SOS - R1T bricked during aftermarket horn install (horn not at fault)

[freshpow]

perhaps lost, but how did the aftermarket horn sound? did it meet expectations?

It sounded great! Exactly what I was looking for and I will definitely reinstall once I get a new battery.

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[freshpow]

No offense, but if you don't already know the answer to that question, then you probably shouldn't have been doing any kind of electrical installation on your vehicle. For what it's worth, the 12V battery is DC, so you measure across the terminals to get your nominal voltage reading. One post is positive and the other is ground. You can't measure voltage at each post individually. If you swap the position of the leads, you're just changing the polarity, so the reading on your meter will show positive voltage and negative voltage.

No offense but I understand how a 12v battery works and how to measure the voltage. I am not familiar with the power module (or whatever it's called) that sits on top and has 5 + posts. You would have seen that if you had looked at the picture I shared just prior to that question, which was a stupid question, no doubt

 

[White Shadow]

No offense but I understand how a 12v battery works and how to measure the voltage. I am not familiar with the power module (or whatever it's called) that sits on top and has 5 + posts. You would have seen that if you had looked at the picture I shared just prior to that question, which was a stupid question, no doubt

Yes, but you also referred to that as the battery posts, which it is not. If you want a true battery voltage reading (without any voltage drop), then measuring the battery posts is the best way to do that.

 

[freshpow]

Yes, but you also referred to that as the battery posts, which it is not. If you want a true battery voltage reading (without any voltage drop), then measuring the battery posts is the best way to do that.

Yes and I have since done that thanks to the kind folks here. I was getting ~2.5v at the power module posts when it was dead and then ~3.9v on the battery itself (once I removed the power module). After trickle charging it yesterday, it's now reading ~12.6v but I haven't had a chance to reconnect everything to see what I have. Planning to do that a bit later.

 

[White Shadow]

Yes and I have since done that thanks to the kind folks here. I was getting ~2.5v at the power module posts when it was dead and then ~3.9v on the battery itself (once I removed the power module). After trickle charging it yesterday, it's now reading ~12.6v but I haven't had a chance to reconnect everything to see what I have. Planning to do that a bit later.

Good job. Glad you seemingly have it figured out.

 

[freshpow]

Good job. Glad you seemingly have it figured out.

And don't get me wrong, I completely agree that I should not be tackling any complex electrical installs. This horn was super easy and came with crystal clear instructions that made it easy enough for a simpleton like me to tackle in 30 min (including all the trim and frunk removal).

 

[White Shadow]

And don't get me wrong, I completely agree that I should not be tackling any complex electrical installs. This horn was super easy and came with crystal clear instructions that made it easy enough for a simpleton like me to tackle in 30 min (including all the trim and frunk removal).

I agree that it's a relatively simple job. Just keep in mind that it's not difficult to cause damage to any vehicle's electrical system if you start messing around with stuff and you don't know what you're doing. I've seen people set off airbags, get shocked by high voltage, you name it. Stuff like that happens all the time.

 

[freshpow]

Not sure if you have 1 or 2 batteries, here is a video replacing the battery on a single battery system. Watch the end of it for trouble shooting.

It should resolve your issue, there is one for dual batteries as well.

Thanks for sharing. I had seen this previously but it's been very helpful in trying to diagnose the problem, along with advice from others here. If they won't end up covering the new battery under warranty, I'll probably purchase one of the Ohmmu batteries since it would be a lot cheaper and seems like a better battery.

 

[WattTruckMatt]

Here are my 2 cents after through most of this thread. I've messed around with the batteries a few times as I have added a Garmin Powerswitch and have installed a variety of aftermarket lights.

I think it could be possible OP shorted something out during install. Question is... what? A fuse? A module? A relay (does this truck even have physical relays...)?

Could also be terrible timing and 12V batteries just died. IMO that red goo is just sealant that comes like that on the battery to seal the terminal.

I imagine you'll know quickly with mobile service whether your batteries are fried or if you damaged a different component.

All in all... good luck! It's certainly not a fun ordeal to think you're installing something easy and end up with a bricked vehicle.

 

[Move]

OP, sorry you're dealing with this. I did the same horn install and it only thing I noticed upon install is that my vehicle went into a deep sleep and took two panicking minutes to bring itself back online after the installed horn. Everything worked great after that. This is definitely the horn Rivian should make standard.

 

[UnsungZero_OldTimeAdMan]

So once battery charged to 13v, did it make the vehicle drivable? Factory 12v is a AGM battery, like Optima red and yellow tops. If anything leaked it wouldn’t be liquid, more gel-like. What you see is likely epoxy used to seal the terminals. If the battery had gone bad, you wouldn’t have been able to recharge to 13v and likely would have smelled like rotten eggs in the process, along with being very hot and with visible fumes. I think Optima’s been working on a Lithium replacement for close to two years. Gardner Nichols ran one in his Pikes Peak truck last year. DCE had been working with Optima long before Nichols. Though not a retail product, the packaging look pretty final. Might want to inquire and include in your options. I’m guessing during horn installation (the air horn one from realwheels?) a short occurred that drained the battery. You installed the leads then inline fuse last? It may have been weak to begin with. Plus since everything was connected and powered during installation; i.e. awake and consuming energy. Hopefully the HV pack contactor hasn’t malfunctioned also and you can resume with a charged 12v.

 

[Riviot]

After trickle charging it yesterday, it's now reading ~12.6v but I haven't had a chance to reconnect everything to see what I have. Planning to do that a bit later.

 

[freshpow]

So once battery charged to 13v, did it make the vehicle drivable? Factory 12v is a AGM battery, like Optima red and yellow tops. If anything leaked it wouldn’t be liquid, more gel-like. What you see is likely epoxy used to seal the terminals. If the battery had gone bad, you wouldn’t have been able to recharge to 13v and likely would have smelled like rotten eggs in the process, along with being very hot and with visible fumes. I think Optima’s been working on a Lithium replacement for close to two years. Gardner Nichols ran one in his Pikes Peak truck last year. DCE had been working with Optima long before Nichols. Though not a retail product, the packaging look pretty final. Might want to inquire and include in your options. I’m guessing during horn installation (the air horn one from realwheels?) a short occurred that drained the battery. You installed the leads then inline fuse last? It may have been weak to begin with. Plus since everything was connected and powered during installation; i.e. awake and consuming energy. Hopefully the HV pack contactor hasn’t malfunctioned also and you can resume with a charged 12v.

Yes, installed the leads and then the inline fuse. Wrapping up some meetings here then will see if I can get it to boot up.

 

[McRiv0723]

I want to chime in that this same thing just recently happened to me. I was installing my rearwheelsev horn and my truck suddenly went dead. Im lucky that the SC towed my truck the very next morning and they replaced my 12v immediately. So the next day I decided to try to reinstall and truck died again. They towed it the next morning and kept the truck for about a week or so to run tests and couldn’t figure out what was draining the battery and replaced the 12v again. I took everything off each time before they towed it so they didn’t catch any aftermarket parts.

I’m convinced that it must have something to do with unhooking one of the terminals. Not sure why that would drain the 12v but that’s all I can think of. Must be a fail safe of some sort.

That being said realwheelsev has been super helpful and responsive. They sent me a second horn to see if it was actually the horn (which I highly doubt since it hardly draws anything from the battery) and they’re also send me a new connector to connect it to the spare pole on the top middle of the right side of the battery. I can update once everything comes in and get around to installing.

 

[freshpow]

I want to chime in that this same thing just recently happened to me. I was installing my rearwheelsev horn and my truck suddenly went dead. Im lucky that the SC towed my truck the very next morning and they replaced my 12v immediately. So the next day I decided to try to reinstall and truck died again. They towed it the next morning and kept the truck for about a week or so to run tests and couldn’t figure out what was draining the battery and replaced the 12v again. I took everything off each time before they towed it so they didn’t catch any aftermarket parts.

I’m convinced that it must have something to do with unhooking one of the terminals. Not sure why that would drain the 12v but that’s all I can think of. Must be a fail safe of some sort.

That being said realwheelsev has been super helpful and responsive. They sent me a second horn to see if it was actually the horn (which I highly doubt since it hardly draws anything from the battery) and they’re also send me a new connector to connect it to the spare pole on the top middle of the right side of the battery. I can update once everything comes in and get around to installing.

Did you unhook any of the terminals during your installs though? I'm 99% sure I didn't.

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