Might be dumping my Blink.

[DaddyO]

Ok, We got our Leaf Saturday and love it.... We do not love our Blink charger though and are thinking about dumping it altogether or setting up another one next to it that is reliable.

I had the first one glich on me before we got the car it just went out and wouldn't work at all even after many reboots. They then come out and look ( wasting my business time during the day)

try and figure it out and then it works when the outer cover is taken off amazing.... So the tech goes through all the software upgrades and stuff and then goes to put the cover back on and poof its back to the dead mode with crosshairs and the touch screen is not working at all. We both look at it and figure the little metallic flat lead that goes to the touch screen is getting disturbed by the cover going over it and possibly pinching ( poor design problem?). So, the Tech then after being there an hour removes the whole unit and replaces it with a different one.

I'm thinking problem solved... Then on Saturday 3 days later we get or leaf ( we love this car!) and drive it all over the place doing our thing and visiting people on the weekend and take it home and charge it. We charged the car on the new Blink like 4 times and then last night we get home and when I plug it in it says " Not Charging" and just stays that way... I'm thinking oh brother here we go again...!!! Ok Ecotality... I didn't agree to sign up for a non beta tested non reliable deal like this Blink is becoming. I did some checking and being in Seattle and knowing a few people in the Seattle EV association I get on the phone with Manzanita Micro and they are surprised at the problems and I tell them there are lots of people complaining and I want a for sure bullet proof charger not some unreliable thing that causes me to take time off work constantly to let the repair guy in and such. They tell me to contact "Clipper Creek" and I look those up and they have a bullet proof charging system for 995.00 that will hardwire into the same plug box as the Blink. I bet you all know what I'm thinking about now.... They are charging leafs in California right now on thier unit and it is bullet proof from what I have heard from others. This might be next to my Blink in my garage soon. Too bad about the scewed data Ecoquest will get on my charging habits but they did not agree to cover my time lost due to me being their beta tester for this Blink. I work for Boeing so I know safety and Quality and this thing is not showing me much at the moment.

I'm giving them one more strike (2 strikes already) and then they are out. Anyone want the link to Clipper Creek?

 

[derkraut]

Ok, We got our Leaf Saturday and love it.... We do not love our Blink charger though and are thinking about dumping it altogether or setting up another one next to it that is reliable.

I had the first one glich on me before we got the car it just went out and wouldn't work at all even after many reboots. They then come out and look ( wasting my business time during the day)

try and figure it out and then it works when the outer cover is taken off amazing.... So the tech goes through all the software upgrades and stuff and then goes to put the cover back on and poof its back to the dead mode with crosshairs and the touch screen is not working at all. We both look at it and figure the little metallic flat lead that goes to the touch screen is getting disturbed by the cover going over it and possibly pinching ( poor design problem?). So, the Tech then after being there an hour removes the whole unit and replaces it with a different one.

I'm thinking problem solved... Then on Saturday 3 days later we get or leaf ( we love this car!) and drive it all over the place doing our thing and visiting people on the weekend and take it home and charge it. We charged the car on the new Blink like 4 times and then last night we get home and when I plug it in it says " Not Charging" and just stays that way... I'm thinking oh brother here we go again...!!! Ok Ecotality... I didn't agree to sign up for a non beta tested non reliable deal like this Blink is becoming. I did some checking and being in Seattle and knowing a few people in the Seattle EV association I get on the phone with Manzanita Micro and they are surprised at the problems and I tell them there are lots of people complaining and I want a for sure bullet proof charger not some unreliable thing that causes me to take time off work constantly to let the repair guy in and such. They tell me to contact "Clipper Creek" and I look those up and they have a bullet proof charging system for 995.00 that will hardwire into the same plug box as the Blink. I bet you all know what I'm thinking about now.... They are charging leafs in California right now
on thier unit and it is bullet proof from what I have heard from others. This might be next to my Blink in my garage soon. Too bad about the scewed data Ecoquest will get on my charging habits but they did not agree to cover my time lost due to me being their beta tester for this Blink. I work for Boeing so I know safety and Quality and this thing is not showing me much at the moment.

I'm giving them one more strike (2 strikes already) and then they are out. Anyone want the link to Clipper Creek?

Sorry to hear about your problem. My Blink has worked flawlessly since I hard-wired the LAN cable. I know you've probably checked this already----but are you sure you didn't inadvertently have the Leaf timer activated the last time you plugged in the Blink?? If so, the Blink will not charge when you plug it in, but waits until the time you have set in the Leaf Timer. I use the Leaf timers exclusively----don't trust the Blink timer. Even the Blink installers suggested to me that I use the car timers.

 

[davewill]

...I didn't agree to sign up for a non beta tested non reliable deal like this Blink is becoming....This might be next to my Blink in my garage soon.

IMHO, when you accepted a free EVSE, you did exactly that, but if it isn't to your liking and you're going to replace it, at least be honest...call Ecotality, return the unit, and pay for whatever that means you have to pay for.

BTW, I've had as many problems as anyone, but it has reliably charged my car every single time.

 

[Ready2plugin]

Just got my Blink a couple of weeks ago....zero problems. Are you sure that the "Not Charging" is because you have the timer set on the car?

 

[thankyouOB]

I have used the Blink for two months+ and used it daily.
I have had some problems with the screen and it is ethernet wired not wifi.
What I was told by blink, and find to be true, is that it charges whether or not the unit's other functions are not working.
I agree with der kraut with regard to your NOT CHARGING notice.
That most times has to do with the timer in the car.
Best of Luck.

 

[Steve]

The only problem I've had is related to the wireless adapter. Like derkraut, once I hardwired it to my LAN, it's worked without a hitch.

Sorry you're having problems. I hope you get them all worked out!

 

[GaslessInSeattle]

It definitely took the tec a while on the phone with ecotality folks to get the unit to recognize the AC adapter, but it's been working great sine that day it was installed. Sorry you are having trouble!
G

 

[ERG4ALL]

I have the AeroVironment unit recommended by Nissan. The unit itself (without installation) was $721.12 and it has worked flawlessly. It's not as complex as the Blink but it has a few lights on the front telling you what it is doing. I guess there was a reason they called it a Blink, it's always on the blink. :roll:

 

[Coffee_Slurry]

I've been much happier since I've simply ignored the Blink's screen.

It charges the car. Or rather, it provides power to the car. The screen displays whatever random error or alert of the day, or says its not charging, or says it has an error, or can't connect, or Please Plug In, or just blank... Whatever. Put a big smiley sticker over it and pretend it says "OK!".

Make sure you use Leaf timers, and not Blink timers.

 

[sparky]

I can understand the sentiment behind dumping the Blink.
I did understand what I was getting into when I opted for a free, Version 1.0 product.
But, even with several firmware upgrades over the last 6 months, although it's more reliable than at first, it still fails to operate as an EVSE for my LEAF about once a week. I check my Carwings emails for the "charging stopped at 10 of 12 bars" every morning. No longer surprised when the LEAF isn't ready to drive because of the Blink.

I expect they will eventually make this thing work reliably, but in the meantime, what a nuisance.

 

[Volusiano]

I've had lots of problems with my Blink, too, and have had to power reset it almost on a daily basis because of a myriad of problems. However, most of the times, if I make sure it starts the charging process with my Leaf timer OK with no problem, usually it completes the charging process OK.

If I ever come across a situation where I don't want to have to rely on the Blink to complete a charge successfully for me, I can simply whip out my Rev2 portable EVSE from my trunk and use that instead. But so far, I haven't built-up such distrust on the Blink that I can't trust it to not complete a charge on me. I just have to ensure that it starts a charge successfully and I can almost always count on it to complete the charge for me.

 

[GaslessInSeattle]

Am I missing something here? I do not use the Blink timer, I don't mess with any of the blink settings, I just set the timer on the car and plug in and that's it. Other than that I occasionally look at the blink stats. Are folks having trouble doing this or is the issue the blink timer? Sorry if it's already been covered somewhere.
G

 

[Volusiano]

Am I missing something here? I do not use the Blink timer, I don't mess with any of the blink settings, I just set the timer on the car and plug in and that's it. Other than that I occasionally look at the blink stats. Are folks having trouble doing this or is the issue the blink timer? Sorry if it's already been covered somewhere.
G

Almost nobody uses the Blink timer. Most everyone uses the Leaf timer. Even so, apparently some people still experience a failure to charge or failure to complete a charge because the Blink fails to deliver the power it's supposed to deliver to the Leaf charger. This is despite setting the Blink to charge immediately when connected. So nobody is talking about a Blink timer issue here per se.

 

[davewill]

If it's not charging the car, something is very wrong. You shouldn't be waiting for software fixes, you should be demanding a replacement unit. Having patience with network connectivity, or with a screen lockup is different. Get on the phone and don't take no for an answer.

 

[rawhog]

.

 

[DarkStar]

I use the Blink timer for 100% of my charging and since I stopped using the internal wifi and installed my own ethernet to wifi adapter I've had one lockup (after applying a software update) and zero no-charge events.

If you're using ethernet and experiencing issues with your Blink, it probably is a hardware issue and needs to be replaced.

Let me know when you are ready to dump it. I'll send you my address and give it a good home.

If he received his Blink through the EV Project, it's not his until January 1, 2013.

 

[mark13]

I have had the same problems with the Blink..I see (not charging) when its charging and sometimes Ill go out in the morning and see the Blink still charging but the leaf shows no lights blinking..The screen goes black and the touch screen does not work well..

I know they will come out and fix it if I call ..Im just not at home most of the time to wait for them to show up..It took me 2 months to arrange for the inspector to show up for the inspection for the Blink..

I think Ill wait for total failure then call in sick the day Ecotality comes out to fix it..

 

[Volusiano]

Yesterday when I connected the Blink (always on) to the car during the car's OFF time, I heard some clicking going on at first (handshakes between the Blink and the car?) then the Blink says "Charging". I was like "What??? It's not supposed to happen yet because the car's timer is programmed to be OFF at that time". But then a second later, the Blink changed to "Not charging". Then the Leaf's 3 blue lights started blinking in sequence one after another, 1, 2, 3. I guess this is an indication that the Leaf is waiting to be turned on at a later time based on its timer.

So maybe if you don't see this kind of activity between the Blink and the car, there's a good chance something went wrong and the timed charging won't happen.

 

[davewill]

Yesterday when I connected the Blink (always on) to the car during the car's OFF time, I heard some clicking going on at first (handshakes between the Blink and the car?) then the Blink says "Charging". I was like "What??? It's not supposed to happen yet because the car's timer is programmed to be OFF at that time". But then a second later, the Blink changed to "Not charging". Then the Leaf's 3 blue lights started blinking in sequence one after another, 1, 2, 3. I guess this is an indication that the Leaf is waiting to be turned on at a later time based on its timer.

The LEAF seems to sample in the input voltage when plugged in outside the timer range. I figure it needs to do this so that end-time-only timers can function properly, although it doesn't matter what sort of timer you are using. This is highly annoying because it replaces the last charge data on the Blink with this zero length charge. It also clutters the charge history on the Blink website with this extra cruft. I know it's the car since it does it with the Nissan EVSE as well.