Home Charging Error - Using Portable Charger

[DeanB1452]

On Tom’s State of Charge YouTube channel, his top pick was Emporia. He has many reviews on EVSE’s.

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[mkg3]

Been using the Rivian Portable Charger the last year in my garage which never gets unplugged. Currently have had my R1S set to charge at 28amp or 22amp. Once or twice during the charge I will get a charger error notification asking me to try again. After a few minutes it starts charging again. The wall plug is very warm but not burn your hand hot.

I use it to also change our I4 and think I had the same issue once. Maybe I'll try the i4 charger to see if the issue persits on both.

L3 Supercharging works fine however slows down after 50-60% from initial high speed rate.

Do most of you have a charge station like a Chargepoint or Emporia or use the portable for your evs with. Heavy duty Nema

I had this problem with the Rivian portable charger. Since I had two other portable chargers, I had tried both with the same result - it would fail to complete the charge.

My NEMA 14-50 looked fine but it did get very hot. So I opened the receptacle and noticed that the back of the 14-50 plug had some heat damage. It was installed professionally with permit as a dedicated 50 amp single use for EV charging purposes but after few years, it must have failed. I replaced it with:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00EN9VO7W?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_1

Notice that this 14-50 plug is especially designed for EV charging. My old plug was made by the same company but did not have the green EV charging logo.

Since changing a year ago, never had any failure and my 14-50 and the line conduit both stay much cooler than before. My vehicles are set to 30amp charging.

Good luck.

 

[Luxus]

If the outlet is fried, I'd suggest you just hardwire the ESVE given you say you never unplug it. Get rid of a point of failure.

 

[VSG]

Been using the Rivian Portable Charger the last year in my garage which never gets unplugged

Let's see a picture of how that's hanging, before you start talking about ripping out the wiring.

 

[JalenHurtsBirds]

Let's see a picture of how that's hanging, before you start talking about ripping out the wiring.

 

[VSG]

Thank you. Notice the short wire between the charger body and the outlet - that is detachable and doesn't snap into place.

The charger body is heavy. When you have it hanging that way the weight of the body pulls down on the wire, and over time there is less and less contact at the junction between the wire and the body. This can cause charging errors - ground fault trips, heat issues due to the increased resistance at the connector, and other issues which cause the portable charger to terminate the session.

This specifically becomes an issue over time if you keep the portable charger plugged in and hanging there all the time. Which is exactly what the case is in your situation. Like they say, gravity sucks.

The fix is simple - the portable charger is meant to hang on a screw. If you read the manual, they tell you this:

INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS
To hang the controller for the Portable Charger on a wall:

1. Find a location on the wall near an electrical outlet.
   * For outdoor use, select a location between 24 in (60 cm) and 4 ft (1.2 m) above the ground.
   * For indoor use, select a location between 18 in (45 cm) and 4 ft (1.2 m) above the ground.
2. Install a hook or anchor screw on the wall.
   Follow these steps for an anchor screw:
   * Select a screw with a head that fits into one of the openings on the back of the Portable Charger controller.
   * Install the screw so that the head is far enough away from the wall that it slides easily into the mounting hole when you hang the Portable Charger controller onto it.
3. Hang the Portable Charger controller onto the hook or screw.

Most people, me included, skip #2 and #3 until it becomes a problem. So you might want to check that.

 

[JalenHurtsBirds]

Thank you. Notice the short wire between the charger body and the outlet - that is detachable and doesn't snap into place.

The charger body is heavy. When you have it hanging that way the weight of the body pulls down on the wire, and over time there is less and less contact at the junction between the wire and the body. This can cause charging errors - ground fault trips, heat issues due to the increased resistance at the connector, and other issues which cause the portable charger to terminate the session.

This specifically becomes an issue over time if you keep the portable charger plugged in and hanging there all the time. Which is exactly what the case is in your situation. Like they say, gravity sucks.

The fix is simple - the portable charger is meant to hang on a screw. If you read the manual, they tell you this:


Most people, me included, skip #2 and #3 until it becomes a problem. So you might want to check that.

Thanks. That cord seemed tight in there. So I puty bmw on 20a charging and tried the charger all day. The recepticle is cooler and I haven't had any errors from the bmw unless their software doesn't show stoppage or notify if it happens

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