Confirmed: Newer production R1 only have a single 12v battery, but...

[Riptide]

As a minimalist I hate having extra sh** around. But I bought one of these shortly after receiving my truck:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BLLRM8R

It has better reviews than the ones available at the local box stores. For now, it lives on a shelf in the garage. Figure it's better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it. ??

Nothing like having to to buy a 3rd battery booster pack to jump the unreliable 12v than somehow can’t keep a charge off of the ENORMOUS F*CKING BATTERY in the vehicle.

I’m confidant Riv will work these little battery drain gremlins out. But the irony on this one got me.

The app should be monitoring this and notifying if close to low.

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[docwhiz]

As a minimalist I hate having extra sh** around. But I bought one of these shortly after receiving my truck:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BLLRM8R

It has better reviews than the ones available at the local box stores. For now, it lives on a shelf in the garage. Figure it's better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it. ??

It would be better to have something with an internal battery which can be used out in the wild if you get stuck somewhere.
Lots of options:
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=portable...table+car+,aps,208&ref=nb_sb_ss_ts-doa-p_1_13

 

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

It would be better to have something with an internal battery which can be used out in the wild if you get stuck somewhere.
Lots of options:
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=portable+car+jump+starter&crid=1KSX70CXS3GC4&sprefix=portable+car+,aps,208&ref=nb_sb_ss_ts-doa-p_1_13

Oh, I have one of those, too. It lives in the frunk. My thoughts are if there were an emergency out in the field I could still get to it by removing the T15 screws and pulling the emergency open cord.

As the other person said, it is kind of ridiculous that we need to plan for these concerns because the vehicle can't keep itself charged off the enormous battery... LOL. ?

 

[PappaBolt]

Oh, I have one of those, too. It lives in the frunk. My thoughts are if there were an emergency out in the field I could still get to it by removing the T15 screws and pulling the emergency open cord.

As the other person said, it is kind of ridiculous that we need to plan for these concerns because the vehicle can't keep itself charged off the enormous battery... LOL. ?

But where will you keep the T15 screwdriver?

 

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

But where will you keep the T15 screwdriver?

Trailer hitch. But there are plenty of threads on other good places to stash one. ?

 

[Zoidz]

Oh, I have one of those, too. It lives in the frunk. My thoughts are if there were an emergency out in the field I could still get to it by removing the T15 screws and pulling the emergency open cord.

As the other person said, it is kind of ridiculous that we need to plan for these concerns because the vehicle can't keep itself charged off the enormous battery... LOL. ?

 

[R1Tom]

Unless the 400v battery is dead, then I think Rivian should cover all costs of any 12v system loss of power under warranty.

When 12v system hits a low threshold, the main contractors for the 400v should close and then the 12v charger, should do its thing. Anything less should be a warranty cost.

 

[dleepnw]

im a noob and dont understand why Rivian has/had dual batteries and what the switch to a capactor/battery means nor what that means electrically pros and cons. can someone give a laymans explanation of this all? hard to track and understand reading just the comments on this thread.

 

[Zoidz]

im a noob and dont understand why Rivian has/had dual batteries and what the switch to a capactor/battery means nor what that means electrically pros and cons. can someone give a laymans explanation of this all? hard to track and understand reading just the comments on this thread.

From what we can tell (Rivian has not documented this in detail to my knowledge) the two battery configuration split the vehicle in half. That was evidenced by observations that left lighting worked but right lighting did not work when a battery died. How they split the electronics up is anyone's guess?

Apparently the jump connection only jumped one battery, so it was luck of the draw as to whether you could use a jumper battery successfully. I've never had this issue, so others may know more details.

Why did they do this - it is certainly unusual from any perspective. Some conjecture that the system was originally designed for one battery and a capacitor, but the capacitor unit was constrained, so two batteries were used.

What does the capacitor do? Some devices need much more current for a few seconds (electric motors being one such item) when they turn on as compared to when they are running. Two batteries provide more surge current and continous current availablility. The capacitor is a compromise of sorts. The theory of operation is that the capacitor stores a charge from the 12 volt battery which could be equal to or even greater than the battery's capacity. When a surge demand comes along such as the A/C or suspension compressor starting, the capacitor can supply the extra current needed for a few seconds. The demand drops off as the motor spins up, and then the capacitor can slowly be recharged.

There are certainly some unknown nuances as to how Rivian has implemented the charge/discharge cycling of the capacitor. It could be in parallel with the battery, or it could be switched in when needed, much like a start capacitor on an electric motor.

 

[Dark-Fx]

From what we can tell (Rivian has not documented this in detail to my knowledge) the two battery configuration split the vehicle in half. That was evidenced by observations that left lighting worked but right lighting did not work when a battery died. How they split the electronics up is anyone's guess?

Apparently the jump connection only jumped one battery, so it was luck of the draw as to whether you could use a jumper battery successfully. I've never had this issue, so others may know more details.

Why did they do this - it is certainly unusual from any perspective. Some conjecture that the system was originally designed for one battery and a capacitor, but the capacitor unit was constrained, so two batteries were used.

What does the capacitor do? Some devices need much more current for a few seconds (electric motors being one such item) when they turn on as compared to when they are running. Two batteries provide more surge current and continous current availablility. The capacitor is a compromise of sorts. The theory of operation is that the capacitor stores a charge from the 12 volt battery which could be equal to or even greater than the battery's capacity. When a surge demand comes along such as the A/C or suspension compressor starting, the capacitor can supply the extra current needed for a few seconds. The demand drops off as the motor spins up, and then the capacitor can slowly be recharged.

There are certainly some unknown nuances as to how Rivian has implemented the charge/discharge cycling of the capacitor. It could be in parallel with the battery, or it could be switched in when needed, much like a start capacitor on an electric motor.

The HVDC-LVDC converters are duplicated too, which made me wonder if they had potential capacity issues from just running a single one of them, and thus they split everything onto two independent systems as much as possible.

 

[PeterSK]

It would be better to have something with an internal battery which can be used out in the wild if you get stuck somewhere.
Lots of options:
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=portable+car+jump+starter&crid=1KSX70CXS3GC4&sprefix=portable+car+,aps,208&ref=nb_sb_ss_ts-doa-p_1_13

This reminds me that a friend previously recommended the Noco Boost chargers. Do you think the GB40 is powerful enough to charge the R1S, or do I need to go for the GB50? https://no.co/products/power/boost

 

[docwhiz]

This reminds me that a friend previously recommended the Noco Boost chargers. Do you think the GB40 is powerful enough to charge the R1S, or do I need to go for the GB50? https://no.co/products/power/boost

They don't seem to give power specs kWh on these.
Theoretically just need to get the battery voltage up near 10 or 12 v so shouldn't take much.

 

[PeterSK]

They don't seem to give power specs kWh on these.
Theoretically just need to get the battery voltage up near 10 or 12 v so shouldn't take much.

I looked at the spec sheets. GB40 is 24Wh, GB50 is 35Wh, if that helps. Someone above mentioned that Service had told them to jump for 15-30 min, so that makes me feel I should get the bigger one.

 

[docwhiz]

I looked at the spec sheets. GB40 is 24Wh, GB50 is 35Wh, if that helps. Someone above mentioned that Service had told them to jump for 15-30 min, so that makes me feel I should get the bigger one.

Probably best for longer charges

 

[PeterSK]

Update: Wednesday afternoon the mobile service tech arrived at the detailer and spent at least an hour on the car. I’ve been told he had trouble waking up both sides of the car, and he eventually decided it needs to go to the Chelsea Service Center. They got it in neutral and pushed it outside.

Yesterday midday a flatbed picked it up, and I got a call from Chelsea when it arrived. I spoke to someone earlier today and was told they weren’t able to work on it yet. I have since learned that they ordered a new capacitor (referred to as a BIB, battery interface box). They hope to have things fixed by eod Monday - frustrating to not have my new car for the weekend. But at least they’ve acknowledged it is likely a warranty claim and not the result of leaving a seatbelt buckled

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