FREE to help whoever else has been wanting this feature for years. No matter what reason, some people like to control their amperage- it's a useful feature that Tesla, Ford, VW, and all others have provided for years on their apps, but not Rivian. Since I posted this, both here and Reddit has been nonstop complaints, negativity, sarcasm, etc about a free, helpful app that someone is offering to the community.

What an awful first experience with this community, holy smokes.

My couple of feedback notes after simply setting it up, but not actively using it yet.

I like how your address selector works and how you’re able to use a current location as well as type one in. Both are necessary for my potential usage because some will be camping and some will be at a place with a sketchy house wiring.

I don’t know if this is something under your control but my 2FA text could not be auto inserted into your app during login. On my iPhone normally I can do that.

 

[hammick]

Why charge at 16 amps with a 14-50 connection?

Most off grid solar systems can't handle charging at 48 amps or even 24 amps for any amount of time. 16 amps is the max we charge at in the summer and well below that in the winter.

 

[Luxus]

So I read through all the replies in this thread, and I'm not seeing this overwhelming negativity you are complaining about. Yes, this thread is not full of praise for what you have done. But nobody has said anything that bad. Mostly just unbiased off the cuff type comments. You did ask for feedback, remember?

My own feedback is that I appreciate that this was probably a lot of work to do. Congratulation on getting it done! But personally it's not something I would be interested in as I don't see a need for it for myself.

 

[dotnetdude]

My couple of feedback notes after simply setting it up, but not actively using it yet.

I like how your address selector works and how you’re able to use a current location as well as type one in. Both are necessary for my potential usage because some will be camping and some will be at a place with a sketchy house wiring.

I don’t know if this is something under your control but my 2FA text could not be auto inserted into your app during login. On my iPhone normally I can do that.

Great, thanks for the feedback! Glad someone is getting use out of it. I'll double check on getting the 2FA auto input working today.

Sponsored