"Slower due to warm plug" message while charging

[1stPlace]

I'm back home after picking up my Riv.

They replaced the entire charging harness and since they had to dig into the vehicle, they had to do an alignment afterwards (included in the warranty).

They did note the temp sensors were reading inaccurately. These were part of the replacement.

For those out there that are consistently having this issue in normal temperatures (below 80degF), this is likely the issue. It was for me. You may have to work for Rivian to cover it because the amount of time and expense required to do this is likely several thousand dollars outside of warranty. Even the amount of work to open up the area and diagnose was more than they were willing to do on my first or second service appointment. They were more willing to cover my Rivian EVSE replacement and install first, even though I personally did not see any evidence of arcing on the pins. Document the issue thoroughly and be persistent. Congrats @Swezey to getting it done.

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[Swezey]

For those out there that are consistently having this issue in normal temperatures (below 80degF), this is likely the issue. It was for me. You may have to work for Rivian to cover it because the amount of time and expense required to do this is likely several thousand dollars outside of warranty. Even the amount of work to open up the area and diagnose was more than they were willing to do on my first or second service appointment. They were more willing to cover my Rivian EVSE replacement and install first, even though I personally did not see any evidence of arcing on the pins. Document the issue thoroughly and be persistent. Congrats @Swezey to getting it done.

This makes me feel a bit better about the fix. I was fortunate enough to make 1 service request and provide sufficient evidence to make this not a battle.

The service advisor was really hammering the fact that ~9 kW range is the "norm".
I made sure to make a rebuttal about how I paid for a truck and the Rivian charger that was advertised to charge at 11.2 kW. And how in my first 18+ months, it wasn't an issue. And it's currently charging my wife's Lyriq at sustained 11.2 kW without any throttling.

She described the harness as wrapping all the way around the truck. So they really had to get in there. Hence why they had to do an alignment and from the order, touch the brakes as well.

The Austin Service center so far as done a great job with my services and has in the past gone above and beyond!

I'm 3 hours into a charge session and it's sustained a full 11 kW with it now being 82*F out.

 

[gj_washington]

This makes me feel a bit better about the fix. I was fortunate enough to make 1 service request and provide sufficient evidence to make this not a battle.

The service advisor was really hammering the fact that ~9 kW range is the "norm".
I made sure to make a rebuttal about how I paid for a truck and the Rivian charger that was advertised to charge at 11.2 kW. And how in my first 18+ months, it wasn't an issue. And it's currently charging my wife's Lyriq at sustained 11.2 kW without any throttling.

She described the harness as wrapping all the way around the truck. So they really had to get in there. Hence why they had to do an alignment and from the order, touch the brakes as well.

The Austin Service center so far as done a great job with my services and has in the past gone above and beyond!

I'm 3 hours into a charge session and it's sustained a full 11 kW with it now being 82*F out.

In my case, the issue was resolved by replacing the Rivian wall charger. No changes to the truck. This was over a year ago. Perhaps your issue is different because you say the charger is working fine with a different car. But again, maybe the other car does not have the in-car temperature sensor that the Rivian does

 

[GriffJP]

So I have an update regarding my personal charging issues with the charging slowing down from 11.2 kW per hour down to almost 3 kilowatts per hour after approximately seven minutes of charging.
I was able to successfully charge at a Tesla charger with the Rivian supplied adapter without issue. There was no decreased charging due to the "warm plug" warning while using the Tesla charger. Rivian service feels that the truck is fine but the wall charger may be the issue. They had me take a bunch of pictures of the wall charger, including with the front cover off so they could see the wiring.
I just got off the phone with someone from the Rivian Charging team and they will not replace my charger under warranty because the electrician that installed the charger used braided aluminum wires instead of the recommended copper wires. Rivian believes that the braided aluminum wires do not hold up over time with the current load which is why they recommend the copper wires.
Ok, so no warranty replacement (not bashing Rivian in any way regarding this issue). I asked the charging dude at Rivian if it would be wise to get the NACS charger since my lease runs out in 2027 and I am most likely going to get another Rivian vehicle and by then they will all be produced using the NACS port and not the J1776 port. He advised that I get the charger that matches my current vehicle since Rivian does not advise using an adapter, even theirs, for long-term everyday charging. I find that last comment interesting in that FPL has a charging solution that uses the J1776 plug and they advise the use of an adapter if your vehicle has the NACS port on their website.
So my only option seems to be to get another $800 Rivian wall charger and have it installed and potentially need to get another Rivian wall charger with the NACS plug once I swap out vehicles when my lease is up. The FPL solution will cost $27/month, they will come and install it, but I will have to use an adapter (that FPL will provide) once I change vehicles to one with the NACS port. Comparing costs, it would take in the neighborhood of 40 months of the monthly fee for the FPL solution to reach the estimated cost of the new Rivian charger, sales tax (shipping is free according to the Rivian site), and installation (it cost me $250 4 years ago so I imagine it will be more now). Plus, the FPL solution is limited to 40 AMPS and 9.6KW/h charging. The FPL fee is secure for about 3 years and then they could raise it (of course).
By the way, I received and installed the most recent ".30" update and tested the charging today - derated to 3.4 KW/h after 7 minutes which is very consistent behavior - same waring = "warm plug".
The Rivian guy also said that changing the wiring on my existing charger might work but the charger could not be replaced under warranty if it doesn't work.
So I am not sure what the best play is at this time. Just wanted to give an update to my particular situation. I would advise any of you that had your charger professionally installed to check the wiring and if it is the braided aluminum get it changed out before there is an issue.
I will try to attach a picture of the wiring.

 

[Swezey]

So I have an update regarding my personal charging issues with the charging slowing down from 11.2 kW per hour down to almost 3 kilowatts per hour after approximately seven minutes of charging.
I was able to successfully charge at a Tesla charger with the Rivian supplied adapter without issue. There was no decreased charging due to the "warm plug" warning while using the Tesla charger. Rivian service feels that the truck is fine but the wall charger may be the issue. They had me take a bunch of pictures of the wall charger, including with the front cover off so they could see the wiring.
I just got off the phone with someone from the Rivian Charging team and they will not replace my charger under warranty because the electrician that installed the charger used braided aluminum wires instead of the recommended copper wires. Rivian believes that the braided aluminum wires do not hold up over time with the current load which is why they recommend the copper wires.
Ok, so no warranty replacement (not bashing Rivian in any way regarding this issue). I asked the charging dude at Rivian if it would be wise to get the NACS charger since my lease runs out in 2027 and I am most likely going to get another Rivian vehicle and by then they will all be produced using the NACS port and not the J1776 port. He advised that I get the charger that matches my current vehicle since Rivian does not advise using an adapter, even theirs, for long-term everyday charging. I find that last comment interesting in that FPL has a charging solution that uses the J1776 plug and they advise the use of an adapter if your vehicle has the NACS port on their website.
So my only option seems to be to get another $800 Rivian wall charger and have it installed and potentially need to get another Rivian wall charger with the NACS plug once I swap out vehicles when my lease is up. The FPL solution will cost $27/month, they will come and install it, but I will have to use an adapter (that FPL will provide) once I change vehicles to one with the NACS port. Comparing costs, it would take in the neighborhood of 40 months of the monthly fee for the FPL solution to reach the estimated cost of the new Rivian charger, sales tax (shipping is free according to the Rivian site), and installation (it cost me $250 4 years ago so I imagine it will be more now). Plus, the FPL solution is limited to 40 AMPS and 9.6KW/h charging. The FPL fee is secure for about 3 years and then they could raise it (of course).
By the way, I received and installed the most recent ".30" update and tested the charging today - derated to 3.4 KW/h after 7 minutes which is very consistent behavior - same waring = "warm plug".
The Rivian guy also said that changing the wiring on my existing charger might work but the charger could not be replaced under warranty if it doesn't work.
So I am not sure what the best play is at this time. Just wanted to give an update to my particular situation. I would advise any of you that had your charger professionally installed to check the wiring and if it is the braided aluminum get it changed out before there is an issue.
I will try to attach a picture of the wiring.

That's rough. I believe my installer used pure copper for the install. I have not verified, though.

Are you going to replace the wiring with copper?
Then re-torque to spec to see if that fixes it?
Though there is a chance the Rivian Charger could be damaged.
If you need to replace the charger, the wiring must also be updated.


ATX cool winter temps finally arrived and stuck around.
So far, my R1T has charged at 11 kW across all charging sessions without issue.
Though the real test is when the temps get back into the 80s+.

I did a DC charge session, although the location was shared and the capacity was limited to under 100 kW.

 

[GriffJP]

So the ultimate resolution of my situation was that I purchased a Tesla universal wall charger that has both the current pre-2025 Rivian charging plug and the new NACS charging plug. I did this because my current lease on my 2025 R1T will run out in 2027 and I will be trading that in most likely for another Rivian product that will have the NACS plug. Rivian themselves did not recommend that I get the NACS charger and using an adapter for charging as they did not advise using an adapter for daily charging. Plus the Tesla universal wall charger was only $600 as compared to the Rivian charger at $800.
The electrician that installed my first charger agreed to install the new charger for free since their use of the braided aluminum wire most likely caused the Rivian charger to malfunction. In fact, he did see evidence of a little heat damage from the aluminum wire expanding and contracting with temperature fluctuations. They did use the proper copper wire and I'm happy to report that my charger works flawlessly. My truck is also been able to charge at several different DC fast chargers as well as a level two charger at work without any issues so the problem was purely with the charger and not the truck.

 

[Rade]

I saw charging speed dropped from 11kw to 8kw and went out to the garage to see what was going on. I see this message on the charging screen. Anyone know why this might be happening?

Check the outlet you have your charger plugged into. I got that when my 15-40 plug came loose. The temps in the garage are the culprit; near freezing the copper connections tend to not be as tight. Similar error on the Tesla when the connection into the charger came just a little bit loose. AMPS dropped to near nothing and warning signs went off.

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