120 volt charging issue in smart home

[Torivian]

I was visiting a friends house in VT and wanted to just see the truck at current level during a cold night and plugged into their 120v outlet. Apparently they have a "smart house" with the electrical switches tied together. When the Rivian charger was plugged in to an outlet in the garage, it disrupted the system and prevented certain lights from functioning. As soon as it was unplugged, the house went back to normal.

Has anyone else run into this?

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[Electrified Outdoors]

Never heard of that. "Smart house" can mean a lot of different things. I would talk to the person who setup the system and explain what's happening.

Too many variables without knowing how the system was setup.

 

[RexRemus]

Are they using a Span panel?

 

[Torivian]

Are they using a Span panel?

No idea. It was just weird that the vehicle could over ride their system. Not going to try again as it didn’t go over well.

 

[RexRemus]

No idea. It was just weird that the vehicle could over ride their system. Not going to try again as it didn’t go over well.

Just asking because it can monitor the load on any breaker and then make "adjustments" based on that, so it could have been reacting to the high load on that breaker and "reducing" power to other loads. It's a "feature" that might have been acting like a "bug" in this case

 

[Serky]

It happens to my home. The car and charger combination puts “noise” on the power lines. It happens with the 120 volt charger as well as the Rivian homer charger. My smart home system send commands to the light switches using the neutral wire. This noise prevents certain lights from working. I have to schedule my charging while sleeping to prevent this from happening as some lights will not function at all. When the charger is plugged in and not charging, switches work. Once charging, some do not as the noise prevents the switch receiving the signal. There are noise filters to help. The car produces so much of it, the filter I use does not work and have to find another solution. I have gone through troubleshooting with the company that makes the technology but no solution at the moment.

 

[WSea]

Yes, it happens to me. The car and/or charger puts “noise” on the lines. It happens with the 120 volt charger as well as the Rivian homer charger. My smart home system send commands to the light switches using the neutral wire. This noise prevents certain lights from working. I have to schedule my charging while sleeping to prevent this from happening as some lights will not function at all. When the charger is plugged in and not charging, switches work. Once charging, some do not as the noise prevents the switch receiving the signal. There are noise filters to help. The car produces so much of it, the filter I use does not work and have to find another solution. I have gone through troubleshooting with the company that makes the technology but no solution at the moment.

What system?

 

[Serky]

What system?

HAI Omni Pro II. It was bought out by Leviton and no longer made. The issue for other systems is using switches that send signals over the neutral. I am planning on replacing switches that are Wi-Fi and no neutral wire.

 

[Zoidz]

It sounds like the charger was attenuating the power line communications of the smart home system. I saw this *years* ago (like 20 years ago) with my X10 smart home hardware. Some devices plugged in to the same phase as the power line modem will act as an attenuator and mute or distort the signal. X10 made a power line bridge to help with this problem. But X10 is ancient discontinued tech.

Depending on the brand, I guess it's possible that a similar problem could still exist. Newer, top tier brands like Insteon (that's what I use these days) don't have these issues.

 

[ThomaZ]

It happens to my home. The car and charger combination puts “noise” on the power lines. It happens with the 120 volt charger as well as the Rivian homer charger. My smart home system send commands to the light switches using the neutral wire. This noise prevents certain lights from working. I have to schedule my charging while sleeping to prevent this from happening as some lights will not function at all. When the charger is plugged in and not charging, switches work. Once charging, some do not as the noise prevents the switch receiving the signal. There are noise filters to help. The car produces so much of it, the filter I use does not work and have to find another solution. I have gone through troubleshooting with the company that makes the technology but no solution at the moment.

Hi Serky, I found your post because I am currently having this issue with an Omni Pro II system. The entire house is switched with UPB switches and is malfunctioning when the charger is active. Have you found any solutions before I start experimenting?

 

[Serky]

Hi Serky, I found your post because I am currently having this issue with an Omni Pro II system. The entire house is switched with UPB switches and is malfunctioning when the charger is active. Have you found any solutions before I start experimenting?

Hi Thomas,

Yes, you need to put a capacitor on the leads from the breaker to the unit. It has made a world of difference. Lights that did not work when charging, now do. I had an electrician do it and not sure the size of the capacitor but it is pretty large.

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