Gen 1 Vampire Drain (Possibly) Solved (or Hacked)

[NY_Rob]

^ how ridiculous is it that your truck sitting in your driveway doing nothing is awake for 7+ hrs/day just burning energy needlessly?

That's why I bristle any time Rivian brags about their "green' ethos as a company. Fleet-wide you are wasting huge amounts of energy every day!

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[Tim-in-CA]

FWIW here's some baseline data, 24 hours of my R1T PDM Max unplugged at a moderate SOC, no gear guard or proximity locking and of course no driving, and a very typical 1.60kwh gone like the wind:

Yep. Latest update has caused my VD to go from ~0.8% to ~2% per day just sitting in my garage. Grrrrrr

 

[NY_Rob]

Yep. Latest update has caused my VD to go from ~0.8% to ~2% per day just sitting in my garage. Grrrrrr

Back in the summer of 2023, I was seeing VD as low as 0.5kWh/day, then with a late summer/fall 2023 update my drain went up to 1.5kWh/day and has never been as low as 0.5kWh/day since then.

Fortunately, our solar panels (43 of them) provide excess energy and our state regs force our utility to "bank" the summer excess for use during the winter. The excess production continuously rolls over/doesn't expire at the end of the year and carry over to the next year in perpetuity. If I was paying for electricity, I'd have the 12V batts on a disconnect switch as I only use my R1T maybe once per week. This VD issue is maddening!

 

[Tim-in-CA]

Back in the summer of 2023, I was seeing VD as low as 0.5kWh/day, then with a late summer/fall 2023 update my drain went up to 1.5kWh/day and has never been as low as 0.5kWh/day since then.

Fortunately, our solar panels (43 of them) provide excess energy and our state regs force our utility to "bank" the summer excess for use during the winter. The excess production continuously rolls over/doesn't expire at the end of the year and carry over to the next year in perpetuity. If I was paying for electricity, I'd have the 12V batts on a disconnect switch as I only use my R1T maybe once per week. This VD issue is maddening!

I have solar as well in So Cal, and it banks month to month but is wiped out every 12 months and any excess is “paid out” at about $0.03/kWh. Thanks SCE. Right now, I calculate that my VD consumes about 1/3 of my excess solar generation. As you mentioned, Rivian’s eco-creed is wiped out by this, Kyle Connor needs to call them out

 

[NY_Rob]

I have solar as well in So Cal, and it banks month to month but is wiped out every 12 months and any excess is “paid out” at about $0.03/kWh. Thanks SCE. Right now, I calculate that my VD consumes about 1/3 of my excess solar generation. As you mentioned, Rivian’s eco-creed is wiped out by this, Kyle Connor needs to call them out

Would love to see Kyle make a big stink about VD, but I think as they say, he knows "which side his bread is buttered on" and won't do something like that.

 

[FooF]

I wish we could just force the vehicle to stay in sleep state unless we manually open the door handle.

 

[HyperionMark]

Just bought some 7 pin accessories to test a way to keep the 12v powered through there. So tired of this drain.

 

[shrink]

2-week update

8/16/2024 to 8/23/2024
0% loss from the high voltage battery
SOC remains at 68%

Cumulative over 14 Days: 8/9/2024 to 8/23/2024
1% loss
69% to 68% SOC

I mixed up my calendar. I'll be back on island in a week, so this will be a 3-week experiment.

I know we still need to see some draw from the battery tender, but looking at my smart meter readings I don't think much is happening. Car is sleeping every time I glance at it in the app and the app seems to update once a day.

I'm calling this a win.

 

[NY_Rob]

2-week update

8/16/2024 to 8/23/2024
0% loss from the high voltage battery
SOC remains at 68%

Cumulative over 14 Days: 8/9/2024 to 8/23/2024
1% loss
69% to 68% SOC

I mixed up my calendar. I'll be back on island in a week, so this will be a 3-week experiment.

I know we still need to see some draw from the battery tender, but looking at my smart meter readings I don't think much is happening. Car is sleeping every time I glance at it in the app and the app seems to update once a day.

I'm calling this a win.

That's fantastic! Thanks for all your work

Was looking at this setup earlier today...

This would keep both 12V batts fully charged, the port would get mounted somewhere in the front of the Rivian and would let me simply unplug from AC power quickly without any fuss.

 

[chops]

2-week update

8/16/2024 to 8/23/2024
0% loss from the high voltage battery
SOC remains at 68%

Cumulative over 14 Days: 8/9/2024 to 8/23/2024
1% loss
69% to 68% SOC

I mixed up my calendar. I'll be back on island in a week, so this will be a 3-week experiment.

I know we still need to see some draw from the battery tender, but looking at my smart meter readings I don't think much is happening. Car is sleeping every time I glance at it in the app and the app seems to update once a day.

I'm calling this a win.

how many amps are you using to charge the battery?

 

[FooF]

I wonder if this external charging will cause the vehicle to think the 12v battery health is better or worse than it really is?

 

[chops]

I wonder if this external charging will cause the vehicle to think the 12v battery health is better or worse than it really is?

lead acid batteries like to be charged. my last ICE car had the OEM battery from the dealership after 11 years of ownership. it sat on an 800ma battery tender it's entire life whenever it wasn't driven (weekend only car).

 

[FooF]

lead acid batteries like to be charged. my last ICE car had the OEM battery from the dealership after 11 years of ownership. it sat on an 800ma battery tender it's entire life whenever it wasn't driven (weekend only car).

Yeah not concerned about the battery and this is not a “dumb” ice vehicle. My concern is with the system monitoring the 12v battery health potentially not knowing the real state of the battery health because of the outside influence of the trickle charger.

 

[NY_Rob]

Yeah not concerned about the battery and this is not a “dumb” ice vehicle. My concern is with the system monitoring the 12v battery health potentially not knowing the real state of the battery health because of the outside influence of the trickle charger.

You make a valid point, but does it really matter in the end? It's not like our vehicles are giving us much advance notice of impending battery failure. Yes, sometimes they do warn the driver, but in most cases the battery just dies and the truck is bricked.
At least when trickle charging you know you're starting off your trip with a topped up 12V battery

 

[CBRacerX]

2-week update

8/16/2024 to 8/23/2024
0% loss from the high voltage battery
SOC remains at 68%

Cumulative over 14 Days: 8/9/2024 to 8/23/2024
1% loss
69% to 68% SOC

I mixed up my calendar. I'll be back on island in a week, so this will be a 3-week experiment.

I know we still need to see some draw from the battery tender, but looking at my smart meter readings I don't think much is happening. Car is sleeping every time I glance at it in the app and the app seems to update once a day.

I'm calling this a win.

Great news! Just to clarify, was this tender connected via the trailer RV plug or a direct connect to the 12v battery terminals?

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