Service 12V battery system immediately error. - Replaced faulty 12V sensor.

[Mike Hunt]

I got the “Service 12V Battery” warning on my ‘22 R1T after 13 months of the previous 12V battery replacement. Mobile came out and replaced the batteries under warranty.

About a week later the light came on again. So I made another appointment this time going to the service center because they wanted to do a diagnosis.

Brought it in last a Thursday and they kept it over the weekend.

The low voltage diagnosis ($540) discovered that the 12V battery sensory was defective so they replace it. Part costs $85.00. I kept the defective part for my records.

The batteries that were replaced the previous week remained In the truck.

Total cost was $455.00

Just wanted to record this for posterity because I haven’t noticed any 12V battery sensory replacements.

First and last pics of the sensors and where they are on the battery. Middle pic is of the sensor. Almond for scale.

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[Steve A.]

Just wanted to record this for posterity because I haven’t noticed any 12V battery sensory replacements.

First and last pics of the sensors and where they are on the battery. Middle pic is of the sensor. Almond for scale.

Did they call it a sensor or control module on your invoice?

After the 3rd service call in less than a month due to replace 12V notifications, they finally replaced the Central Gateway Module on my 2023 R1S since they said it was reporting the wrong voltage levels after keeping it for over 2 weeks total during the 3 service calls for monitoring and eventual part order.

This last failure was while plugged into a L1 charger at the Dulles International Airport parking garage for 10 days while I was out of the country only to fly back and find it dead as a doornail on a frigid Sunday evening in January.

Fun times waiting 90 mins for the 1st tow truck to arrive who only had a booster pack that was good enough to open the doors and frunk but not disconnect the L1 charger and then waiting another 90 minutes for the next tow truck with jumper cables and enough cranking amps to release the L1 charger and then demonstrate how to put a 7k+ lbs R1S on skates to tow it out of the garage that was too low for a flatbed.

FWIW that was after my original R1S 12V failed after 8 months and after they had replaced that one 13 months later during the 12V campaign which was less than 8 months before the 1st of the 3 service calls above. SMH

 

[Mike Hunt]

Did they call it a sensor or control module on your invoice?

After the 3rd service call in less than a month due to replace 12V notifications, they finally replaced the Central Gateway Module on my 2023 R1S since they said it was reporting the wrong voltage levels after keeping it for over 2 weeks total during the 3 service calls for monitoring and eventual part order.

This last failure was while plugged into a L1 charger at the Dulles International Airport parking garage for 10 days while I was out of the country only to fly back and find it dead as a doornail on a frigid Sunday evening in January.

Fun times waiting 90 mins for the 1st tow truck to arrive who only had a booster pack that was good enough to open the doors and frunk but not disconnect the L1 charger and then waiting another 90 minutes for the next tow truck with jumper cables and enough cranking amps to release the L1 charger and then demonstrate how to put a 7k+ lbs R1S on skates to tow it out of the garage that was too low for a flatbed.

FWIW that was after my original R1S 12V failed after 8 months and after they had replaced that one 13 months later during the 12V campaign which was less than 8 months before the 1st of the 3 service calls above. SMH

 

[Mike Hunt]

Just a follow up the 12v battery warning came on again.

Looks like the $540.00 Low Voltage Electrical General Diagnostic did absolutely nothing.

Changing the Sensor, 12 Battery intelligent Secondary did nothing.

My guess was the batteries were replaced with another pair of faulty batteries.

Unfortunately, the service didn’t replace the “new” batteries and now it’s completely failed.

My wife and son were stranded about 1.5 hours away at a Lacrosse Tournament as the Truck couldn’t get into drive. Had to let it sleep for 1.5 hours then could get it into drive.

They stopped to do some shopping on the way home thinking the truck was better but it again wouldn’t go into drive and now the whole left side of the truck is not working.

I had to pick them up, luckily they were very close to home.

Made a service request to bring it in again.

I’ll go back to see if the sleep trick worked again. Fingers crossed.

 

[Mike Hunt]

Well the truck got bricked had to get it towed.

The truck once bricked needs to be dragged onto a flatbed truck.

 

[ksujeff99]

That is so frustrating. Good on you for documenting it here to share with others. And doing so NOT IN ALL CAPS!

As someone who also owns an out-of-warranty 2022 R1T, this scares the hell out of me. I like to think that these early VIN growing pains are behind me. Then reading something like this makes me think that all the luck I’ve had with this vehicle could suddenly be replaced with the opposite. Yeah, selection bias and all that…

Still the best vehicle I’ve owned, and mine is Compass Yellow, so I plan to keep it for many more years.

 

[Mike Hunt]

Yes it’s a great vehicle. My Wife loves it but now she has the fear that it will not be reliable to drive our kids when going to tournaments etc. If the service center did the right thing and just test and replace the defective installed batteries we would be ok. But knowing that the truck will brick with no warning when one of the 12V batteries fails is unsettling.

As it is this 12V battery replacement for $800 every three years looms over the truck like Damocles sword.

 

[ksujeff99]

I replaced both my batteries with Ohmmu a while back. And the experience has been just so-so. The lithium replacements started throwing a 12v error (due to how their voltage differed from what the truck expected with the AGM batteries) which caused the truck to never sleep. But the sodium replacements have been perfect for a while now. Supposedly they handle deep discharges better than lead acid so the hope is they last longer and won’t have a sudden failure.

 

[NY_Rob]

Supposedly they handle deep discharges better than lead acid so the hope is they last longer and won’t have a sudden failure.

And they have their own BMS which prevents the whole battery and or any particular cell in the battery from going below a low voltage cutoff level which the lead acid batteries do not have. The vehicle can have a problem where it drains the 12 volt battery, but it's BMS will just isolate the battery once it reaches the low voltage cutoff level preventing damage to the battery.

 

[Mike Hunt]

I replaced both my batteries with Ohmmu a while back. And the experience has been just so-so. The lithium replacements started throwing a 12v error (due to how their voltage differed from what the truck expected with the AGM batteries) which caused the truck to never sleep. But the sodium replacements have been perfect for a while now. Supposedly they handle deep discharges better than lead acid so the hope is they last longer and won’t have a sudden failure.

Where do I get the sodium batteries you mentioned?

Thanks.

 

[forestwalker]

Where do I get the sodium batteries you mentioned?

Thanks.

As someone who just got this warning last night for the first time, I would very much like to know this as well... I am considering just replacing myself after setting up a service appointment and being told they cant do it mobile because the work requires the use of a lift, in the shop, which from what I understand is complete horsepoop.?

 

[NY_Rob]

Where do I get the sodium batteries you mentioned?

Thanks.

As someone who just got this warning last night for the first time, I would very much like to know this as well...

https://www.ohmmu.com/product-page/compatible-with-rivian-r1s-r1t-single-or-dual-sodium-12v-battery

 

[WhidbeyIsland]

I haven't seen any 12v warning messages yet.. but the SC called me last night and said Rivian wants to proactively replace a 12v component.. I'm guessing it's this 12v sensor...

my question... I have 33K miles on my 2.5 year old (Nov, 2023) Gen1 R1T... should I have them replace the 12v battery at the same time?

I've been nervously waiting for the battery to fail while I am out and about.. thinking this stress reliever action might be worth the cost... thoughts?

 

[forestwalker]

I haven't seen any 12v warning messages yet.. but the SC called me last night and said Rivian wants to proactively replace a 12v component.. I'm guessing it's this 12v sensor...

my question... I have 33K miles on my 2.5 year old (Nov, 2023) Gen1 R1T... should I have them replace the 12v battery at the same time?

I've been nervously waiting for the battery to fail while I am out and about.. thinking this stress reliver action might be worth the cost... thoughts?

Mine is also a NOV 23 build date, odd.

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