Tutorial / DIY Guide - Installing 12v Outlet in Frunk

[shift4]

Back in April, @rhuber posted a thread about adding a 12v plug back in the frunk. Kudos to him for finding the same wiring harness that Rivian uses to wire the frunk lighting and what used to be for the original 12v plug that got discontinued. I mentioned in that thread that I intended to write a tutorial to help guide anyone through the process of installing a 12v in their R1T, and I am finally getting around to doing so. I apologize that it took so long, but until now I did not have a need for the 12v plug. My intended use for the 12v is with the W[=0===0=]TR 12 gallon frunk water tank with sprayer by @BoxGods, which I received a few days ago.

Items you will need to purchase for the installation:

• Wiring Harness from AliExpress (all we need is two of the female terminals, but I don't know anywhere else to get them. You only need the female set.)
• 12v outlet replacement (the one I purchased is similar to this one, although mine has 16 gauge wires, but 14 gauge should work even if a little bulky)
• 16 gauge or 14 gauge tinned copper wire (Match the gauge of wire that comes with your 12v outlet)
• Trim clips (optional, but there is a chance you might break a few like I did when removing the panel covers surrounding the frunk tub)

Tools you will need for the installation

• Wire stripper/crimper
• Insulated wire connectors
• Electrical tape
• Trim removal tool (optional, but makes the job easier and less likely you will break any clips)
• 10mm socket wrench/driver (to remove the bolts holding in the frunk tub)
• Needle nose pliers
• Zip-ties

I BEAR NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY DAMAGE YOU MAY DO TO YOUR TRUCK OR YOUR PERSON! Set aside at least a few hours to do the installation when you don't need the truck for anything important.

Installations steps:

1. The first thing you should do is check to see if your truck has the necessary wiring from the 12v battery to the harness that connects to the frunk. I imagine that they will stop including this on new builds at some point if they have not already. In order to do this, you need to remove the trim piece next to the funk on the driver's side. There is a hook that connects the two panel pieces at the outside corner, and the locations of the trim clips can be seen in the picture below.
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2. Next, look for the harness that connects the lighting in the frunk, it should look like the picture below. If you have the necessary wiring for a 12v outlet, you should see the same pink wire that is in my photo (there should be 4 wires total connected to the female side of the harness).
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3. At this point, we can disconnect the harness using needle nose pliers. Depress the latch at the top and pull apart.
4. Next, remove the green clip from the connector leading to the frunk tub. I used a paper clip to do this.
   • 
5. Using a paper clip again (or toothpick), push out the two blue rubber stoppers in the corners opposite of the wires already connected. Do this from the other side of the connector.
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6. Prepare the new wires that you are going to insert into the harness by first putting on the yellow rubber seals, then stripping the wires, then crimping on the female terminals. Do this for both red (positive) and black (negative) wires. I left the wires about 6 feet long so I had plenty of slack to work with.
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7. Once you've connected the terminals, you can insert the new wires into the harness connector. Make sure that you are aligning the red wire on the male connector to the pink wire on the female side and same for the black wire. You will hear a "click" when the terminals are correctly seated. Put the green clip back in at this point as well.
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8. Now that you have the harness wired, it is time to remove the frunk tub. I realize this sounds like a very intimidating task, but it is honestly not that difficult aside from just getting the trim panels off to access the bolts. There are 6 bolts in total you will need to remove, here is a thread with more details.
9. Once you have the frunk tub out, snip the zip-ties holding the wiring running from the harness to the tub (these will be replaced later). Pull out the rubber seal connected to the tub and start removing the several layers of electrical tape wrapped around the existing wires where they meet the rubber seal. Once you've removed most of the bulk, you can add your new wires and wrap it all back up in new electrical tape. I also wrapped the new wires along the whole length running to the harness. Feed the wires into the frunk tub and reattach the rubber seal (pop out the light to reach the wires from the other side).
   • 
10. You can either reattach the wires along the edge of the tub with new zip-ties now or do this at the end.
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11. Now that the new wires are feeding into the frunk tub properly, we can attach the 12v outlet. Strip the wires and use your connector of choice. I prefer the heat shrinking connectors. I also measured and cut out a portion of the tub to seat the 12v outlet (it may not look OEM, but that is a tradeoff I am fine with to have two outlets). Make sure you do this above the light and contained within the protruding box on the outside of the tub!
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12. That's it! Stuff the wires into the protruding box, snap back in the light and reinstall the tub. Make sure you reconnect the harnesses on both sides and you should now have a working 12v plug in your frunk!

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[rhuber]

Well done! Thanks for taking the time to write up a comprehensive tutorial to help others!

 

[vordo]

Excellent! I’ve gotten my tank and am look at the fridge so this is a must.

 

[shift4]

Excellent! I’ve gotten my tank and am look at the fridge so this is a must.

I'm signed up for the cooler/freezer as well, which is why I wanted two outlets in the frunk .

 

[Nine_One_Six_R1S]

Excellent Post!! I am sure this will help when the time comes.

 

[Sonartech]

Just to add to the fine details here - The frunk OEM connector used in question is a Sumitomo 6185-5181 that uses Sumitomo 8240-0265 Female Terminals. The wire plugs (water seals) you need will depend on the gauge of wire you end up using, obviously. Getting the seal size right with the wire gauge + insulation thickness can be tricky - AWG is not dictated by insulation thickness, it is strictly wire gauge, so you can end up with some 14 or 16AWG wire that has really thick insulation that will actually not work well with these wire seals. Best to measure the wire you're actually using for this mod to make sure you get the correct wire seal - trying to stuff an undersized wire seal into the connector body is a brutal pain in the ass.

Also, I get my parts for this connector from ConnectorID.com because it's US-based and has fast shipping. Here's the parts I ordered for my last Frunk update:

I ordered several different wire seal sizes because I had different projects to do - you don't need all of these parts if you're doing this modification, obviously.

• The light blue seal is CID1307 and is for 18, 20 or 22AWG wire, max insulation 1.0-2.2mm
• The blue seal is CIDJ012 and is a plug for unused connector ports
• The purple seal is CID1299 and is for 14, 16 and 18AWG wire, max insulation 1.8-2.7mm
• The green seal is CID1140 and is for 14, 16 and 18AWG wire, max insulation 2.0-3.0mm
• There is also an orange wire seal available, part number CID1005 for 18 and 20AWG wire with a max insulation of 1.6-2.3mm
• The female terminals (aka 'pins') you'll need are CID204-2.3-FS3 for the Sumitomo RS090 series connector. I doubt anyone wants to spend $218 on the crimper for these, so you'll probably just want to carefully hand-crimp the wires and add a very conservative amount of solder to ensure a good connection. WARNING: If you do add solder, you must make absolutely certain that you don't allow solder to wick into the terminal wireway at all, or the terminal is ruined and will need to be replaced.
• The 12V socket I use is from Amazon, but it's a bear to install because it's threaded, and means you have to thread the nut onto the socket from inside the light cavity. It thoroughly sucks donkey ass trying to get it installed, but it looks great once it's in there. I get PTSD thinking about the amount of time I spent trying to use 1 finger to align the nut onto the socket and hold it in place while I turned the socket to tighten it. The reason I like this one is because the wires are injection molded into the socket body as opposed to a screw & nut that is exposed and could come loose. I cut off the inline fuse and the hoop terminals, obviously - the socket is already fused by the Rivian. Also note that this is one of those cases where the 14AWG wire has brutally thick insulation that won't play nice with the wire seals listed above, so you'll either have to strip off more than enough to allow entrance into the connector body (plus wire seal) and replace that extra thick insulation with a thinner waterproof heat shrink tubing - then slide the wire seal over that and stuff that into the connector housing.

 

[Curt]

Thanks OP for the tutorial and Sonartech for the link to the items!

I've opened mine up, took the frunk out and realized I didn't want to tap into the main harness, so waiting for female connectors from AliExpress.

I also noticed that there's only room to install the 12v outlet where the protruding box is, so I would have to remove the existing adhesive, drill a hole, then lock from inside where the box was. Silicone adhesive would be needed to put that box back. I wasn't thinking of reusing the existing line, but I guess that may be the safest route to keep it weather resistant.

Do we know if the circuit from the other 2 pins are powered constantly when vehicle is running and/or on outlet mode?

Do we need to buy an addl female connector, or can we just buy the silicone wire seal and 2 of the tin plated terminal?

I'm currently waiting on the connectors, silicone adhesive, and spiral drill bit to pierce the ceiling right above the frunk light

 

[Sonartech]

The frunk tub already has the mating connector you can use (to power the tub lights). You just need to pop out the water plug seals and put your wires into the appropriate positions. I am assuming Rivian hasn't yet tinkered with that side of the wiring harness and that 12V is still routed to the vehicle-side connector. Obviously check that first! At some point Rivian will likely optimize the harness and remove this circuit making this a much bigger pain in the ass to add.

 

[shift4]

Just to add to the fine details here - The frunk OEM connector used in question is a Sumitomo 6185-5181 that uses Sumitomo 8240-0265 Female Terminals.

Appreciate the links, good to have different options to purchase from .

Do we know if the circuit from the other 2 pins are powered constantly when vehicle is running and/or on outlet mode?

The harness is only provided power when outlets are turned on under the energy menu, it is not constantly running power. Similar to the 12v plug in the gear tunnel.

 

[dinosaurkun]

one of the forum members who noted that existing wiring on the frunk harness linked these. the yellow plugs and crimp terminals might be easier to source from Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/ZUOZE-Connector-Waterproof-Electrical-Automotive/dp/B08ZYRNDKR

 

[Curt]

one of the forum members who noted that existing wiring on the frunk harness linked these. the yellow plugs and crimp terminals might be easier to source from Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/ZUOZE-Connector-Waterproof-Electrical-Automotive/dp/B08ZYRNDKR

Thank you! Looks like I'll use the existing harnesses with these seals and crimp connectors! I wonder if I could still cancel the plugs from AliExpress I ordered last week D;

Appreciate the links, good to have different options to purchase from .
The harness is only provided power when outlets are turned on under the energy menu, it is not constantly running power. Similar to the 12v plug in the gear tunnel.

Interesting, cause I'm certain I've used a circuit light/tester on one of the alternative hot pins while the frunk was open and it had power while vehicle wasn't in drive, maybe it was on as the Frunk was on too or if I instead tapped into the frunk light pin, but good to know that it'd be powered with the energy/outlet setting!.

 

[No_moab]

Thanks guys for detail write up for adding 12v plug in frunk, which for me was great disappointment to see it removed.

We can improvise and add it back what Rivian deleted without much difficulty.

However, there are couple of questions I remains hope some Wiseman can enlight me.

1. Reason for removal. Cooler over heating?-hell no. Cost saving- hope they did not removed functionality for mere few bucks

2. How will this new plug that many are eager to connect coolers in the frunk will impact the 12v battery. I can't find any information on the 12v battery- how it gets maintained, charged, monitored, etc. If it runs on typical 12v car battery, running cooler for couple of days stationary will kill the battery for sure, or if will safe guard to disconnect then you will find the content perished. Or the 12v battery will never die some how?

3. Is there a way to control this 12v plugs on/off from software like 120v plug

Thanks in advance!

 

[IGR]

Thanks for the great description.
I'm curious if anyone knows the fuse on that line?
And is it ignition controlled, or hot at all times?

Thanks

 

[Sonartech]

Thanks for the great description.
I'm curious if anyone knows the fuse on that line?
And is it ignition controlled, or hot at all times?

Thanks

Behavior: https://www.rivianforums.com/forum/...talling-12v-outlet-in-frunk.21045/post-429875

Fuse boxes: https://www.rivianforums.com/forum/threads/interior-passenger-side-fuse-box.8397/post-241602

Not sure if it's Driver's side box F46 or F51, however, but it is fused.

 

[Curt]

Thank you for this guide! Finally got around to doing it (2nd attempt) after ordering some of the material you mentioned such as the terminal / harness pins:

Since I opened up the junction box I also had to get black adhesive to stick the box back together (and hope is still weatherproof) and a step drill bit for the hole.

In retrospect I should've bought the correct terminal crimp instead of hacking the terminals together using pliers because it made it harder to fit in the harness for that 'click'.

Also missing a plastic clip or two when I had to put it back together

Hope it lasts the life of the truck cause I wouldn't want to do it all over again!

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