My VD has skyrocketed on this update. Gen 1 R1T also.
Wouldn't the tint of the roof glass decrease the output of he solar panel pretty significantly? Perhaps a better solution might be a flexible solar panel in roughly the same size as the windshield itself which would not only charge the 12v battery but double as a sun shade for the vehicle.
I like the solar power solution for while you’re camping. But when you’re in your own garage… what’s the advantage to this over just plugging your truck in?My name is blah-blah-blah and I suffer from VD (Vampire Drain, not the other kind thankfully), on my late-2022 Gen 1 R1T.
A few months ago I was facing 15-16 miles lost per day (despite Gear Guard being disabled and proximity set to Lock Only at home) at one point. The service center replaced both my 12V and that helped a bit but still didn't quite solve it fully. I was still seeing 8-10 miles lost per day. I then realized that Lock Only at home doesn't really mean Lock Only and that the frunk and gear tunnel doors are still proximity-sensitive.
So I then turned off proximity-based lock/unlock entirely and began only relying on my key fob (physical button presses) for lock/unlock as if I had teleported myself back to the 90s
Having read numerous threads it was pretty apparent that periodic DC-to-DC conversion to charge the 12V was the primary issue causing VD. For instance:
https://rivianforums.com/forum/threads/gen-1-vampire-drain-possibly-solved-or-hacked.31506/
However, I couldn't bring myself to pry open panels, or hard wire stuff to my relatively new (at least in my mind
I decided to try and stand on the shoulders of giants when I specifically noticed the below post from @Tim-in-CA :
https://www.rivianforums.com/forum/threads/trickle-charge-12-volt.36052/post-659940
The OBD port was clearly the plug-n-play option I was looking for!
However, I have a few wilderness camping trips coming up, where I'd like to have minimal to no loss due to a total lack of charging options and since a plugged in battery tender wouldn't work. So I began exploring solar options, particularly those where I could keep the panel inside the vehicle.
After debating a few options I settled on a 30W panel, given that multiple modern ICE vehicle owners were happy with a 20 W panel, and I assume Rivians had to be drawing quite a bit more out of their 12V systems during idle versus modern ICE vehicles.
With the below two solutions, I've been testing both at night (garaged) and during the day (parked outside) for the past 3-4 days in 50-60 degree ambient temperatures and I've noticed minimal to zero lost miles during idle periods. My windshield is tinted to pass through 70% of light, and the solar panel seems to be charging the 12V even during cloudy or partly sunny days.
Garaged/Indoor/Nighttime Solution:
3-amp Tender:
https://www.amazon.com/Deltran-Battery-Tender-Power-Plus/dp/B016S7NHWQ
+
OBD adapter:
https://www.amazon.com/Battery-Tender-081-0154-DL-Connector-Maintainers/dp/B007KJ2RZK
Camping/Outdoor/Daytime Solution:
30 Watt MPPT Solar Panel:
https://a.co/d/f2J3cSJ
+
OBD adapter:
https://www.amazon.com/Battery-Tender-081-0154-DL-Connector-Maintainers/dp/B007KJ2RZK
Money wasn't ever the primary object in all of this, but for the sake of completeness, the three parts above cost me around $170 and I expect them to pay themselves off in under a year.
Also, both the options above take under a minute to plug in and similarly long to take off, meaning that I'm able to use them similar to how I might've plugged in my truck. In fact, I'm now plugging in the battery tender instead of the EVSE (which I'd previously plug in every other day or so even though I didn't need to, just so I wouldn't "notice" the VD loss). Now I plan to plug in the 12V tender daily and use the EVSE when it is actually needed for the HV (say once a week).
Just to be clear, I'm not saying this is the best overall solution. I'm just saying that it is the most convenient I've found so far. I don't know what the long-term implications of this solution would be, but I imagine there might be some, so I'd be curious to hear any thoughts. Could I damage my OBD port due to the daily/repeated plug
-in and plug-out for instance? Will I be shortening the life of my 12V batteries? etc. Let me know!
Pictures (as otherwise it didn't happen
3-amp Tender:
OBD connector (this fits into the driver under-seat storage bin for quick access BTW):
30-watt solar panel that rests on the dash and tucks in neatly behind A pillar, with no additional mounting needed:
MPPT unit behind the solar panel, which shows how much charge the 12V has, and blinks when charging:
They're 12v x 135amp so 1620watts per battery.
In garage it is strictly an energy savings. If you plug in 12v via trickle charging the R1 sleeps longer and doesn't wake up all systems to power up the HV pack to top off the 12v battery. If you plug in normally it wakes everything up and burns more juice to top off the 12v.
cause frequently waking your Riv up to charge the 12v all the time is a big drain on the battery - hence the VD. It’s highly inefficient.
Yes the tint would kill the effectiveness but I'd like something I can place and forget since I park outside 90% of the time and would have bought a truck without the glass roof if an option. (I am always annoyed that automakers decided this should be a popular trend instead of an opening smaller sunroof, but I act like a grumpy 110 yr old so that's on me)
Primary reason was efficiency, as has also been answered by others above. In my experience, it's been significantly more efficient to directly charge the 12V as opposed to energy going first into the HV and then DC-DC converted to the 12V. An order of magnitude (like 10x) difference in power usage between the two cases for the same end result, from what I seem to recall reading on other threads. As an EV driver in a fully de-ICEd household, I've become anaphylactically allergic to any form of energy inefficiency
.The 12V systems can't be drawing 135 amps all the time, right? I assume you're referring to the maximum rating or something like CCA? My question was more along the lines of the actual/typical power usage when screens and HVAC are running. I'd have expected that to be something around a few hundred Watts. Knowing this may help folks make a more informed decision on the BT or solar panel size to pick.
Ah, that makes more sense. Correct, I referred to maximum.
