Rivian won't charge over 60kw at high speed chargers

[DJS512]

I'm driving across country and all of the sudden my R1T is giving me "charging limited because of warm plug" at every charging stop.

I've tried basically everything I can think of to correct it. I confirmed that the battery is in the low 90's when I start charging (preconditioned). The plug from the charger can be in the shade or in the sun, it makes no difference. It gives me the warning as soon as I plug in without sending any current. It happens on both NACS and CCS chargers (CCS Native). I've tried 3 different super charger locations and 6 different pedestals. Additionally a CCS and NACS Ionna charger at 6 different pedestals. Did a hard reset of the truck at 2 different stops.

I've called Rivian support and they said the truck is too warm, which is a poor explanation as this is clearly abnormal.

I already have driven the truck from San Antonio to Denver to Northern Michigan without problem. Halfway through the return trip to Texas before this problem started.

Basically, I'm stuck charging for 2 hours every stop and it's making progress pretty much impossible. Any advice is appreciated.

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[Cycliste]

My vehicle cools to 25C / 77F when preconditioned. Manually precondition a possible help?? Cause it seems like the battery isn’t preconditioned

 

[SANZC02]

I'm driving across country and all of the sudden my R1T is giving me "charging limited because of warm plug" at every charging stop.

I've tried basically everything I can think of to correct it. I confirmed that the battery is in the low 90's when I start charging (preconditioned). The plug from the charger can be in the shade or in the sun, it makes no difference. It gives me the warning as soon as I plug in without sending any current. It happens on both NACS and CCS chargers (CCS Native). I've tried 3 different super charger locations and 6 different pedestals. Additionally a CCS and NACS Ionna charger at 6 different pedestals. Did a hard reset of the truck at 2 different stops.

I've called Rivian support and they said the truck is too warm, which is a poor explanation as this is clearly abnormal.

I already have driven the truck from San Antonio to Denver to Northern Michigan without problem. Halfway through the return trip to Texas before this problem started.

Basically, I'm stuck charging for 2 hours every stop and it's making progress pretty much impossible. Any advice is appreciated.

Question, have you stopped over night to try it the next morning? What is the ambient temperature there?

Almost sounds like it could be a bad sensor if it has been like that for hours and multiple stops.

Not a recommendation but I have put a cloth over my adapter and put a sealed baggy with ice in it on the cloth when charging in ambient temperatures over 110.

Seemed to help me but if it is a bad sensor it would not be of benefit.

 

[CharonPDX]

Which vehicle, and are you using a "native plug" or an adapter?

I've charged at 200kW+ in 100°F heat successfully. I've also had charging speed restricted in similar heat.

 

[DCFC]

Do you have a picture of your vehicle charging inlet? It may be damaged. Granted, I think it's damaged regardless and requires replacement. There are temperature sensors that measure the pin temps of the inlet and for whatever reason, they are reading hot. It could be the pins are damaged or the high voltage cable the inlet is connected to is damaged/loose and causing the high temps.

 

[Mellowyellow]

I would check the pins on everything, your charge port, adapter if using one, and charge handle.

 

[Rade]

The YouTube channel, "State of Charge" recently did a post about the amperage overheating the adapters, and in his case, caused melting in the unit. Could be that, if you are using an adapter, it's just wearing out and something is beginning to go. Or could be using a higher amperage charger for a system that may not be able to handle it, and it's slowly frying your connections.

 

[electruck]

check the port/pins for bugs, debris, corrosion, or any signs of physical damage. if there is a bug or something in there you should be able to clean the contacts and hopefully recover full charging speed. otherwise it's going to require service by Rivian.

 

[DD4ST]

I had this happen on an FPL charger in Florida. Tried on two different chargers in the evening. Here are my observations and things to check. First FPL cables and plugs are MASSIVE and a little short. This caused the plug to have a hard time sitting square in the Rivian port. I suspect this strain kept the plug from having the best electrical connection which created heat. After I left, I successfully charged at a Tesla site. Also, I noticed a day later that the plastic tip on one of my high voltage pins was missing. This is a cap to prevent someone touching the pin. Suspected it was still in the FPL charger. I went back and it was there in the first charger I tried. Had to carefully dig it out. There are no internal ridges in the cap so had to take a HF straight pick and create a burr on the end with pliers to grab it. Once I got it out I noticed some slight melting marks on the cap, confirming some high heat. Also, with the cap missing I think it is possible there could have been some arcing internally. Had the SC put it back. It just presses on in a friction fit. So, I would check that the plug is actually well seated with no strain and that all the pin caps are there.
BTW, I had read online that if you lose one of those caps the Rivian solution is replacing the whole charging cable in the Rivian as they did not sell the caps separately. Luckily I did not have to test that and can confirm all you have to do is press a good cap back on.

 

[DJS512]

Thanks everyone for the input. I was pretty frustrated yesterday and the rivian community kept me from driving the truck into a lake.

New day. Same problem. 87 degrees ambient temp. Battery was at 79 degrees when charging initiated. On an electrify America charger with native ccs. No adapter. I did blow out the pins which were dusty but nothing more. 57kw charge speed.

Pretty sure it's hardware and unsolvable from my side. It's going to make a two day trip take three long days and spending a lot of time in random grocery stores.

Now the decision is do I follow through on my R2 order which comes up next month. Maybe I'll wait until I cool down a bit before making that decision.

 

[ndmiller]

I know you know this already, but get off the forum and take it in for service. Let us know what Rivian says.

 

[badger4149]

I'm driving across country and all of the sudden my R1T is giving me "charging limited because of warm plug" at every charging stop.

I've tried basically everything I can think of to correct it. I confirmed that the battery is in the low 90's when I start charging (preconditioned). The plug from the charger can be in the shade or in the sun, it makes no difference. It gives me the warning as soon as I plug in without sending any current. It happens on both NACS and CCS chargers (CCS Native). I've tried 3 different super charger locations and 6 different pedestals. Additionally a CCS and NACS Ionna charger at 6 different pedestals. Did a hard reset of the truck at 2 different stops.

I've called Rivian support and they said the truck is too warm, which is a poor explanation as this is clearly abnormal.

I already have driven the truck from San Antonio to Denver to Northern Michigan without problem. Halfway through the return trip to Texas before this problem started.

Basically, I'm stuck charging for 2 hours every stop and it's making progress pretty much impossible. Any advice is appreciated.

Shot in the dark, but easy to try... Have you done a vehicle reset?

 

[Kunzene]

I have experienced this several times in the past few months. Warm plug notification immediately after plugging in, at several stations with and without using an adapter. Other times I can have a normal charge session with no errors. Once it progressed to “DCFC charging unavailable” which I hope you don’t experience. Service has already looked at it once, “could not replicate problem” and did nothing. As it has progressed I’ll be scheduling another visit this fall. I did find one report of this on Reddit and they ended up replacing the charge port hardware. I expect that’s in both our futures.

 

[Proxy]

I read you reset it twice. I am posting to make sure you do the “vehicle restart” using the hazard button. The software restart only using the steering wheel buttons likely won’t help with charging problems.

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