Camper turns off 120v outlets

[Adamn]

Using an Ecoflow Delta Pro which has a 30amp plug to power my 30A camper. The Ecoflow can run everything just fine on its own but only has 3.6kwh so wanted to use the Rivian onboard outlets to act as an additional battery. When I plug in the truck to the camper or ecoflow while the camper is plugged into the Ecoflow the truck outlets turn off. I have 800 watts of solar which is enough to keep the fridge, fans, lights, Starlink, and computers running during the day but not enough to run the AC for more than a couple of hours.

What hasn't worked so far
1. Truck directly to the camper (all major appliances turned off to not overload 1500w limit)
2. Truck > EcoFlow > Camper - adjusted Ecoflow all the way down to 400 watts for power in to make sure it wasn't overloading.

*I can charge the Ecoflow from the Rivian while it's not connected to the camper to verify it wasn't an issue with the Ecoflow.​

3. Thought I may have a ground-neutral issue similar to this video trying to charge a Tesla from the R1T. Bought the ground bonding plug the guy in the video used to charge the Tesla but just that plugged into the truck bed turns off the outlets.
4. Tried different cables, adapters for 30amp>15amp plugs, order of plugging things in.



The trailer is an Ember 24MBH. Estimate we were 7500-8000lbs loaded up. Handled great and regen braking would still bring us to a stop, just had to make sure to let off sooner. Only drove it 21 miles one way and got 1.21mi/kwh (compared to 2.79mi/kwh unloaded, and 1.87mi/kwh with my ski boat on the exact same route). We have a membership on a private waterski lake that lets us leave the camper and boat there so we'll be using it as our lake house during the summers and only moving it at the beginning/end of the season and once or twice a month to dump/fill the tanks.

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[Thedude]

Truck direct to the camper should power everything but the AC and microwave without tripping the truck’s breaker. It absolutely works for my trailer and has hundreds of hours running that way.

It sounds like the Ecoflow passes the full draw of the AC through to the truck and trips the breaker. You could try running a soft start (either hardwire to the AC or the dongle plug-in type) and see if that slow amperage buildup keeps the truck breaker from tripping.

 

[jjswan33]

That is puzzling. I know you said it is not the Eco Flow because you can charge the Eco Flow when it's not plugged into the trailer but not when it is. I say it still has to be the Eco Flow because the truck shouldn't know if the Eco Flow is connected to the trailer or not.

As another example I have a Goal Zero Yeti 1500X and I am able to charge if from the truck up to around 600W in any scenario I have tried. Either connected to a transfer switch on my house or to my truck camper setup.

 

[Adamn]

Truck direct to the camper should power everything but the AC and microwave without tripping the truck’s breaker. It absolutely works for my trailer and has hundreds of hours running that way.

It sounds like the Ecoflow passes the full draw of the AC through to the truck and trips the breaker. You could try running a soft start (either hardwire to the AC or the dongle plug-in type) and see if that slow amperage buildup keeps the truck breaker from tripping.

It trips with the AC and other 120v appliances off. Before plugging into the Rivian, checked the Ecoflow screen to only be outputting 100 watts which would have been for the 12v converter to power the 12v fridge and lights. I was told the AC already has a softstart and when checking the output on the Ecoflow, I haven't hit over 1500 watts even at startup.

 

[CharonPDX]

Truck direct to the camper should power everything but the AC and microwave without tripping the truck’s breaker. It absolutely works for my trailer and has hundreds of hours running that way.

It sounds like the Ecoflow passes the full draw of the AC through to the truck and trips the breaker. You could try running a soft start (either hardwire to the AC or the dongle plug-in type) and see if that slow amperage buildup keeps the truck breaker from tripping.

Yep. I successfully did this with a 30A trailer. If I tried to use AC, it would immediately trip the truck's breaker; but anything other than AC worked fine.

 

[Adamn]

That is puzzling. I know you said it is not the Eco Flow because you can charge the Eco Flow when it's not plugged into the trailer but not when it is. I say it still has to be the Eco Flow because the truck shouldn't know if the Eco Flow is connected to the trailer or not.

As another example I have a Goal Zero Yeti 1500X and I am able to charge if from the truck up to around 600W in any scenario I have tried. Either connected to a transfer switch on my house or to my truck camper setup.

I'm not sure what with the Ecoflow could be wrong since I can charge it without the camper attached and the truck straight to the camper trips the outlets. There's a grounding kit for the Ecoflow Delta Pro which I might give a try.

 

[Thedude]

It trips with the AC and other 120v appliances off. Before plugging into the Rivian, checked the Ecoflow screen to only be outputting 100 watts which would have been for the 12v converter to power the 12v fridge and lights. I was told the AC already has a softstart and when checking the output on the Ecoflow, I haven't hit over 1500 watts even at startup.

That’s weird.

When you plug the truck direct to the camper it also trips, even with no/minimal load?

 

[Adamn]

That’s weird.

When you plug the truck direct to the camper it also trips, even with no/minimal load?

Correct. I tried flipping breakers in the camper and it wasn't until everything was flipped off that it didn't trip.

 

[jjswan33]

I'm not sure what with the Ecoflow could be wrong since I can charge it without the camper attached and the truck straight to the camper trips the outlets. There's a grounding kit for the Ecoflow Delta Pro which I might give a try.

If I were to guess when the trailer load is connected to the EF it must ground itself to the trailer then when you plug into the Rivian you are causing the ground loop.

For my Goal Zero setup it probably works because the charger is a standalone device rather than onboard like I believe the Eco Flow has on it's charger.

 

[Thedude]

Correct. I tried flipping breakers in the camper and it wasn't until everything was flipped off that it didn't trip.

How old is your trailer? Are you the first owner? The neutral and ground wires in your trailer may be bonded together which would cause the truck breaker to trip.

 

[sub]

3. Thought I may have a ground-neutral issue similar to this video trying to charge a Tesla from the R1T. Bought the ground bonding plug the guy in the video used to charge the Tesla but just that plugged into the truck bed turns off the outlets.

Am I understanding this right? You purchased a Bonding Plug adapter, and if you plug it into the truck, with nothing attached to the adapter, it immediately causes the truck to disable the outlet?

Is that the expected behavior? If not, I would start there. No need to troubleshoot an extremely complicated camper if a simple adapter triggers the fault.

If that adapter should work, but doesn't my first thought is that Rivian may have reversed the hot and neutral wires when they assembled your truck.

Most devices will work fine when plugged into a backwards outlet, but if the neutral wire is actually hot, when the adapter ties the (hot) neutral wire to ground you have an instant short circuit.

Get out your multimeter and figure out which side of the outlet is hot. And see if that is the same side that is hot on an outlet in your house.

 

[Dark-Fx]

Ground in my truck is floating. The bonding plug alone faults it out. You can probably get your stuff to work if you use a plug that doesn't ground back to the truck. If the trailer is ground-neutral bonded, and I'm assuming based on this behavior that it is, there's not much of a danger in doing this.

I think Rivian has used multiple AC inverter SKUs because the behavior is not the same fleet wide.

 

[Adamn]

How old is your trailer? Are you the first owner? The neutral and ground wires in your trailer may be bonded together which would cause the truck breaker to trip.

Brand new 2023, first owner. That's what I expect is happening here. I'll go through the trailer wiring and see how the panel and trailer inverter are wired in. Planning on replacing most of it eventually anyway, so might have to move that project up sooner.

 

[Adamn]

Am I understanding this right? You purchased a Bonding Plug adapter, and if you plug it into the truck, with nothing attached to the adapter, it immediately causes the truck to disable the outlet?

Is that the expected behavior? If not, I would start there. No need to troubleshoot an extremely complicated camper if a simple adapter triggers the fault.

If that adapter should work, but doesn't my first thought is that Rivian may have reversed the hot and neutral wires when they assembled your truck.

Most devices will work fine when plugged into a backwards outlet, but if the neutral wire is actually hot, when the adapter ties the (hot) neutral wire to ground you have an instant short circuit.

Get out your multimeter and figure out which side of the outlet is hot. And see if that is the same side that is hot on an outlet in your house.

Based on the video I linked of the person charging a Tesla, I bought the bonding plug. It worked in his video and looking through the comments it did for others as well but one other person did have the same issue I am.

Plugging my outlet tester in, it shows the Rivian outlet has open ground. Using my multimeter this morning, I get 60v from both Hot/Ground and Neutral/ground and 120v from Hot/Neutral. Since the plug bonds ground/neutral I imagine this is why the plug trips the breaker in the Rivian. Not sure if this is normal for all Rivians or if mine was wired differently. I know the Ecoflow also has an open ground when I tested it. Should be back at my camper later this week to test the Ecoflow & camper outlet voltages.

 

[Adamn]

Ground in my truck is floating. The bonding plug alone faults it out. You can probably get your stuff to work if you use a plug that doesn't ground back to the truck. If the trailer is ground-neutral bonded, and I'm assuming based on this behavior that it is, there's not much of a danger in doing this.

I think Rivian has used multiple AC inverter SKUs because the behavior is not the same fleet wide.

As in use a cheater plug without the ground? I have one I've thought of trying, was planning on seeing if I could get around it but might have to it sounds like.

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