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

[HyperionMark]

Car is better than the tent and hung from a tree is better than the car. We've never had problems keeping food properly stored in the car but I've seen some motorcycles and ATV's torn up that had some food stored in them. Food in the tent should never happen.

And I've always thought a proper car alarm would send a bear a runnin. I could be wrong though.

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[PowerBugs]

My name is blah-blah-blah and I suffer from VD (Vampire Drain, not the other kind thankfully ), on my late-2022 Gen 1 R1T.

A few months ago I was facing 15-16 miles lost per day (despite Gear Guard being disabled and proximity set to Lock Only at home) at one point. The service center replaced both my 12V and that helped a bit but still didn't quite solve it fully. I was still seeing 8-10 miles lost per day. I then realized that Lock Only at home doesn't really mean Lock Only and that the frunk and gear tunnel doors are still proximity-sensitive.

So I then turned off proximity-based lock/unlock entirely and began only relying on my key fob (physical button presses) for lock/unlock as if I had teleported myself back to the 90s . With that, VD symptoms got much better but I was still losing 3-6 miles per day, even when ambient temperatures were in the 50s and 60s.

Having read numerous threads it was pretty apparent that periodic DC-to-DC conversion to charge the 12V was the primary issue causing VD. For instance:
https://rivianforums.com/forum/threads/gen-1-vampire-drain-possibly-solved-or-hacked.31506/

However, I couldn't bring myself to pry open panels, or hard wire stuff to my relatively new (at least in my mind ) truck. I was hoping there to be a plug-n-play option, given that Rivian clearly wasn't going to ever fix this issue for good.

I decided to try and stand on the shoulders of giants when I specifically noticed the below post from @Tim-in-CA :
https://www.rivianforums.com/forum/threads/trickle-charge-12-volt.36052/post-659940

The OBD port was clearly the plug-n-play option I was looking for!

However, I have a few wilderness camping trips coming up, where I'd like to have minimal to no loss due to a total lack of charging options and since a plugged in battery tender wouldn't work. So I began exploring solar options, particularly those where I could keep the panel inside the vehicle.

After debating a few options I settled on a 30W panel, given that multiple modern ICE vehicle owners were happy with a 20 W panel, and I assume Rivians had to be drawing quite a bit more out of their 12V systems during idle versus modern ICE vehicles.

With the below two solutions, I've been testing both at night (garaged) and during the day (parked outside) for the past 3-4 days in 50-60 degree ambient temperatures and I've noticed minimal to zero lost miles during idle periods. My windshield is tinted to pass through 70% of light, and the solar panel seems to be charging the 12V even during cloudy or partly sunny days.

Garaged/Indoor/Nighttime Solution:

3-amp Tender:
https://www.amazon.com/Deltran-Battery-Tender-Power-Plus/dp/B016S7NHWQ

+

OBD adapter:
https://www.amazon.com/Battery-Tender-081-0154-DL-Connector-Maintainers/dp/B007KJ2RZK

Camping/Outdoor/Daytime Solution:
30 Watt MPPT Solar Panel:
https://a.co/d/f2J3cSJ

+

OBD adapter:
https://www.amazon.com/Battery-Tender-081-0154-DL-Connector-Maintainers/dp/B007KJ2RZK

Money wasn't ever the primary object in all of this, but for the sake of completeness, the three parts above cost me around $170 and I expect them to pay themselves off in under a year.

Also, both the options above take under a minute to plug in and similarly long to take off, meaning that I'm able to use them similar to how I might've plugged in my truck. In fact, I'm now plugging in the battery tender instead of the EVSE (which I'd previously plug in every other day or so even though I didn't need to, just so I wouldn't "notice" the VD loss). Now I plan to plug in the 12V tender daily and use the EVSE when it is actually needed for the HV (say once a week).

Just to be clear, I'm not saying this is the best overall solution. I'm just saying that it is the most convenient I've found so far. I don't know what the long-term implications of this solution would be, but I imagine there might be some, so I'd be curious to hear any thoughts. Could I damage my OBD port due to the daily/repeated plug
-in and plug-out for instance? Will I be shortening the life of my 12V batteries? etc. Let me know!

Pictures (as otherwise it didn't happen ):

3-amp Tender:

OBD connector (this fits into the driver under-seat storage bin for quick access BTW):

30-watt solar panel that rests on the dash and tucks in neatly behind A pillar, with no additional mounting needed:

MPPT unit behind the solar panel, which shows how much charge the 12V has, and blinks when charging:

Bookmarking for future reference.
Thanks for the informative write up.

 

[PowerBugs]

Car is better than the tent and hung from a tree is better than the car. We've never had problems keeping food properly stored in the car but I've seen some motorcycles and ATV's torn up that had some food stored in them. Food in the tent should never happen.

I was told by my kid that her classmate had a new R1S, went to Tahoe, and their new R1S got broken into by a bear because they had food inside.

 

[smokeybear32]

In garage it is strictly an energy savings. If you plug in 12v via trickle charging the R1 sleeps longer and doesn't wake up all systems to power up the HV pack to top off the 12v battery. If you plug in normally it wakes everything up and burns more juice to top off the 12v.
So some electrical savings with the trickle (calculated in some other post linked earlier) to be had but both are good options for long term garage storage if worried about running low.

Well. My total vampire drain amounts to around 6 miles/night at most. So if I get 2 miles/kWh, that means I’m losing 3 kWh a night. And given that I’m paying $.12 per kWh… we're talking 36 cents a day. I'm probably wasting more energy than that staring into the refrigerator trying to decide what to eat. And I’m certainly wasting more by not driving very efficiently (starting too quick, etc).

I’m not here to tell anyone else what to do about this, but I’m not going to concern myself with it that much.

 

[SSteveEV]

I was told by my kid that her classmate had a new R1S, went to Tahoe, and their new R1S got broken into by a bear because they had food inside.

Well what's the darn point of the retractable handles then?? /s

Yosemite used to have a nice example of cars with the doors peeled open by bears. Now they probably just tweet videos of bears snacking shotgun.

 

[Sempervirens]

I was told by my kid that her classmate had a new R1S, went to Tahoe, and their new R1S got broken into by a bear because they had food inside.

Closing the bear discussion out, my campsite (Pinnacles NP) only had raccoons, and yes I agree, bear bag is best.

 

[Tim-in-CA]

Well. My total vampire drain amounts to around 6 miles/night at most. So if I get 2 miles/kWh, that means I’m losing 3 kWh a night. And given that I’m paying $.12 per kWh… we're talking 36 cents a day. I'm probably wasting more energy than that staring into the refrigerator trying to decide what to eat. And I’m certainly wasting more by not driving very efficiently (starting too quick, etc).

I’m not here to tell anyone else what to do about this, but I’m not going to concern myself with it that much.

It all really depends on where you live. Electricity cost in So Cal is >3x what you are paying, so over the course of a month it really starts to add up and is ultimately wasteful. For me, using your 3kWH/night number (which is similar to what I was seeing), you are talking almost $400/yr in wasted energy. Not very eco-friendly of Rivian IMHO.

And if I use the price of gas in my area (Costco is typically the cheapest) at $4.09/gal, the VD is equivalent to an ICE vehicle leaking almost 100 gallons of gas a year. I don't think that any ICE vehicle owner would stand for that kind of loss.

 

[Herb]

It all really depends on where you live. Electricity cost in So Cal is >3x what you are paying, so over the course of a month it really starts to add up and is ultimately wasteful. For me, using your 3kWH/night number (which is similar to what I was seeing), you are talking almost $400/yr in wasted energy. Not very eco-friendly of Rivian IMHO.

And if I use the price of gas in my area (Costco is typically the cheapest) at $4.09/gal, the VD is equivalent to an ICE vehicle leaking almost 100 gallons of gas a year. I don't think that any ICE vehicle owner would stand for that kind of loss.

Totally agree, it's unacceptable. If Rivian would have sprung for a larger capacity 12V battery they wouldn't have to endure the abuse over this issue.

 

[Woo]

Well. My total vampire drain amounts to around 6 miles/night at most. So if I get 2 miles/kWh, that means I’m losing 3 kWh a night. And given that I’m paying $.12 per kWh… we're talking 36 cents a day. I'm probably wasting more energy than that staring into the refrigerator trying to decide what to eat. And I’m certainly wasting more by not driving very efficiently (starting too quick, etc).

I’m not here to tell anyone else what to do about this, but I’m not going to concern myself with it that much.

You're totally right about the cost, but sometimes, if you're out away from civilization or in civilization but can't plug in somewhere (like my mom's house) then have this thing keep you from losing charge unnecessarily would be a nice thing.

For me this isn't about cost, it's really a cool nexus of cool dude worked out something cool, totally unnecessary answer, over engineering a solution to something that is only occasionally a real problem, fixing something that shouldn't have to be fixed and having the ingenuity to do it ourselves without waiting for Rivian to deal with it and just interesting. All of these things appeal to me. The cost, yeah I'm totally with you, not a factor.

 

[JonW716]

This is so crazy that the drain is still not addressed. Rivian has to step up their game and fix the "annoyances". I have been lurking and reading threads since I sold my truck in hopes that they get all their issues ironed out. It's just silly that they can't fix the excessive drain issues.

 

[Herb]

For R1T: Someone should design a foldable tonneau cover made of PV material and combine it with a charging system with a separate LiFePo 12V battery that could live in the compartment where the OEM cover stacks. This battery would be connected to a relay that closes at a voltage before the DC/DC charger kicks in (I think around 12.6V) and disconnects when the charging voltage reaches 13Vor so. The tonneau cover area could easily support 200W, which would be enough to charge the auxiliary battery to > 14V to cover VD over a 24hr period on many days. This would also extend the life of the 12V battery.

 

[UnsungZero_OldTimeAdMan]

For R1T: Someone should design a foldable tonneau cover made of PV material and combine it with a charging system with a separate LiFePo 12V battery that could live in the compartment where the OEM cover stacks. This battery would be connected to a relay that closes at a voltage before the DC/DC charger kicks in (I think around 12.6V) and disconnects when the charging voltage reaches 13Vor so. The tonneau cover area could easily support 200W, which would be enough to charge the auxiliary battery to > 14V to cover VD over a 24hr period on many days. This would also extend the life of the 12V battery.

Like this vaporware? https://electrek.co/2024/10/10/rivian-r1t-solar-powered-tonneau-cover/

 

[DayTripping]

Well. My total vampire drain amounts to around 6 miles/night at most. So if I get 2 miles/kWh, that means I’m losing 3 kWh a night. And given that I’m paying $.12 per kWh… we're talking 36 cents a day. I'm probably wasting more energy than that staring into the refrigerator trying to decide what to eat. And I’m certainly wasting more by not driving very efficiently (starting too quick, etc).

I’m not here to tell anyone else what to do about this, but I’m not going to concern myself with it that much.

Your energy is a lot cheaper than in many places. For me, the difference based on my VD rate will buy me a new tire every year compared to how much my 3 Teslas put together lose.

The principle that a company so focused on ecology could have such losses doesn't really sit well with me. Practically, it can be an issue if I have to leave my truck at the airport for a few weeks.

 

[Herb]

Like this vaporware? https://electrek.co/2024/10/10/rivian-r1t-solar-powered-tonneau-cover/

Yeah, like that, except it has to store away (with something else than photo editing software)

 

[gultin]

Well. My total vampire drain amounts to around 6 miles/night at most. So if I get 2 miles/kWh, that means I’m losing 3 kWh a night. And given that I’m paying $.12 per kWh… we're talking 36 cents a day. I'm probably wasting more energy than that staring into the refrigerator trying to decide what to eat. And I’m certainly wasting more by not driving very efficiently (starting too quick, etc).

I’m not here to tell anyone else what to do about this, but I’m not going to concern myself with it that much.

To each their own, obviously. From my experience those who are bothered by vampire drain are typically bothered due to one or more of the following:
A. Camping out in the boonies for a week or two, and losing 6 mpd can mean the difference between making or not making it to the nearest charger. Rivians are an absolute dream to camp with, and if VD were to be addressed, that can open a lot of territory for such users.

B. We all know we don't drive the most efficient (drivetrain/mpkwh wise) EV out there, but at least we get utility for the price we pay for that inefficiency. However, VD hurts energy conscious owners especially hard, simply because it is wasted energy doing practically nothing!

C. Money. This may be a small or big issue for folks, depending on the person, where they live etc.

D. Just the challenge of being able to identify a problem and coming up with a practical solution tickles the noodle for some.

My primary motivations were A, B and D. The C was just a bonus!

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