"New" 12V Battery Jump Start process update from Rivian

[Dark-Fx]

Looks like Rivian finally updated the jump-starting guide to indicate how to jump the vehicle including the secondary battery.

Will be curious if people are able to recover their dead vehicle following the guide now. Present in the tow-operators guide and owner's guide.

https://rivian.com/support/article/r1-tow-operator-guide

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[OverZealous]

Nice! I wonder if they've changed the vehicle software to make this something a "normal" person can do finally. I've heard in the past that a dead 12V recharge/reset is not something that can easily be done by one person, which is why they usually towed the trucks to a service center.

Hopefully everything is more robust now.

 

[Dark-Fx]

Nice! I wonder if they've changed the vehicle software to make this something a "normal" person can do finally. I've heard in the past that a dead 12V recharge/reset is not something that can easily be done by one person, which is why they usually towed the trucks to a service center.

Hopefully everything is more robust now.

It actually looks like they made a mistake here, or at the very least, overlooked running a jumper from the primary battery instead of from a second jumper pack.

 

[Craigins]

This seems to confirm what I've been thinking for awhile. They must not have a voltage monitor at each battery terminal and charging infrastructure for each battery.

Thus if one battery was defective or not holding a charge relative to the other battery, a big pull in amps would drop the voltage and kill the system. If you're not checking individual batteries, the HV system would just be checking the voltage level of the 12v system and if nothing is drawing a lot of power the voltage would be fine, even if one of the batteries needed charging.

which probably means the system was designed for a single battery and swapped to 2 batteries at the last minute.

 

[Dark-Fx]

This seems to confirm what I've been thinking for awhile. They must not have a voltage monitor at each battery terminal and charging infrastructure for each battery.

Thus if one battery was defective or not holding a charge relative to the other battery, a big pull in amps would drop the voltage and kill the system. If you're not checking individual batteries, the HV system would just be checking the voltage level of the 12v system and if nothing is drawing a lot of power the voltage would be fine, even if one of the batteries needed charging.

which probably means the system was designed for a single battery and swapped to 2 batteries at the last minute.

There's a separate DC-DC converter on each battery. I think what was overlooked is architecting it so they could both initiate off the primary 12V system. I'm pretty sure Rivian is able to monitor both sides.

 

[jplblue]

Anyone carrying a jump box for emergencies? Steady at 30A seems tough to find?

 

[MidnightRivian]

Anyone carrying a jump box for emergencies? Steady at 30A seems tough to find?

Probably need an actual plug in battery charger or you could splurge on this portable unit for $7,000 and haul it behind you to charge the main battery lol


https://www.homedepot.com/p/DEWALT-...er-with-80-Amp-Engine-Start-DXAEC80/300385140

https://www.larsonelectronics.com/p...harger-single-port-12kw-gas-propane-generator

 

[LivingInKaos]

So, how long before someone with the new capacitor set up in place of the secondary chimes in that the battery looks wrong ?

 

[R1Tom]

There's a separate DC-DC converter on each battery. I think what was overlooked is architecting it so they could both initiate off the primary 12V system. I'm pretty sure Rivian is able to monitor both sides.

This is a pretty big miss and if true....no realistic solution thru software exists to prevent 12v death in many circumstances. Bummer....

 

[Dark-Fx]

This is a pretty big miss and if true....no realistic solution thru software exists to prevent 12v death in many circumstances. Bummer....

Maybe you don't understand, since you've been posting a lot of negative responses about this topic lately. The prevention is in not letting either of the batteries get drained out. In situations where it's already happened, the most likely situation is that you've run the HV battery down completely and then failed to turn the vehicle off to protect the 12V systems.

This documentation is simply trying to address that situation.

 

[LivingInKaos]

There's a separate DC-DC converter on each battery. I think what was overlooked is architecting it so they could both initiate off the primary 12V system. I'm pretty sure Rivian is able to monitor both sides.

Yes they can. Pretty much anything in the RIDE menu shows to them.

 

[R1Tom]

Maybe you don't understand, since you've been posting a lot of negative responses about this topic lately. The prevention is in not letting either of the batteries get drained out. In situations where it's already happened, the most likely situation is that you've run the HV battery down completely and then failed to turn the vehicle off to protect the 12V systems.

This documentation is simply trying to address that situation.

You are right then. If the 12v system is monitored and whenever drops below acceptable threshold, the traction battery contacts close and charge the 12v, then all is good.

I thought you were saying one of the batteries isn't monitored so if it drops it could all just die. I must have understood what you said wrong.

So are you saying most of the 12v system voltage failures are due to completely draining the traction battery then?

 

[IGR]

I've read through the jump starting section of the "new" manual and it hasn't changed since I read it back in January. The only thing I see that's different is jacking car with new (mid 2023 and later version) jack kit, page 12.

Am I missing something?

 

[Dark-Fx]

So are you saying most of the 12v system voltage failures are due to completely draining the traction battery then?

Rivian had some bugs that they've worked out, it was mentioned in previous patch note updates. I'm sure it's possible they have other outstanding ones, but the vast majority of the problems have been resolved. I've personally never had any 12V issues and my truck has definitely seen some abuse with the exception of hanging anything directly off of the 12V system that the truck can't anticipate.

 

[Dark-Fx]

Am I missing something?

I never saw anyone directly mention it being changed in the manuals previously. A lot of folks are still under the impression that the jumper cables in the back should *just work* because the original documentation never made a mention of the secondary system.

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