Overlook

Keeping recordings when your Rivian sleeps: USB power and the Outlets timer

Updated · by the Overlook team at CTT Apps (about us)

Park a Rivian, walk away, and after a while it goes to sleep to save energy. When it does, it switches the console’s USB ports off. A plain USB drive doesn’t mind: it only needs power while the car is writing to it. Anything that has work to do after you park does mind, and the most common example is a device backing up the day’s recordings over Wi-Fi, like an Overlook Cache. This guide explains what happens, how to keep the ports on, and how to tell whether it’s working.

What happens when the car sleeps

Without the Outlets timer, USB power ends when the car sleeps. With it, power continues until the timer runs out.

For a device in the USB port, losing power is the same as having its plug pulled. A Raspberry Pi has no battery and no clock that keeps running while it’s off; it simply stops, wherever it was, and starts from scratch the next time the car wakes and powers the port.

How quickly a Rivian falls asleep after you park varies with the model, software version and what you have switched on. Don’t assume; measure it (see below).

The Outlets timer

Rivian’s answer is the Outlets setting under Energy → Outlets in the car. With the outlets timer on, the car keeps its outlets and USB ports powered for the time you set after it goes to sleep. That gives a plugged-in device a window to finish its work.

Keeping power flowing to the ports uses some of the battery, so it’s a trade-off. A Raspberry Pi itself draws only a few watts at most, but keeping the car’s power system awake to supply it costs extra. Set the timer as long as you need and no longer.

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How long is long enough?

For a backup device, the timer needs to cover the time it takes to upload what you recorded that day. That’s the size of the new recordings divided by your upload speed. Here’s the arithmetic for common upload speeds (the upload number from a speed test, not download):

New recordings10 Mbps up25 Mbps up50 Mbps up100 Mbps up
1 GB14 min6 min3 min2 min
5 GB67 min27 min14 min7 min
20 GB4.5 hours1.8 hours54 min27 min

One gigabyte is 8,000 megabits, so 1 GB at 10 Mbps is 800 seconds. Real uploads run somewhat slower than a speed test, and Wi-Fi in a garage is often weaker than indoors, so add a margin.

Gear Guard events, incidents and saved clips are short; drive recordings are far bigger, since every camera records the whole drive. That’s why the Overlook Cache backs up Gear Guard events and incidents first, newest first, and treats drives as optional: even a short timer gets the important footage out.

Make the most of a short window

What a cut-off does to a backup

Nothing is lost, it just waits. The Overlook Cache uploads each file whole or in 32 MiB parts, straight to storage, and keeps track of which parts arrived. When the car next powers it up, it carries on from the last finished part. The recording stays on the car’s drive meanwhile, so the only risk is the car recording over it before the Cache gets another chance, which a reasonable timer and a big enough drive make unlikely.

The Cache is also built to take the hit. Its store (the filesystem holding the car’s drive and snapshots) and the Pi’s system both recover from a sudden power loss, its own state files are written so that a cut leaves either the old version or the new one, and the store is checked and repaired at start-up if needed. With the car’s drive on an SSD, you can go further and run the Pi’s system read-only. See the Pi 5 and NVMe build.

See what your car actually does

Because every model and software version can behave differently, the Cache keeps count. Each time it starts, it notes whether it was a real power-on (the car powering the port) or just its own software restarting, by leaving a marker in a part of memory that’s wiped at every power-on. It also notes whether a backup was under way when the power last went: if the “backing up” flag is still set at the next start, the power was cut mid-upload.

There’s a catch the Cache has to work around: with no clock running while it’s off, it doesn’t know what day it is until it reaches the internet. So it holds each power-on aside until the time is set, then files it under the right day. You see the result, kept for 14 days:

The Recent sessions list on the Cache’s status page goes further: a record for each power-on with what the car read and wrote, power dips, temperature and Wi-Fi. A session with no end marker is one where the power was cut.

A checklist

  1. Plug the device into the center console USB-C port (it carries data; the rear ports only charge).
  2. In the car, open Energy → Outlets and turn the outlets timer on.
  3. Set it from the table above, using your upload speed where the car parks.
  4. After a few days, check the Cache’s cut-off count. If backups are still being cut off, lengthen the timer or improve the Wi-Fi.

Troubleshooting and questions

Does a plain USB drive need the Outlets timer?

No. A drive only needs power while the car writes to it, and the car finishes before it sleeps. The timer is for devices that keep working after you park.

Does the Outlets timer stop the car from sleeping?

It keeps the outlets and USB ports powered for the time you set. What else the car keeps awake meanwhile is up to the car, so set the timer no longer than you need.

The Cache says backups were cut off, but the timer is on

The timer may be shorter than the upload, or the Wi-Fi where you park may be slow. Compare the amount waiting (on the status page) with your upload speed.

Can I power the Cache from a separate battery instead?

It has to be plugged into the car’s data port so the car sees its drive, and that port is also its power. A separate supply would only work with hardware that splits power and data, which brings its own problems; the Outlets timer is the simple answer.

Will the Cache be damaged by losing power every day?

It’s designed for exactly that. Its filesystems recover, state is written safely, and the store is repaired at start-up if needed. The microSD card does wear over time, which the Cache tracks; an SSD removes that concern.

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