(maybe/probably) 12V dead battery 6 hours after delivery

[jaydee]

I took delivery yesterday afternoon. Drove to lunch, home, then over to a friend's house for dinner. Went to go home, and upon pressing the brake pedal got a ton of errors ending with "service now".

Calling support they thought it was a PAK issue (even though I had the FOB with me). After a few resets, the passenger front window wouldn't roll up while the drivers did. The passenger side door handles were also stuck unlocked, while the driver's side would retract unpon locking w/ the FOB.


Support asked me to go home and get the key card. I did, and upon getting back, I opened the car and noticed the lights flickering, then the computer went dark...

We did do an old fashioned 'jump' from another car to the leads in the back... while revving that car's engine for 10 minutes, the lights came back on, the computer started booting... then it would crash, then back to the Rivian logo to repeat. Support told us to stop - they'd escalate for the morning (while I got to leave my truck on the street w/ a window down and side unlocked)


Cut to this morning - tow truck scheduled to take to service center... three hours later - cancelled as I guess the company isn't properly equipped. Tow company #2 is currently scheduled, however they just called me to ask, "Is it OK if we drag the truck onto the flatbed?" I just got off the phone w/ Rivian support, who said they would follow up to ensure they had the right stuff...

So that's the current state of my saga. I'll update this post as the events unwind. Any thoughts/ideas as to why our 12V "jump" didn't work or other things to try?


Update 9/7 late afternoon: Tow Truck #2 did show up. We tried his larger jump pack, but after 30 minutes of it plugged in (and drawing current) the same thing was happening as the night before: random attempts for the computer to boot up but it was never sucessful.

He got it up onto the flatbed and I"m waiting for confirmation it got to the service center.

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[Dark-Fx]

First time I've heard of the side-effects of the "split brain" of the Rivian. The 12V battery system is split side-to-side and each side has an independent DC-DC converter, so it's possible you have a bad one or a wiring issue related to the one on the passenger side. Not sure how jumping actually works with the way the rivian system is architected though.

 

[jaydee]

Update 9/10 Saturday, late afternoon.

It was flat-bedded to the service center on Wednesday afternoon. They worked on it Thursday and Friday where they replaced:

Sensor, 12V Battery, Intelligent, Primary

I thought to myself, "hmmm.. they didn't replace the battery too - oh well, they're the professionals" (foreshadowing...)

I picked it up this morning, drove back home, then to lunch, then back home... its working great. I decided to better arrange the garage so I backed it half out and got to work. About an hour later, I was ready to pull it back in, and I got the full set of error lights + service now message.

While on the phone w/ support I started getting the same signs of the battery dying: passenger side locks stopped working. Random chimes... then the screen went dead.

So now I'm waiting for a call tomorrow from "the diagnostics team", while I have to leave my garage open. Let's see what can happen on a Sunday - but maybe I'll have to leave my garage open 2 nights in a row.

 

[mini2nut]

Ah, the Christmas Tree of idiot lights. Keep up us updated on the root cause and repair.

 

[Budman]

Just a guess here; the 12v battery isn’t getting recharged from the main high voltage battery pack. The 12V batteries could be just fine but something in the hardware or software to transfer energy from the big battery to the small batteries isn’t working.

 

[Aroohoo]

So now I'm waiting for a call tomorrow from "the diagnostics team", while I have to leave my garage open.

This and the towing scenario is why there needs to be a way to easily put it in neutral when the batteries as dead.

 

[jaydee]

Update Monday 9/12 afternoon:

Mobile service came out and replaced the batteries. The computer came up, but the HV battery won't connect. He checked and the next steps must be done in the service center.

He disconnected both batteries so they won't die and said to reconnect them to get the parking brake disengaged.

So, a tow truck has been ordered for tomorrow - my week anniversary from pickup (where the truck has been functional for me ~6 hours total over that week). Also the last day to return the car... hmmm...

 

[jaydee]

Update 9/14 afternoon:

The truck was flat-bedded to the service center yesterday morning, and they got it up and running by the end of day. I picked it up this morning.

The service advisor as well as the work invoice stated, "Found a ground terminal loose", and that after torquing it back down, everything is fine.

I didn't think to ask for more details, as I'm now curious if it was the connection at the chassis/internal or at the battery. Maybe it wasn't at the battery as the previous two repair attempts involved the batteries, including replacing them (and you'd hope the connections were properly torqued).

But if it was some internal or chassis connection - that would easily explain all the weird electric issues I was having (but raise the obvious questions of why didn't previous techs catch it, much less during manufacturing).

Anyway, it's now in my garage charging... and I will only be taking it on round trips and/or parking in easily towable locations for the next several days. I'll obviously post back here if I end up needing a fourth repair attempt - but I'm cautiously optimistic.

 

[Arky]

First time I've heard of the side-effects of the "split brain" of the Rivian. The 12V battery system is split side-to-side and each side has an independent DC-DC converter, so it's possible you have a bad one or a wiring issue related to the one on the passenger side. Not sure how jumping actually works with the way the rivian system is architected though.

Frankly this just seems like stupid engineering. Almost ever car uses a single unified 12V system, and this has a HVDC battery to back it up, why the heck would they engineer 2 separate circuits and add another 30lb battery?

 

[Dark-Fx]

Frankly this just seems like stupid engineering. Almost ever car uses a single unified 12V system, and this has a HVDC battery to back it up, why the heck would they engineer 2 separate circuits and add another 30lb battery?

Probably a really good reason, but I don't know the answer. The batteries in the Rivian are on the small side, could be a packaging thing.

 

[cjones1130]

Update 9/14 afternoon:

The truck was flat-bedded to the service center yesterday morning, and they got it up and running by the end of day. I picked it up this morning.

The service advisor as well as the work invoice stated, "Found a ground terminal loose", and that after torquing it back down, everything is fine.

I didn't think to ask for more details, as I'm now curious if it was the connection at the chassis/internal or at the battery. Maybe it wasn't at the battery as the previous two repair attempts involved the batteries, including replacing them (and you'd hope the connections were properly torqued).

But if it was some internal or chassis connection - that would easily explain all the weird electric issues I was having (but raise the obvious questions of why didn't previous techs catch it, much less during manufacturing).

Anyway, it's now in my garage charging... and I will only be taking it on round trips and/or parking in easily towable locations for the next several days. I'll obviously post back here if I end up needing a fourth repair attempt - but I'm cautiously optimistic.

Has all been good since your 1st week full of antics?

 

[jaydee]

Has all been good since your 1st week full of antics?

6800 miles so far, and no other problems with the truck. (well, the gear guard cable never locked, but I consider that a minor thing, and they fixed it)

 

[Marchin_MTB]

6800 miles so far, and no other problems with the truck. (well, the gear guard cable never locked, but I consider that a minor thing, and they fixed it)

I had a similar issue on mine( gear guard mechanism failed closed and had to be replaced). Did they replace the whole mechanism for you?

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