ECOtality Level 2 charger : Blink

[rclams]

Blink doesn't support WPA2.

That's ridiculous. :evil:

WPA2 has been the recommended home wireless router security scheme for, what, 6 years?

WPA2 should at least be available, along with the less secure options.

=======

EDIT: :?: Could we use a WiFi Extender/Access Point device mounted near the Blink (via a short ethernet cable from the Blink) that WOULD USE WPA2 back to our main WiFi router?

I seem to remember that Apple's Airport Express, for example, supports a "range extender" mode.

 

[Spies]

Blink doesn't support WPA2. It only supports WPA-PSK (or WEP). BTW, the other thing is the signal strength. Check it out using a laptop or smart phone.

So the Blink unit would not even qualify to be Wi-Fi certified? The requirement for WPA2 is almost 5 years old now. What is their excuse? That is pretty bad and if I do end up getting one I would consider getting a Wi-Fi bridge that supports WPA2 to use with it if I can't get Ethernet to it.

March 13, 2006 "WPA2™ Security Now Mandatory for Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™ Products" http://www.wi-fi.org/news_articles.php?f=media_news&news_id=16

 

[syntaxerror]

Blink doesn't support WPA2. It only supports WPA-PSK (or WEP). BTW, the other thing is the signal strength. Check it out using a laptop or smart phone.

So the Blink unit would not even qualify to be Wi-Fi certified? The requirement for WPA2 is almost 5 years old now. What is their excuse? That is pretty bad and if I do end up getting one I would consider getting a Wi-Fi bridge that supports WPA2 to use with it if I can't get Ethernet to it.

March 13, 2006 "WPA2™ Security Now Mandatory for Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™ Products" http://www.wi-fi.org/news_articles.php?f=media_news&news_id=16

The worst for me is that the ASIC supports it, they're drivers (or GUI) just doesn't support it.

 

[ENIAC]

So what does ECOTality expect us to do? I agreed to allow them to connect to my WiFi network and the signal strength is very good in my garage. But I've been running WPA2 for five years now and have a bunch of devices (notebooks, Wii, streaming media server, etc) already configured and working properly.

The more I think about this I wonder how it could be that the Blink doesn't support WPA2. The way it works is the OEMs choose WiFi implementations from one of a handful of ODMs. The ODM includes the associated firmware and drivers for their solution. Their 802.11 product would have previously gone through all the certs including WiFi. I suppose ECOTality could have purposely disabled WPA2 capability, but why?

 

[evnow]

Ok - Let me do one thing. I'll go back and check today to make sure the information I gave about WPA2 is correct.

BTW, I've been having some conversations with an Ecotality tech about the Blink problems I've been having around network connectivity and reboot issues.

One thing interesting I found out was that a lot of Volt owners now have Blink. The other thing was that Blink officially suggests that we use Blink's timer for changing. I explained why we need to use Leaf for charging - the 80% charging for improved battery life and for people like me living on a hill to be able to fully use regen. We will see what ecotality does with this information.

 

[ENIAC]

EDIT: :?: Could we use a WiFi Extender/Access Point device mounted near the Blink (via a short ethernet cable from the Blink) that WOULD USE WPA2 back to our main WiFi router?

I seem to remember that Apple's Airport Express, for example, supports a "range extender" mode.

Yes, it's called a wireless ethernet bridge. They go for about $50 to $75. I had one laying around here for years and I just gave it away a few weeks ago.

 

[TomT]

Yeah, I had three - two which were new - that I just put up on Ebay... There are a jillion of them there.

Yes, it's called a wireless ethernet bridge. They go for about $50 to $75. I had one laying around here for years and I just gave it away a few weeks ago.

 

[sparky]

Ok - Let me do one thing. I'll go back and check today to make sure the information I gave about WPA2 is correct.

BTW, I've been having some conversations with an Ecotality tech about the Blink problems I've been having around network connectivity and reboot issues.

One thing interesting I found out was that a lot of Volt owners now have Blink. The other thing was that Blink officially suggests that we use Blink's timer for changing. I explained why we need to use Leaf for charging - the 80% charging for improved battery life and for people like me living on a hill to be able to fully use regen. We will see what ecotality does with this information.

In the Blink User Guide, on page 13, section E: "Set up WiFi manually" it states *Note: If your wireless network has WPA2 encryption select WPA

evnow: Yeah, I also received the suggestion from Ecotality that I run with the Blink Charge Timer and I described why it was preferable to use the LEAF's timer (80% and remote/timed climate control, etc). They seemed to understand and concurred.

 

[ENIAC]

In the Blink User Guide, on page 13, section E: "Set up WiFi manually" it states *Note: If your wireless network has WPA2 encryption select WPA

That's interesting because WPA2 uses Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) and WPA doesn't. I guess we'll see when my Blink arrives.

 

[sparky]

I just changed my WiFi router to WPA2. Earlier, I incorrectly stated it was WEP but it was set to WEP/WPA2 (dunno what that means exactly). Anyway, changing to WPA2 caused no issues for the Blink on my system.

 

[evnow]

evnow: Yeah, I also received the suggestion from Ecotality that I run with the Blink Charge Timer and I described why it was preferable to use the LEAF's timer (80% and remote/timed climate control, etc). They seemed to understand and concurred.

The problem is that Blink doesn't show the correct charge time. As soon as you plugin it starts counting and unplug.

 

[garygid]

So, does selecting "WPA" in the Blink really mean "WPA2"?

And, the WPA2 was verified to work using which Blink firmware version?

 

[evnow]

I just changed my WiFi router to WPA2. Earlier, I incorrectly stated it was WEP but it was set to WEP/WPA2 (dunno what that means exactly). Anyway, changing to WPA2 caused no issues for the Blink on my system.

Does WPA2 fall back to WPA for clients that don't support WPA2 but support WPA ?

When I had the chat with the tech - he wanted to doubly make sure I'm not on WPA2. That is the reason I thought Blink doesn't support WP2 ... anyway, I'm calling him again, I'll check.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

it used to be cross compatible and some still have a WPA2/WPA setting option. mine has it, but its about ...old. its a G if that does not give it away

 

[ts31825]

At about 5:00 this morning my Blink unit shut down...the message on the screen indicated that the unit had been turned off by the utility. Sorry I can't remember the exact message nor did I have time to take a picture.

Has anyone else out there had their Blink unit shut down. I don't remember agreeing to allowing my utility to curtail the use of the EVSE, although I am sure it is in the fine print somewhere...I do plan to call ECOtality today to inquire as to what happened.

In my case I checked the status through the Nissan Portal at approximately 4:55 this morning. The system indicated that the car was charging and had about 20 minutes remaining. For some reason at 5:20 I checked the status again...this time the system indicated that the car was not plugin, and still required 20 minutes to reach full charge. I went to the garage to check what was going on and noticed the message about the unit being curtailed by the utility. This was at 5:23...the message indicated that the unit would resume at 5:24...so I waited and the unit turned back on and resumed to charge.

BTW I charge to 100%...use the timer in the Leaf set to turn on at midnight and off at 6:00. The Blink unit is set to charge all the time...my utility is SDG&E. BTW there was no power outage before or after the event.

I did check the log on the Blink unit and did not see any communication related to the shut down. I was unsure about the Blink unit when it was first installed...this event has certainly not increased my comfort level...

Glen

 

[evnow]

I saw something similar in the evening once. I wonder whether they are just testing some messages.

 

[syntaxerror]

I saw something similar in the evening once. I wonder whether they are just testing some messages.

If they are thats super naughty. They should have a production versus testing enviornments! From all these posts of problems, Ecotality is really making me wonder about they're engineering skills!

 

[ENIAC]

I have WPA2 running on my WiFi network and my Blink installation worked fine, just as I would have expected any WiFi certified device to. Actually I didn't need to tell the Blink what wireless security I was running, the Blink figured it out. It popped up a screen, with a touch screen keyboard, and asked for a password. With WPA2 you have a pass phrase. This should be a sentence you can easily remember. I entered my pass phrase, selected DHCP, and selected HTTP no proxy. The Blink connected to my WiFi network and ran a self test. Worked great. So I can absolutely confirm the Blink works with WPA2.

 

[evnow]

I saw something similar in the evening once. I wonder whether they are just testing some messages.

If they are thats super naughty. They should have a production versus testing enviornments! From all these posts of problems, Ecotality is really making me wonder about they're engineering skills!

You have to run smoke tests in your "production" environment. No other way you can ensure it works in production environment.

But, they should be informing about the test and what to expect.

 

[rclams]

ISo I can absolutely confirm the Blink works with WPA2.

Good news!

Kinda makes my day, given that I'm heading to the dealer to try to understand why their proposed monthly lease payment (SL + DC; 36 mon., 36,000 miles) is $500/month vs. Nissan's nominal (less dest., fees, etc.) $379/month.