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Third 12v system failure in 7 months without warning - 2023 R1S

bap0316

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After going down the rabbit hole on dozens of other threads on the 12v topic on various forums the past couple of days, I’m still at a loss and have not found another with identical symptoms/issues, with no advanced warning/alert, so posting in case anyone finds themselves in a similar situation to mine. Here is the timeline/situation:

April 2024 (~7k miles): I go out to my car in my garage one morning to find it completely dead/unresponsive following an OTA update the evening before. Mobile tech comes out the following day and explains a lot of owners have experienced 12v battery failures as a result of the recent update. New 12v (my R1s has single battery) installed, systems diagnostics run and everything recalibrated. All is good again.

Thanksgiving (7mos. later; ~14k miles): I arrive to my sisters ~40miles from my house that morning with ~80% SOC. I go back out to my car to grab something an hour later and notice the car was unlocked and completely dead/unresponsive. I call Rivian support and they have me try a variety of different resets (frunk button 10x, soft and hard reset) but car remains unresponsive. I suggest to support that perhaps jump starting might fix and they responded that they did not receive any diagnostic info prior to the vehicle dying that would lead them to believe the 12v battery was faulty and wanted to arrange a tow for the next day. Despite this, I jumped it with my wife’s car later that afternoon and was able to restore the vehicle to a functional state and drive it home. Updated support that I was able to get the vehicle home and requested a mobile service appointment ASAP to try and diagnose what was going on.

11/30-12/1: Hesitant to use vehicle but do on 2 separate occasions on errands close to home and vehicle operates normally without issue.

Tuesday 12/3: mobile service comes out and explains that my vehicle was flagged internally on 11/9 as having one of the defective 12v batteries installed so he came to replace. Replaces 12v, runs diagnostic, resets and recalibrates everything. Within 5min of the service tech leaving, my vehicle is completely dead again. I try jump starting again which wakes the vehicle up and boots up the computers but immediately dies again after I remove the jumper cables. Text mobile service rep to let him know and he says it’ll have to be towed to SC…he’s out of ideas as voltage on 12v was confirmed good and all other diagnostics were fine.

12/6: Rivian towed out of my garage to Richmond SC. Because of backlog and “nature of the concern” they likely will not get around to my vehicle until the new year, per the SC rep.

Thanksgiving was my first time feeling a bit of buyer’s remorse with my Rivian. It would be one thing if it was a clunking CV axle or excessive wind noise but feeling like this vehicle has a high probability of leaving me stranded - without any sort of advance warning - is something else altogether.

Reading through other threads with similar recurring 12v system issues, I’m leaning toward this being a fault with one of the control modules or the HV battery. Just odd that none of the 3 instances above had any sort of warning/alert either beforehand or afterwards.

I’ll provide updates here once my car is able to be looked at. Any thoughts/ideas in the meantime are appreciated.

Sept. 2023 delivery.
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iforbes

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Yeah, that is crazy and probably not a great feeling. The software updates seem to have, generally, done a good job of giving at least a little heads-up when there is a 12V problem.

Hopefully you get someone thorough to dig into the weeds to find the drain/short/bad ground causing your issues. Good luck!
 

LL75

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so, the 12V getting its charges from the main battery. I would assumed that since the 12V died so many times, there is some communication issues with the HV battery . I would not drive anywhere with that vehicle if this is the issue. I got stranded once with my tesla model 3 and it is never fun. Hope they can figure it out for you.
 

iforbes

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so, the 12V getting its charges from the main battery. I would assumed that since the 12V died so many times, there is some communication issues with the HV battery . I would not drive anywhere with that vehicle if this is the issue. I got stranded once with my tesla model 3 and it is never fun. Hope they can figure it out for you.
While I don’t disagree, I don’t think this answers the question of why the new 12V was dead 5 minutes after mobile left?
 

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Interesting issue here as I got a call from Rivian last month, just before Thanksgiving to schedule a visit asap to replace my 12v battery, I've never had an issue with. The appointment is Mon 12/16/24 & this morning I wake up to a notice on my phone to "Replace 12V battery". Guessing this is the dreaded notice mentioned above. So I called Rivian CS & they are contacting the SC that I was scheduled to visit in 4 days anyway. I'm off work this month, so I'm not pressed to get anywhere anytime s00n. I am keeping it plugged in per the suggestion in the same message using the 110v Kit that came with Tarkus. Keep Ya posted :cool:
 

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SANZC02

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Just curious, do you have any third party applications connecting to your vehicle pulling data?

A while back Hyundai was having issues with the Ioniq 12 volt battery failing, their diagnosis was narrowed down to third party apps connecting too frequently preventing the vehicle from sleeping causing the battery to drain.
 

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Close to 500 of us Rivian Owners use the TeslaFi App as a 3rd party app to gather info from our vehicles, but I have not read where that has been seen as an issue yet.

On the other hand, I only recently started using my 110v Charging Kit that came with Tarkus to trickle charge from my new travel trailer 110v exterior plug (@ 1.3kW) & as most know, the vehicle does not sleep during 110v Charging for some unknown reason & I can see there are zero sleep periods using the TeslaFi app during this 12-24hrs+ of 110v Charging time. So I'm leaning towards this as my "SWAG" :like:
 

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Just curious, do you have any third party applications connecting to your vehicle pulling data?

A while back Hyundai was having issues with the Ioniq 12 volt battery failing, their diagnosis was narrowed down to third party apps connecting too frequently preventing the vehicle from sleeping causing the battery to drain.
If the truck isn't sleeping, the DC-DC converter should be powering the truck from the HV battery. I can see this contributing to high phantom drain, but not the early demise of the 12v. FWIW I also use ElectraFi and my truck still sleeps.
 

majorfriend

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Hmm, keep us updated.

The 12v is definitely the weakest point in the system. I wonder if they'll keep it for R2 or move to a 48v system like Tesla.
 

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wonder if they'll keep it for R2 or move to a 48v system like Tesla.
This would be fantastic!
Has Rivian or RJ ever mentioned adapting future Rivian models
to a 48v system?
I welcome this potential revision since it would also cut extra weight
 

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majorfriend

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This would be fantastic!
Has Rivian or RJ ever mentioned adapting future Rivian models
to a 48v system?
I welcome this potential revision since it would also cut extra weight
Not that I've seen, would be nice though
 

CrazyOne

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Hmm, keep us updated.

The 12v is definitely the weakest point in the system. I wonder if they'll keep it for R2 or move to a 48v system like Tesla.
Higher voltage saves on wiring costs, not much else. The car seems to have a problem and using 48v or 12v won't make a big difference. Not everyone has 12 v issues.
 

majorfriend

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Higher voltage saves on wiring costs, not much else. The car seems to have a problem and using 48v or 12v won't make a big difference. Not everyone has 12 v issues.
Most EVs do have 12v issues, Tesla did before switching, Hyundai/Kia have, Mach Es did. It's pretty common.
 

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If the truck isn't sleeping, the DC-DC converter should be powering the truck from the HV battery. I can see this contributing to high phantom drain, but not the early demise of the 12v. FWIW I also use ElectraFi and my truck still sleeps.
Is your R1 "sleeping" after it hits the limit of SOC you set? My Tarkus does not go to sleep even after it hits the limit I set (currently 95%).

It hit 95% at 4:54PM earlier today, but did not go to sleep for the 3+ hrs. in between the trickle charge that restarted at 7:16pm & ended at 7:59pm & is still online now (9:00pm).

As for the sleep period showing below that took place before 4:00am this morning, I had turned off charging before going to bed last night & did not turn it back on until 11:11am today when I saw the message on my phone to "replace 12V and to contact Rivian" & to keep the vehicle plugged in as well :cool:

Rivian R1T R1S Third 12v system failure in 7 months without warning - 2023 R1S 1734058537679-i
 

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Hmm, keep us updated.

The 12v is definitely the weakest point in the system. I wonder if they'll keep it for R2 or move to a 48v system like Tesla.
They have already answered that question and R2/R3 will be 12 volt. They do not want to source all new parts and use parts common to G2.
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