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

[Tim-in-CA]

Another update, after waking the locking the vehicle last evening, my R1S stayed awake for an hour and observing Eero activity it sent/received 15/5MB of data. This morning, it woke up on its own 12 hrs later. Maybe the vehicle still needs to phone home. VD is at 0.1% for 36 hrs. Still a huge improvement from the ~2%/day I was previously seeing

And another update on my OBD2 port charging setup (3A BT, single 12V battery, R1S) and monitoring Electrafi data:

• I had originally plugged the OBD2/Battery Tender in on Thursday @ ~ 2pm and had to unplug to go for a quick errand on Friday @ 2pm.
• Over the course of those 72 hrs, my reported battery percentage dropped only 0.9% ... with the recent FW update, I would have lost at least 6% of range (prior to the latest FW, I would have lost about 3%, so still a big improvement).
• Over the course of those 72 hrs, the vehicle did wake 4 times for a total of ~5:30 (one of those hours was initiated by me as a test by waking and sleeping the vehicle).
• My errand was short (18 miles, 3 stops, gone 1 hr 40 min total).
• When I returned home, as a test, I decided to not plug into the OBD2/Battery Tender and observe the vehicle's behavior. The vehicle went back into its sleep/wake cycle that I have observed after a drive or a DC or AC charge (~1 hr sleep and ~20min wake).
• After 3 of these cycles, I plugged the OBD2/BT again, and the vehicle has been sleeping continuously for the past 14 hrs.
• I reviewed the garage camera footage after I plugged in and the BT charged the 12V battery for about 15 min (front LED blinks while charging). Unfortunately, I don't have a way to monitor the BT unless I connect a smart plug to it log power draw (I don't have an extra one available).

My next test will be to see how long the vehicle takes to get to my last observation of 30min sleep / 15min wake when unplugged from the OBD2/BT charger.

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[NY_Rob]

• When I returned home, as a test, I decided to not plug into the OBD2/Battery Tender and observe the vehicle's behavior. The vehicle went back into its sleep/wake cycle that I have observed after a drive or a DC or AC charge (~1 hr sleep and ~20min wake).
• After 3 of these cycles, I plugged the OBD2/BT again, and the vehicle has been sleeping continuously for the past 14 hrs.

Those fact are just outright disappointing given Rivian's supposed "amazing engineering" and tech savvy.

 

[Tim-in-CA]

Those fact are just outright disappointing given Rivian's supposed "amazing engineering" and tech savvy.

Exactly. There is definitely an architectural problem in Gen 1. If you equate VD to fuel loss a similar SUV ICE vehicle, it is the equivalent of 1 gallon leakage of gasoline every 3-4 days! There would be a mandatory NHTSA recall. Maybe people should be reporting their VD to the government. I know that this is extreme, but RivIan is saying that 5%+ is normal!

https://www.nhtsa.gov/report-a-safety-problem#index


And, with OBD2 BT connected, the vehicle has been sleeping for 21 hours

 

[mudito]

So, as I posted here that my 12V battery died. I got the truck back from the service center at home now with a new battery, and while it's only an 8hrs period, I found this log interesting nevertheless:

First of all, the truck 'slept' all night but at around 7am this morning which coincidentally is the time I woke up and came to the Livingroom to watch the F1 Race (which is a close room to the Garage). Only then, the car idle and slept a couple of times and saw a 0.4% battery 'drain'.

I will do something today, I'll remove my phone key and use my Fob for a few days and see if I get 'better sleeps'.

(I want to know precisely how much drain I have with a brand-new 12V battery without the sleep/wake affecting the stat. I drive the truck daily so it's not possible for me to park it away and try that)

 

[Zoidz]

Exactly. There is definitely an architectural problem in Gen 1. If you equate VD to fuel loss a similar SUV ICE vehicle, it is the equivalent of 1 gallon leakage of gasoline every 3-4 days! There would be a mandatory NHTSA recall. Maybe people should be reporting their VD to the government. I know that this is extreme, but RivIan is saying that 5%+ is normal!

https://www.nhtsa.gov/report-a-safety-problem#index


And, with OBD2 BT connected, the vehicle has been sleeping for 21 hours

NHTSA will only investigate safety issues. I’m not seeing how Vampire Drain would fit their mandate.

 

[mudito]

Okey, to expand and recap:
My 2022 R1T's 12V died a couple of weeks back. They were both replaced (dual 12V setup) last week, and I had the truck back in my possession last Friday. Since I saw that my PaaK was waking up the vehicle every time I was close to the living room, I removed both my wife's and my phone from the "keys" and just used the FOB.

It slept from 4:25pm Sunday Sep 22nd to 8:18am Monday 23rd. and the range/battery drain was almost zero.

I think it's a great baseline to know and monitor in the future as the 12V batteries age and see if the VD worsens OR maybe Rivian changed the supplier and newer batteries behave better.

 

[JerseyGreens]

Okey, to expand and recap:
My 2022 R1T's 12V died a couple of weeks back. They were both replaced (dual 12V setup) last week, and I had the truck back in my possession last Friday. Since I saw that my PaaK was waking up the vehicle every time I was close to the living room, I removed both my wife's and my phone from the "keys" and just used the FOB.

It slept from 4:25pm Sunday Sep 22nd to 8:18am Monday 23rd. and the range/battery drain was almost zero.

I think it's a great baseline to know and monitor in the future as the 12V batteries age and see if the VD worsens OR maybe Rivian changed the supplier and newer batteries behave better.

This is extremely interesting.

I have proximity off at home, however, when I step into the garage with my phone in my pocket it seems to wake the vehicle. Same thing with my key. Begs the question...does proximity off at home work well?

A simple software update for Rivian is to nail down the proximity off at home feature which may reduce a lot of VD. That's an easy Win in my mind.

 

[mudito]

This is extremely interesting.

I have proximity off at home, however, when I step into the garage with my phone in my pocket it seems to wake the vehicle. Same thing with my key. Begs the question...does proximity off at home work well?

A simple software update for Rivian is to nail down the proximity off at home feature which may reduce a lot of VD. That's an easy Win in my mind.

I had proximity off at home as well but I could still see Sleep/Idle cycles in Electrafi. Hence why I removed it as a test, I left my Fob in the same place I store the wallet when I'm at home and my other car keys.

Worth saying that I don't think this is the "silver bullet", but it contributes to the VD of the truck. I've seem other posts that suggest that even with PaaK disabled, the battery will drain substancially. I wanted to test the VD overnight with the brand-new 12V battery as a baseline so if in the future I repeat the same test and I see 2%, I know something isn't right.

 

[Riviot]

Looks like the service center found a way to warranty out my 12v batteries. Is big brother watching these threads?

 

[shap]

Is there a place that says that you can not do that? Or that you must disconnect belts?
But even then, how this can kill a 12V battery while you still have plenty of HV battery that should charge 12V !?

 

[mudito]

Is there a place that says that you can not do that? Or that you must disconnect belts?
But even then, how this can kill a 12V battery while you still have plenty of HV battery that should charge 12V !?

I mentioned this in another thread (I think...) An "emergency" circuit that does DC-to-DC not only for charging the 12V but also for bypassing it. In the event of a total 12V failure (shorted battery that won't accept charge), the charging circuit could be bypassed and feed the car with 12V and with a BIG emergency sign saying "Dude, if the SoC of the main battery drops, you're in big crap..., keep your truck plugged to an L2 charger and visit the Service Center ASAP".

This is not related to drain but to avoid bricked cars with 12V Batt related issues, of course

 

[Yossarian]

This is extremely interesting.

I have proximity off at home, however, when I step into the garage with my phone in my pocket it seems to wake the vehicle. Same thing with my key. Begs the question...does proximity off at home work well?

A simple software update for Rivian is to nail down the proximity off at home feature which may reduce a lot of VD. That's an easy Win in my mind.

This is also my experience. Proximity for my (and my wife's) phone is off, yet the car seems to wake anytime either one of us is nearby. Most maddening however is that the latest update seemed to reduce the drain to a reasonable 1 to 2 per cent but that recently changed again. The drain has reverted back to previous levels, so never less than 2%, and more often double that.

I will add the (high and variable) parasitic drain it to the list of items for my December service appointment but given that the official response is that up to 5% is to within acceptable limits, do not hold much hope for a fix.

 

[Joefly78]

This is extremely interesting.

I have proximity off at home, however, when I step into the garage with my phone in my pocket it seems to wake the vehicle. Same thing with my key. Begs the question...does proximity off at home work well?

A simple software update for Rivian is to nail down the proximity off at home feature which may reduce a lot of VD. That's an easy Win in my mind.

Prox at home does not work well. Every time I walk into my kitchen (which is above the garage), I can hear the truck below gurlgle, click and whine. This absolutely needs to be changed. I've written Rivian with no reply.

 

[HaveBlue]

I mentioned a few months ago that the BT modules never turn off even despite changing settings for unlock. The car will wake any time it sees your phone or fob. I automated my Android to turn off BT strategically.

 

[mudito]

I mentioned a few months ago that the BT modules never turn off even despite changing settings for unlock. The car will wake any time it sees your phone or fob. I automated my Android to turn off BT strategically.

What did you use to automate that and how did you do it? I wanted to look into that but it'll be tricky to turn on BT when I walk outside of my kitchen

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