Phantom / Vampire Drain Solution Works! Using 12v Battery Tender

[mudito]

Why would Rivian’s 2024 on board computers use more than Tesla’s 2015-2021 onboard computers? I would think a decade newer design would be smarter, better faster, better for low energy sleeping. Is the design that much worse? I’d like to recommend this great truck to many other people I know but this vampire load is far more than any gas or electric car I’ve ever known by a huge amount.

At least my wife's Model3 battery is bigger than the Rivian's . Also, I don't know for a fact if Tesla needs to fully wake their computers or not. Rivian (evidently) does.

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[James Worden]

My 2024 R1T is loosing a whopping 21% capacity in 30 days at a constant 40°F when I turned as many things off possible like Gear Guard, locked the truck, closed the app on phone, made sure Bluetooth for Rivian is disabled on phone. I don’t have cellular service activated on truck but it’s on WIFI. My 2021 model 3 looses 4% in this same period.

 

[rvnappolis]

What size ring terminal connectors will we need? I could not find this in the threads from the fall. I'm thinking m10, but would love confirmation.

https://a.co/d/9vZGGZC

I've mine wired directly to the battery leads like @NY_Rob did HERE

If you can access your battery directly, it's definitely an option. OBDII will limit at 3A (more than enough TBH), I have 2x5A Noco battery tenders.

 

[Nixapatfan]

Why would Rivian’s 2024 on board computers use more than Tesla’s 2015-2021 onboard computers? I would think a decade newer design would be smarter, better faster, better for low energy sleeping. Is the design that much worse? I’d like to recommend this great truck to many other people I know but this vampire load is far more than any gas or electric car I’ve ever known by a huge amount.

If I have to guess it's the vaunted zonal architecture which basically reduces many tiny compute modules to a few larger ones saving the manufacturer on build costs but the consumer is paying for it with significant vampire drain powering a larger computer for constant connectivity.

 

[DayTripping]

My 2024 R1T is loosing a whopping 21% capacity in 30 days at a constant 40°F when I turned as many things off possible like Gear Guard, locked the truck, closed the app on phone, made sure Bluetooth for Rivian is disabled on phone. I don’t have cellular service activated on truck but it’s on WIFI. My 2021 model 3 looses 4% in this same period.

For that period of time, it doesn't seem bad for a Gen1 Rivian. I am averaging 0.7-1% every day, and I am not running Gearguard, but I haven't disabled anything.

 

[James Worden]

That sounds similar, I guess mine is averaging 0.7% per day. Its a huge drain at 1 kW of battery capacity every single day! That's 1 kWh of electricity every day to not drive anywhere, 30 kWh a month!!! I really hope Rivian works on this and has a solution soon, otherwise I could never recommend the great vehicle to anyone. It'll be useful for people to know this drain is so high in EV purchasing choices. I would never have bought the truck if I knew it would loose 1kW per day parked!

 

[James Worden]

I am fine with some small amount of energy being consumed to do firmware updates, connect to WIFI, etc., but its got to have a low energy sleep mode where it shuts most of these computers down and only keeps the minimum 2-3W of Bluetooth and/or WIFI or other alive to be alert for a communication to get ready for action and boot up the other computers. Surely no respectable engineer would purposely design a product to consume 1kW of energy per day sitting locked up and idle providing no benefit or service to the owner!

 

[mudito]

What size ring terminal connectors will we need? I could not find this in the threads from the fall. I'm thinking m10, but would love confirmation.

https://a.co/d/9vZGGZC

That's precisely what I use, I think the actual size is 8mm but there were 6 and 10 available from Noco. The M10 works perfectly.

 

[dfacto]

The SAE to ODB2 is not available on Amazon but a cheaper option is to solder the provided cable to an ODB2 plug.
GND: pin 4
+12: pin 16

YACSEJAO 2PCS Car OBD2 16 Pin Connector OBDII 16 Pin Male Wiring Plug Adapter DIY OBDII PCB Diagnostic Tool with Screw & Shell for Car Truck OBD2 Connector https://a.co/d/hD7TyyH

Total cost $30.

 

[FooF]

This adapter is available from amazon.
Battery Tender OBDII Adapter Cable for 12V Battery Charging - 22 Inch Cord - Solar Compatible - Charge Vehicle's 12V Battery Through OBD II Port - 081-0154-DL

 

[hammick]

Has anyone located a +12v terminal on the G2? There is a jump terminal under the frunk cover for an alligator clamp but no terminal. There are a couple of -12v ground studs to choose from. I'd rather have my battery tender connection in the frunk vs using the OBD2 port.

 

[hammick]

Apologies for another layman question:
Will a 12v plug to SAE function the same as the OBD2? (For those of us that have them in the cab)

Not unless that 12v is always hot. If you have to turn it on using the truck power setting then no. You should charge through anything unless it goes directly to the battery.

 

[Nixapatfan]

Posting a snapshot of what the trickle charger solves. Notice the sleep wake cycle just becomes a long sleep cycle once the 12v is fully charged, otherwise it's sleep a few hours, wake up and charge for a few hours and repeat endlessly until driven or charged.

 

[NY_Rob]

Notice the sleep wake cycle just becomes a long sleep cycle once the 12v is fully charged....

Same for humans when our time runs out- the sleep/wake cycle becomes a looooong sleep cycle

 

[James Worden]

Guys, I know its annoying and another hack, but can I just disconnect the 12V battery from its loads and the truck will go truly dormant? I sometimes don't use it for 3-6 or more weeks at a time, especially in winter. Of course, naturally, I understand that I won't have Bluetooth communications with the truck but that's OK. Will it just be be back to normal when I reconnect the 12V battery? James

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