Using the Rivian portable charger with a generator

[smokeybear32]

I’ve recently purchased a Westinghouse iGen4000DFc inverter generator, rated at 4kW. I was hoping to be able to use this is a portable recharging solution for when I’m doing extended overland trips. But when I plug the portable charger into the generator, it just gives me the pulsating red light, as if something's wrong with the power. But the specs are right: the outlets produce either 15 amps at 120 vAC (via the 5-15 outlets) or 30 amps at 120 vAC (via the TT-30 outlet).

Rivian service was no help - I just got the standard answer of “we don’t recommend you do this”.

Could the issue be that that the power isn’t clean enough? Is there a way to make this work? I'd appreciate any advice.

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[Thedude]

You need a neutral bonding plug. Easy to make from hardware store parts or to buy if you want.

 

[JacobAZ]

Correct, need a neutral bonding plug. About $8 on Amazon. You plug it into an empty receptacle on the generator. Batteries and generators have no ground. They are self-contained. Just a positive and negative terminal. All EV level 2 chargers require a ground. The bonding plug fools the charger into thinking the generator is grounded. Even though the generator had standard receptacles with a ground hole, it does not go to a ground. The bonding plug connects the ground prong in the plug to the neutral prong in the plug giving ground a complete path.

 

[smokeybear32]

Fantastic, I knew I'd get a good answer here. Home Depot has them in stock and I’m going to grab one tomorrow.

Thanks very much for the help!

 

[VSG]

Also, be aware that Level 1 charging has a bit of an overhead from the AC/DC conversion etc. So you'll probably lose 400 Watts or so just to power the charging. The consequence of that is:

• You'll only get about 1kW of power into the battery with the 5-15 outlet.
• You will get more like 2.5kW into the battery with a TT-30 outlet.

So although the TT-30 technically can deliver only twice the power of the 5-15, you end up getting more like 2.5x the power into the battery from the TT-30 because the overhead is the same in both cases.

You will need an EV-specific TT-30 adapter to use a TT-30 outlet with your Rivian portable charger. A generic RV adapter will not work with EV charging
I have been using this one for the past 4 years:
https://a.co/d/0j39UJf3

Also note when using an adapter cable like this, be sure to set your charging amperage in your Rivian, because the adpater cable is essentially fooling the Rivian charger into thinking it's plugged into a 14-50. But a TT-30 can only deliver 30A, and for continuous operation you should not use more than 80% of that - so set your Rivian to draw a maximum of 24A when using this (or any similar) TT-30 adapter.

 

[smokeybear32]

Thanks. I've already got the TT-30 adapter, which works great. I'm familiar with the process of setting the charging amperage, so I think I’m set.

The generator wants to be run at half power for the first 5 hours of operation, so I’ll run it via the 5-15 for a while as a test run. Then we’ll do a TT-30 trial.

 

[MajorVex]

I didn't look at your generator size vs output needed in this bcase but do keep in mind. Portable generators are notoriously way over "rated" in there output specs. You usually have to greatly upsize them to work well for consistent higher draw outputs.
If it is rated for 4kw and you need constant 3+kw you usually need a 6kw or so to work reliably.

 

[smokeybear32]

Well, it’s rated at4 kW (starting wattage, 3.3 kW running), but I can throttle the current setting if need be. The TT-30 should be able to deliver around 2.8 kW at 24 amps, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

 

[MajorVex]

Well, it’s rated at4 kW (starting wattage, 3.3 kW running), but I can throttle the current setting if need be. The TT-30 should be able to deliver around 2.8 kW at 24 amps, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

Good luck! I used to see this alot at my job sites with my subcontractors. Let us know ifbit works out, maybe they've gotten better smoothing the outputs.

 

[Campmohave]

I have charged for extended trips using my champion 6500 inverter generator. It’s been about a year, but the plug others have mentioned I think worked.

 

[SwampNut]

I've done this quite a few times, for days at a time in some cases, with an iGen4500DF. No issues, and I've run it at 24a mostly, but tested 26 without a problem (still not recommended).

I have a home-made neutral bonding plug, and this adapter: https://a.co/d/0hC9k9ac

Here's a thread about my extended usage and testing: https://www.rivianforums.com/forum/threads/i-installed-a-gasoline-engine-in-my-rivian.53354/

 

[smokeybear32]

Well, I got the bonding plug from Home Depot, and… no joy. The charger acts just like it did without it.

To get the stupid questions out of the way first… am I using the thing correctly? I thought I understood that I needed to plug it into an unused outlet on the generator and plug the charger into the other outlet as in the attached picture, but is that correct?

Also, is there anything supposed to be coming out the hole in the back of the plug?

It might be that this is just a super low-quality piece of gear (it cost less than $3) and the bonding plug itself is bad. I’ve got another one coming from Amazon, but it'll be a few days.

I’d appreciate any advice people can provide. Thanks!

 

[Time2Roll]

Does the bonding plug connect Neutral and Ground internally?
Screw position looks like it was opened.

As shown the Neutral is on the left and Ground on the bottom.

 

[MajorVex]

is that a bonding plug? looks like just a regular plug, the neutral wire and ground wire need to be jumpered inside

 

[VSG]

That appears to be this Leviton replacement plug:
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Leviton...-Plug-Orange-3W101-OR-R03-3W101-0OR/301305041

It opens up so you can attach the plug to an existing wire that needs a new plug. It does not have any of the pins connected internally, so can't function as a neutral ground bonding plug unless you connect the pins yourself.

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