Charging options remote site off grid with 8kw propane generator?

[Myricky]

I am looking for charging options off grid at a remote ranch site with a 8kw propane backup Winco generator with 120/240 single phase volt options.

There are also solar panel and wind chargers with battery backup on site but they do not provide as significant amperage as the genset over several hours. I will be looking into more trickle charging options from them but right now I am focusing on the genset as a source of power for adding miles to my r1t.

I would like to be able to add 50 miles to my truck to get to the nearest regular charger. That would be about 4 hours of charging with the mobile charger that came with the truck at the stated max of 32 amps.

I have the mobile charger that came with my truck AND a rivian wall charger which can be set by dip switches for various amperages.

The mobile charger says 32 amps max at 240 which would take pretty much ALL of my 8kw genset. Would like to pursue that option first.

32amp x 240V = 7,680 watts < 8k , so I should be okay?

Question 1. I need to do some cabling and receptacle/plug change conversions from the 240 plug that come with the mobile charger to experiment. The mobile charger comes with a 4 prong 14-50 plug. Is the neutral being used? I see another post that says the charger circuitry checks if neutral is bonded to ground so I suppose that I need to carry the neutral through in my adapters.

Question 2. The mobile charger comes with two adapters that plug into the body the so called "cable controller port" of the charger. I would like to make additional adapters that work with different plug configurations I have on site. Does anybody know if that male plug on the adapter that goes into the "cable controller port" is a stock item, so I could find some male plugs online? Or is it proprietary for Rivian.

Question 3. Is there any advantage to using the wall charger over the mobile charger for my situation. Cannot expect over 32 charging amps, given the 8kw size of my generator, and the mobile charger is advertised to provide 32 amps at 240.

Question 4. Any other thoughts or advice on how to add miles to my R1T off grid at my ranch given my sources of power?

Thanks in advance

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[COdogman]

There are some very smart people here who can give you advice on the technical questions. I just wanted to say that I use the mobile charger daily in my condo garage. If you are unable to get your 240 option going it will take you considerably longer to get 50 miles back. Plugged into a 120 wall outlet I typically get 2 miles per hour. That works for me because my truck usually is parked there charging for most of Thu-Sun but in your situation it obviously wouldn’t be ideal.

 

[Electrified Outdoors]

How close is the nearest fast charger to your site? If you need the generator amperage for other things you can reduce amperage in the truck down to as low as 8 amps. What i might do in your situation is use the mobile charger at 32 amps, reduce amperage on truck screen as needed to run other things. Depending on how the solar and wind power are producing you might also plug in the 120v to the mobile charger which will charge at up to 12 amps... But its slow. If your producing you could charge 30 off the generator and 10hr on the 12 amps should give you 20 mi.

Another option is to arrive with thr highest possible Soc and just use the wind/solar to trickle charge as much as possible.

 

[Myricky]

Generator is only on when there are big loads like well pumps to pump water or solar/wind has been low and I need to charge batteries with genset instead of sun.

What I am saying is I often do not have a situation where I have generator on with low loads and could piggy back the truck charging on low loads.

I really do want to use all the generator to charge at 32 amps if possible...

My solar battery backup is of modest capacity (especially compared to a Rivian battery), sized for a solar-designed home with carefully designed small loads...That is why I am thinking my 8kw propane genset is my best option for adding some miles to the Rivian.

 

[R.I.P.]

For off-grid customers, I have built phased controlled switches for dedicated EVSEs to enable the off-grid system to charge the vehicle with surplus solar energy from the site. These systems are less expensive and less complex if you're off-grid plan uses AC coupling. These systems are not cheap, but they do enable the system to shuttle surplus energy into the EV battery rather than just throttling back and leaving that energy on the table. It is not the fastest way to charge the EV, but it is how you can get surplus juice into it without having to run your gen set.

 

[Myricky]

I am interested in what you are offering, however, This is a home grown solar wind system some 40 years old so not compliant with current standards. Solar panels, wind generator, bank of lead acid batteries for backup and inverter to make AC from the battery DC. Propane generator for back-up. Many of my loads are DC loads not AC. Do not know what "if off-grid plan uses AC coupling" means. In any event would like to know more...

 

[Mobius1]

I use the portable charger on a daily basis plugged into a 14-50 outlet that is on an 50amp circuit. No issues of heating up and I get 14-16 miles/hour.

Question 2, looks like proprietary plug.

 

[R.I.P.]

I am interested in what you are offering, however, This is a home grown solar wind system some 40 years old so not compliant with current standards. Solar panels, wind generator, bank of lead acid batteries for backup and inverter to make AC from the battery DC. Propane generator for back-up. Many of my loads are DC loads not AC. Do not know what "if off-grid plan uses AC coupling" means. In any event would like to know more...

Solar panels produce DC current, while hydro and wind generators produce AC current. For this reason, I will usually design hybrid systems with hydro or wind to be "AC coupled." This way current from all generators is either rectified or inverted to 240 volts AC and used directly by The loads. Excess AC is converted to DC to charge the batteries, and then inverted back should the batteries need to augment what the power plants are supplying. This system is best when you have robust power plants, and the batteries are really only used for shock absorption and backup.

When interested in routing access power being generated, this system makes it easier, because there is already inline telemetry for identifying this excess power.

In a DC coupled system, any of your AC generators must be rectified, converted to DC, transmitted to the batteries, and then re-inverted back to AC to provide your 240 house volts. This is the system you describe as having, and is common in older off grid setups. These systems are more difficult to harvest surplus energy from, and it is usually easier to upgrade them than to try to accomplish that.

Although it is not shipping yet, SolarEdge has finally copied my design and is offering an off-the-shelf version. If upgrading from an older system, this is the most economical way to do it.

 

[izgoy]

I think you should get an ICE truck.

 

[R.I.P.]

I think you should get an ICE truck.

 

[Myricky]

Right. I must have a DC coupled system. The wind generator connect box to the batteries has big diodes I suppose to convert the AC from the wind generator to DC for the battery bank.

I went to solaredge website but I don't see much stuff there for off-grid?

Even if I could have a trickle charge into my truck from the solar system, I still would like to be able to add quick miles to my r1t using my genset...

 

[R.I.P.]

Right. I must have a DC coupled system. The wind generator connect box to the batteries has big diodes I suppose to convert the AC from the wind generator to DC.

I went to solaredge website but I don't see much stuff there for off-grid?

I still want to be able to add quick miles to my r1t using my genset...

A qualified off-grid designer can incorporate solar edge systems into an off-grid plant. Since no two systems are ever identical, there are really no plug and play off grid systems.

 

[mkluttzy17]

I too love off grid and have a mobile generator. It’s an 8500 watt with a 7k running watt capacity. So, yes, it can work and you will charge at about 11miles an hour given you won’t be able to max your generator.

my only question is…. Is your generator an “inverter” generator? I struggled to use any other type of generator, regardless of watts due to the messy sign wave. My R1T wanted a clean Sign wave I suspect because it’s essentially a computer on wheels.
If your gender works, cool! If not, hit me up and I can tell you what I did. Happy charging.

 

[mkluttzy17]

Edit above ? “live off grid”

 

[NathanM]

I am looking for charging options off grid at a remote ranch site with a 8kw propane backup Winco generator with 120/240 single phase volt options.

There are also solar panel and wind chargers with battery backup on site but they do not provide as significant amperage as the genset over several hours. I will be looking into more trickle charging options from them but right now I am focusing on the genset as a source of power for adding miles to my r1t.

I would like to be able to add 50 miles to my truck to get to the nearest regular charger. That would be about 4 hours of charging with the mobile charger that came with the truck at the stated max of 32 amps.

I have the mobile charger that came with my truck AND a rivian wall charger which can be set by dip switches for various amperages.

The mobile charger says 32 amps max at 240 which would take pretty much ALL of my 8kw genset. Would like to pursue that option first.

32amp x 240V = 7,680 watts < 8k , so I should be okay?

Question 1. I need to do some cabling and receptacle/plug change conversions from the 240 plug that come with the mobile charger to experiment. The mobile charger comes with a 4 prong 14-50 plug. Is the neutral being used? I see another post that says the charger circuitry checks if neutral is bonded to ground so I suppose that I need to carry the neutral through in my adapters.

Question 2. The mobile charger comes with two adapters that plug into the body the so called "cable controller port" of the charger. I would like to make additional adapters that work with different plug configurations I have on site. Does anybody know if that male plug on the adapter that goes into the "cable controller port" is a stock item, so I could find some male plugs online? Or is it proprietary for Rivian.

Question 3. Is there any advantage to using the wall charger over the mobile charger for my situation. Cannot expect over 32 charging amps, given the 8kw size of my generator, and the mobile charger is advertised to provide 32 amps at 240.

Question 4. Any other thoughts or advice on how to add miles to my R1T off grid at my ranch given my sources of power?

Thanks in advance

There are a lot of comments and threads about this topic. If you end up relying on generator, you'll need 1) to ensure it's an inverter generator (mentioned previously) plus 2) some adapters to ensure the truck recognizes that the power is clean and grounded. See this thread for a ton of back and forth over the topic and some suggested brands to stick with when purchasing adapters.

https://www.rivianforums.com/forum/...erator-and-charging-adapter.11645/post-289569

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