R1T Phantom Drain Solution Works

Rivian Mom · 2025-05-15T14:45:12+00:00

I've been using my phone's hotspot for months, and my Rivian connects to it automatically to run TuneIn and Spotify through the built-in apps on the main display. To be clear, this wasn’t Bluetooth streaming but actual phone data, and the apps worked perfectly without any issues. In Monday for the first time, I saw a Connect+ message pop up, even though the truck was linked to my phone’s data. I can still stream from my phone using Bluetooth, but the sound quality and user experience weren’t as good. This issue started between over-the-air software updates, though it might be tied to a specific date in the system. I tried a soft reset, but nothing changed. Has anyone heard if Rivian changed their policy on this? I remember Connect+ used to mention it provided "data" for streaming apps, suggesting you could use your own data instead. Now, it seems like you need Connect+ just to access the apps at all. I was surprised they allowed phone hotspots to work before, so this might be a deliberate change. I’m okay with paying for Connect+ if this isn’t just a temporary glitch. Any insights would be appreciated.

Vincent

Active Wheeler

Mar 8, 2025

After doing lots of online research as well watching youtube videos I was able to solve phantom/vampire battery drain easily.

I got a 12 volt battery tender, and an OBD3 port adaptor off amazon and leave it plugged in while the car is at home.

Instead of losing nearly 1.5kwh a night, the tender draws 1.6kwh.

Photos show the setup in my garage, the drain before and after from ElectriFi and a screenshot of my smart plug that measures throughput.

(The TL;DR reason is folks have found is is the 12 volt battery is too small to keep the rivian asleep all night so it drains and dies, then the rivian wakes up and runs all its electronics and computers out of sleep mode to recharge the 12 volt for 3 hours.)