Vampire Drain Fix: How to solve in under a minute (indoor or outdoor)

[Herb]

As SteveEV said most 12v connections turn off when the vehicle sleeps. The whole point of the tender is to let the vehicle sleep.

So the OBD is always on, obviously a direct connection to the batter is always on. Does anyone know of any other 12v place that are always hot? All of the 12v power sockets turn off, the trailer hitch turns off, the jumpers by the trailer hitch turn off.

I went down this rabbit hole a while ago. The 12V outlet in the gear tunnel can be off-delayed by 72 hrs in the "Outlets" setting. If I recall correctly, the setting resets every time the vehicle is turned, making this pretty unpractical for a day-to-day solution, but might be helpful for a camping situation.

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[gultin]

Curious about this update in 2025.10 and if anyone has seen an improvement in VD from this?

 

[Sempervirens]

Quick update: In shipping mode 7 full days on Battery Tender

• 0 VD per Electrafi/Rivian App
• Extremely few wakes/idles
• No miles lost
• 1.94kWh consumed by BT
• 0.275kWh per day ($0.11 per day)

Will provide final numbers on Monday when I return, but it has trended in the best possible way for periods I will be away. Over this period I would have likely lost 10-15kWh (20-30mi)

 

[mudito]

Curious about this update in 2025.10 and if anyone has seen an improvement in VD from this?

Interesting...
I doubt that VD will be reduced by analyzing that sentence alone. I would assume that if the vehicle detects a low state of health on the 12V battery, it will shut down some functions (think shipping mode) to conserve 12V power. This will also reduce the strain in the DC-to-DC 12V battery charging circuit, which should (in theory) reduce the risks of a bricked R1 in the end.

Interesting indeed

 

[MacO512]

Quick update: In shipping mode 7 full days on Battery Tender

• 0 VD per Electrafi/Rivian App
• Extremely few wakes/idles
• No miles lost
• 1.94kWh consumed by BT
• 0.275kWh per day ($0.11 per day)

Will provide final numbers on Monday when I return, but it has trended in the best possible way for periods I will be away. Over this period I would have likely lost 10-15kWh (20-30mi)

Very impressive. Do you have gen1 dual battery, single battery, or gen2?

 

[MacO512]

Interesting...
I doubt that VD will be reduced by analyzing that sentence alone. I would assume that if the vehicle detects a low state of health on the 12V battery, it will shut down some functions (think shipping mode) to conserve 12V power. This will also reduce the strain in the DC-to-DC 12V battery charging circuit, which should (in theory) reduce the risks of a bricked R1 in the end.

Interesting indeed

Yeah I read that update to only apply when the 12v either is failing or just on a low charge, so wouldn't apply to fully charged good health 12v. Who knows though

 

[Sempervirens]

Anyone see a risk to running the latest update while on BT?

I can turn off BT remotely.

Might just wait

 

[Tim-in-CA]

Anyone see a risk to running the latest update while on BT?

I can turn off BT remotely.

Might just wait

I've updated several times with the Battery Tender connected, haven't experienced any issues.

 

[MacO512]

Anyone see a risk to running the latest update while on BT?

I can turn off BT remotely.

Might just wait

No - I don't see any risk with the tender.

 

[mudito]

Anyone see a risk to running the latest update while on BT?

I can turn off BT remotely.

Might just wait

Go for it

 

[Sempervirens]

Final results...during away period:
2023 R1S 25.10.1, 13k miles at time of experiment
BT plugged in, shipping Mode on. Single 12V, replaced in Q4 2024

Numbers via electrafi.

Period away with: April 5 - 7am through April 13 - 10am
Battery start: 86.09%
Battery end: 85.90%

VD: 260Wh
BT total use: 2.2kWh

8 days would typically drain 1-2kWh/day
Best case savings using BT: 14kWh

Added note:
I am having issues with the car not sleeping while at home, causing VD while on Battery Tender. We have 2 Pixel 9 Pro' XL's with PAAK on, doors locked, proximity & Gear Guard off. Open to feedback, but we sort of need PAAK for our routines.

Example from last night, with BT attached/active: 0.71kWh loss in 8 hrs.

 

[mudito]

Final results...during away period:
2023 R1S 25.10.1, 13k miles at time of experiment
BT plugged in, shipping Mode on. Single 12V, replaced in Q4 2024

Numbers via electrafi.

Period away with: April 5 - 7am through April 13 - 10am
Battery start: 86.09%
Battery end: 85.90%

VD: 260Wh
BT total use: 2.2kWh

8 days would typically drain 1-2kWh/day
Best case savings using BT: 14kWh

Added note:
I am having issues with the car not sleeping while at home, causing VD while on Battery Tender. We have 2 Pixel 9 Pro' XL's with PAAK on, doors locked, proximity & Gear Guard off. Open to feedback, but we sort of need PAAK for our routines.

Example from last night, with BT attached/active: 0.71kWh loss in 8 hrs.

If my Phone is nearby the garage, the truck will wake inevitably. So what I do is I turn off Nearby Devices for the Rivian app in the android (Long press in the app, info, and permissions, remove Nearby Devices). That will effectively DISABLE PaaK (while keeping all other app functions) but it will avoid the truck waking up. Even if Proximity Lock is disabled, this holds true.

You can try disabling bluetooth on your phone if you don't use it too much for other things with the same result, but its easier to enable/disable when PaaK is needed.

 

[Sempervirens]

We are in an urban setting and live on top of the R1 as it is.

Ok will give this a shot. Mildly annoying, but I suppose we do carry our Card Keys in our wallet, and as long as I can use the app buttons and features, I could live with this.

Does the Gen 1 Key Fob do this too? It was at home during my period away, and the car didn't have trouble sleeping.

Now to decide if I tell the wife, or just force her phone into disabled PAAK mode.

I truly think there should be a HARD sleep option in cab, once pressed it doesn't wake until I re-enter cabin.

 

[mudito]

Ok will give this a shot. Mildly annoying, but I suppose we do carry our Card Keys in our wallet, and as long as I can use the app buttons and features, I could live with this.

Now to decide if I tell the wife, or just force her phone into disabled PAAK mode.

I did it on both (my wife has an iPhone; you need to disable Bluetooth Access from the App Settings in iPhone) to avoid having the truck wake up when she walks into the Garage (or Kitchen... or living room ). She rarely drives the R1, but she knows how to re-enable it in case she needs it.

I personally have been using the key fob for this reason.

 

[bbonkk]

Here is my back of the napkin calculations for the the 3 EVs in my household. None have been driven for the last nine days while I was working on the house. Numerous times I walked by all the different vehicles. So it’s been pretty much even Keel for all of them. The Rivian was losing 9% over that nine days, the Tesla 3% and the Ford Lightning only 1 %. This says a lot about Ford having very little vampire drain. Even though I lost one percent I gained 4 miles in range probably because it recalculated and brought it back to around the 230 mile estimated range of the vehicle. I think the take away from this is the cost per year of the vampire drain. Rivian wastes about $12 a month in electricity and the Lightning is about $1 per month.

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