Small Refrigerator Blew the Inverter

[Owner]

I think it's a bad inverter. I run an 50+ of different things with my 23 R1T Max without issue. I just keep the total watts below 1,300.
When my lease is up 7/27, I'll get the R2 which has a 20amp outlet. Will also get the V2L adapter.

Hm... I do think I had a bad inverter, but the way it has been setup now using the Jackery, I think the refrigerator itself is subpar. I think for some reason the Jackery is also turning off for a weird reason with the refrigerator at extended periods of time. the vehicle has been keeping the Jackery completely charged to 100%.

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[SwampNut]

I've been camping/boating/off-roading my whole life. There's one thing I'm obsessive about, and that's having everything be able to work from 12v. Inverters are great if you REALLY need it, but for most things, you should just be using buck converters (DC to DC converters) and not an inverter. Your Starlink can be run from a cheap converter sold on Amazon; I do. My fridge and really everything else runs from 12v. This stops the single point of failure, and is more efficient than the inverter>converter>device path you are using here. I regularly spend days off grid with 12v being my only consumption for everything, no inverter.

 

[Owner]

I've been camping/boating/off-roading my whole life. There's one thing I'm obsessive about, and that's having everything be able to work from 12v. Inverters are great if you REALLY need it, but for most things, you should just be using buck converters (DC to DC converters) and not an inverter. Your Starlink can be run from a cheap converter sold on Amazon; I do. My fridge and really everything else runs from 12v. This stops the single point of failure, and is more efficient than the inverter>converter>device path you are using here. I regularly spend days off grid with 12v being my only consumption for everything, no inverter.

I'm beginning to completely agree with you on this. I didn't realize how sensitive all these inverters are. I'll report back on my 12v testing.

My starlink worked fine directly from the car through the inverter, but buying a cheap converter may be in my future.

 

[dubaigary]

I switched the fridge to 12v when the 110 stopped working, and there have been no problems. It even stays on more consistently, and you don’t need to set a timer! Meanwhile, the Silver Fox is in the shop getting the inverter replaced, requiring a battery drop. Hope they have a better supplier for the new one.

 

[KBabione]

I switched the fridge to 12v when the 110 stopped working, and there have been no problems. It even stays on more consistently, and you don’t need to set a timer! Meanwhile, the Silver Fox is in the shop getting the inverter replaced, requiring a battery drop. Hope they have a better supplier for the new one.

It will stay on while you're driving without the timer, but if you want it to remain on when the Rivian sleeps then you'll need to use the timer.

 

[SwampNut]

It will stay on while you're driving without the timer, but if you want it to remain on when the Rivian sleeps then you'll need to use the timer.

Or use dog mode or keep climate. That's what I do for running around all day, cabin is cool, drinks in the fridge. During summer in Phoenix, that's more luxurious than anything else in any luxury car.

 

[dubaigary]

It will stay on while you're driving without the timer, but if you want it to remain on when the Rivian sleeps then you'll need to use the timer.

Interestingly, when the inverter failed, the timer stopped working, both for 12v and 110v. But climate hold or camp mode work fine

 

[Owner]

I think it's a bad inverter. I run an 50+ of different things with my 23 R1T Max without issue. I just keep the total watts below 1,300.
When my lease is up 7/27, I'll get the R2 which has a 20amp outlet. Will also get the V2L adapter.

Interestingly, when the inverter failed, the timer stopped working, both for 12v and 110v. But climate hold or camp mode work fine

Exactly the same experience with me. The timer is only related to the outlets.

 

[KBabione]

Exactly the same experience with me. The timer is only related to the outlets.

Hopefully this will clarify your statement:

 

[Owner]

Thanks Kevin this is useful. I am acquainted with someone who worked on the camp mode software and said that there is so many permutations of 'camping' so yes the car can be configured with a lot of complexity depending on exactly how you use this vehicle.

Hopefully this will clarify your statement:

 

[dubaigary]

Hopefully this will clarify your statement:

Exactly. Except when the inverter failed, the timer would no longer work, even for 12v. It would allow you to set it, then would shut off a few seconds later when it found out the inverter didn’t respond.

 

[Owner]

An inverter follow up:

Using the 12v runs great with or without the Jackery for an extended time, but I prefer daisy chaining it with the Jackery. I ended up using the outlets on 'auto' so when the car is running, it will fill up the Jackery, and when the car is off the Jackery can easily power the refrigerator. Using the 3 day timer just was too flaky as I would not be the type to remember when 3 days are up. This also frees up the AC plug to make coffee. . For a shorter trip, I would be comfortable leaving the Jackery at home.

At home I tried a few overnight tests with the refrigerator plugged into the Jackery's AC outlet. I put the refrigerator on very low power levels (internal temperature around 65 degrees), and 3 times it stopped the Jackery AC outlet and failed after a few hours. The Jackery itself doesn't die, it just sort of self protects itself. It recovers just fine, just retoggle the switch with no error codes. The Jackery Support has been reasonably helpful but the unit is out of warranty.

My 'final' verdict
-- The refrigerator is sending out an imperfect signal
-- A standard outlet in a home has no problems with the messy signal
-- The Jackery can self protect and turn off the AC outlet with no issues
-- The Rivian struggled with dealing with the messy signal (whether that is a fundamental flaw or just a bad inverter in my car I do not know).

As mentioned by many others, just using the 12V plug is the best way to go.

thanks so much everyone!

 

[KBabione]

-- The refrigerator is sending out an imperfect signal

Your fridge is running on 12V DC so it's not sending a flaky signal - I'm guessing that your AC power supply for the fridge is flaky.

For $20 it might be worth buying a replacement AC Power Supply for your fridge and repeating your test with the Jackery. Just return it if you get the same results.

 

[Owner]

Your fridge is running on 12V DC so it's not sending a flaky signal - I'm guessing that your AC power supply for the fridge is flaky.

For $20 it might be worth buying a replacement AC Power Supply for your fridge and repeating your test with the Jackery. Just return it if you get the same results.

Ah interesting. Could very well be. I just contacted BougeRV as the unit is still under warranty. More to come.

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