Small Refrigerator Blew the Inverter

[Owner]

Perfect! Thanks Kevin and Barnum, the fridge is plugged into the laundry room right next to its breaker box. I'll report back after at least 24 hours.

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[KBabione]

GFI: home outlet with fuse/breaker that one could reset if tripped?

That's what I was thinking...If the fridge power supply is bad the GFI would trip and would tell that's where the issue is. Of course, if it doesn't trip you don't know anything, but it's worth a shot.

 

[Owner]

I am curious what year the op Rivian is? I just got a 2025 Tri in January and the outlets randomly quite working and so far they checked wiring and replaced the inverter. Now they are going for the fuses to try to fix it. I did not run anything that should have caused this so am thinking it is a Rivian issue. I just dropped it off at service today. Last week they worked on it most of a day and could not get to the issue.

2026. NACS port and a useable wireless phone charger! Sounds like yes, maybe its the cars.

 

[Owner]

That's what I was thinking...If the fridge power supply is bad the GFI would trip and would tell that's where the issue is. Of course, if it doesn't trip you don't know anything, but it's worth a shot.

If it doesn't trip after say 3 days, I would be a lot more comfortable trying it again in the Rivian. Maybe not for my upcoming multi week trip but a shorter trip.

 

[justinkitswa]

That's what I was thinking...If the fridge power supply is bad the GFI would trip and would tell that's where the issue is. Of course, if it doesn't trip you don't know anything, but it's worth a shot.

Unfortunately on two prong power adapters it's not certain that a GFI would trip due to harmonics issues. Not saying it's impossible, just that it's not within the requirements of a GFI to operate due to noisy power electronics.

A GFI looks for a differential of current across the line and neutral circuits. So if current is "leaking" out of the circuit (more current flowing on the line side than what is returning on the neutral) that's when a GFI operates. Harmonics do sometimes trigger GFI trips as the waveform of the current can cause spurious tripping, but you can't count on it.

It could just be a bad inverter too in the Rivian. I'd be nervous to plug it in again if it were me - I'd use the 12 volt plug.

 

[MikeInFlagAz]

Sounds like the same/similar issue I had. For almost 6 months I had plugged a 120vac -> 12dc power supply w/ cigarette lighter type outlet for my Garmin Overlander instead of running a 12v extension from the back of the vehicle. I plugged this power supply into front 120vac outlet. That combo draws maybe one amp. One morning got into the car and just as you described, tuning on the 120vac outlet resulted in the car disabling the outlet after about 5 seconds. Took the car in for service and they replaced the fuse and the inverter. I now use a Pecron 3kw power supply to run a 900 watt microwave, induction burner, and toaster when I camp but I will recharge the Pecron from the car's rear outlet which draws about 750 watts for a couple of hours. I also use a Starlink Mini plugged into the rear 120vac outlet quite often. I plug a Dometic cooler into the rear 12vdc outlet. No repeat of the failed inverter so far with a couple of multi-day camping trips since the replacement.

 

[VSG]

I'm wondering if more than one or two people out there have attempted to use their Rivian with a refrigerator or cooler plugged in and for what length of time?

Yes, thousands of people have been doing this for years. It is absolutely not a problem - not even close to a problem - unless there is a fault in your refrigerator or in your truck.

I personally keep my Dometic refrigerator running for weeks at a time in the bed of my truck without a problem, and have been doing this since 2022 - four years. It's only around 40W when running, which is comparable to an iPad charger.

If it's a bad inverter, then it's not a very common problem. While I'm sure inverters go bad occasionally, this is the first case I remember reading about other than @MikeInFlagAz above.

 

[CharonPDX]

That one should be plenty small. I power a bigger one regularly off 12V or 120V in mine. (depending on if the 12V is in use by another device or not.)

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