Poll : Are you having problems with your Blink EVSE ?

[Coffee_Slurry]

I don't know why, but the Leaf stopped charging twice today. Blink simply said "Not Charging".
Disconnecting and reconnecting the plug restarted it.

It would be nice if the display would show the REASON for the last charge termination. Did the Leaf request a stop (with only 90% charge), or did the charger decide to stop?

 

[bowthom]

Hello Blinkers,
I had a non-technical representative from Blink out to look at my EVSE today. The unit is still flashing between screens every couple of seconds and refusing to charge the Leaf. It did, however, pass the "car in a box" test showing no faults. As it turns out, I'm not the only one suffering this issue so maybe the TIG welder didn't toast it. He tried replacing the SD card and power cycling a few times but it remained stubborn. The Leaf charges fine when using the mini evse and just for grins I ran it up to my PD to charge with an AV unit, all is well with the leaf me thinks.

I want to send out a HUGE THANK YOU to Phil for turning around my mini evse upgrade so quickly. I would have been in dire straits had it not been so. The mini unit is working fine and this blink problem will have almost no affect on our driving / charging because of it.

THANKS AGAIN PHIL !!!!

 

[DarkStar]

Hello Blinkers,
I had a non-technical representative from Blink out to look at my EVSE today. The unit is still flashing between screens every couple of seconds and refusing to charge the Leaf. It did, however, pass the "car in a box" test showing no faults. As it turns out, I'm not the only one suffering this issue so maybe the TIG welder didn't toast it. He tried replacing the SD card and power cycling a few times but it remained stubborn. The Leaf charges fine when using the mini evse and just for grins I ran it up to my PD to charge with an AV unit, all is well with the leaf me thinks.

Hmm... Well, if I had to pick something, I would put my money on the J1772 nozzle/cable being the issue. They'll probably replace the whole unit though and you'll be back in business!

 

[evnow]

The unit is still flashing between screens every couple of seconds and refusing to charge the Leaf.

Hmmm ... I blame it on Linux :lol:

 

[fotajoye]

I don't have a Blink, only a Nissan Brick at this point, However, if you think the plug is the problem: turn off the unit power and push on the pins to see if they push in; then turn on the unit and check the voltage with a meter for 120vac between the neutral and hot legs then check the pilot pin for a proper voltage, then ask Blink to confirm the pilot voltage.

My question really is why didn't they send a tech guy instead of a politician?

 

[bowthom]

Hello,
Well, I'm putting my money on the logic board. Mechanically the J1772 works with the "car in a box" tester and it is not suffering from the gasket / O-ring issue. Plus the blink continues to bombard the blink network with failed charge attempt data every 2 seconds if it is powered up. Since the leaf knows it has the J1772 inserted, the "prox" must be ok but there has to be something amiss with the PWM signal

I wanted to drag out my scope and start checking the signals but the representative was not an EE. I want to know why it won't charge the leaf but passes their "car in a box" test criteria. That disparity needs to be rectified.

My leaf charges fine using the mini evse and my PD's AV EVSE.

 

[fotajoye]

Looks like you have a good handle on the problem, the pwm signal must be there for it to want to charge; but the duty cycle may be jumping around...solder joint? Sounds like you have the problem isolated to them sending you another unit since I'm sure they don't want you in the unit with a probe.
Good Luck!

 

[bowthom]

Hello,
In their defense, the rep had test gear with him and he was here pronto. They didn't have an EE close so he came to "assess" the problem. I got a call from an EE today and he wants me to run some tests on my car to help isolate the problem. Basically checking the resistance and diode on the pilot signal. He said there is another person with the same problem in Tennessee and when they swapped out the Blink, it still wouldn't charge. Very curious, my car better be OK. The CC and then the Blink are the only chargers I have used with it (besides the dealer AV).

 

[fotajoye]

Looks like all the other power circuits work, i.e., the 120 Nissan Brick when plugged into a 120 vac and the 240 vac circuit from the outside level 2 EVSE; I don't see that the car is at fault, all the resistor and diode in the car do is develop the pilot voltage and isolate any reverse current; I suspect the EVSE or The primary 240vac wiring. Why? Because that's all that's left!

 

[bowthom]

Hello Blinkers,
Here is what we have so far.......... drum roll please........... BOTH, yes both the car and the blink are to blame. The diode in the pilot signal of the Leaf is shorted and the resistor pulls down both the pos and neg sides of the PWM signal. Most EVSE's ignore the neg side of the signal but the blink does not. However, how the Blink reacts to the fault is a programming error so another update is on the way fellas. :shock:
Why the diode popped is another matter. I made an appt with my PD and you know the engineers are going to have to see and verify everything so I suspect the car will be in their possession for a couple of weeks. I have compiled all my data so far so I can show them the battery anomalies that are occurring. Who knows, the pilot signal / charger problem might also be related to my battery woes.
The diode was not shorted when I was testing it at Shorepower a while ago. The inference is that it failed while the car was being driven or at the moment I unplugged the J1772. I charged to 100% in the AM of the 14th and sent the wife off. When she returned the blink would not charge.

I'm gonna miss my car

 

[davewill]

The diode in the pilot signal of the Leaf is shorted and the resistor pulls down both the pos and neg sides of the PWM signal. Most EVSE's ignore the neg side of the signal but the blink does not. However, how the Blink reacts to the fault is a programming error so another update is on the way fellas. :shock:

The Blink would be right to fail to charge, though. Flashing screens is wrong, but an error would be correct. A proper error message would have saved mucho time.

Phil has said most EVSEs, the Nissan L1 in particular, don't check for the diode, but the car definitely needs to have it. You're actually lucky that the Blink tripped over this. Otherwise you might not have found out your car was broken until it failed with some other EVSE years down the road.

 

[DarkStar]

Hello Blinkers,
Here is what we have so far.......... drum roll please........... BOTH, yes both the car and the blink are to blame. The diode in the pilot signal of the Leaf is shorted and the resistor pulls down both the pos and neg sides of the PWM signal. Most EVSE's ignore the neg side of the signal but the blink does not. However, how the Blink reacts to the fault is a programming error so another update is on the way fellas. :shock:
Why the diode popped is another matter. I made an appt with my PD and you know the engineers are going to have to see and verify everything so I suspect the car will be in their possession for a couple of weeks. I have compiled all my data so far so I can show them the battery anomalies that are occurring. Who knows, the pilot signal / charger problem might also be related to my battery woes.
The diode was not shorted when I was testing it at Shorepower a while ago. The inference is that it failed while the car was being driven or at the moment I unplugged the J1772. I charged to 100% in the AM of the 14th and sent the wife off. When she returned the blink would not charge.

I'm gonna miss my car

Wow, please let us know what is replaced to fix the charging diode, hopefully they don't have to replace the whole charger unit. Unfortunately my service manual doesn't drill-down any further on the component level, so I wouldn't be surprised if they did...

 

[bowthom]

Hey there DarkStar,
Want to drive over and plug in my blink to see if it works with your car?

I was looking through the manual too and the J1772 wires go the length of the car and plug into the charger so I'm pretty sure the diode and resistor are in the main board. There is a removable connector / DC fast charge housing but the J1772 input wires go direct. Wow, so much work for a $.002 part. Radio Shack anyone? :lol:

 

[DarkStar]

Want to drive over and plug in my blink to see if it works with your car?

PM sent!

 

[bowthom]

Hello,
A great big THANK YOU to Chris and his wife for stopping by with their Leaf. My Blink worked normally with his car.
SO there it is, I've tested my car on 2 blink EVSE's with no success and my blink works with someone else's car. That pretty much makes it my car's fault even to Nissan's eye. Now just waiting for the Wed PD appt.

 

[fotajoye]

So; this begs the question:What is Blink checking that the Nissan Brick and the other Level two EVSEs are not checking. Could it be a difference in the Ground Fault check circuits?
Please let us know; so those of us thinking DIY have an answer.

 

[DarkStar]

Hello,
A great big THANK YOU to Chris and his wife for stopping by with their Leaf. My Blink worked normally with his car.
SO there it is, I've tested my car on 2 blink EVSE's with no success and my blink works with someone else's car. That pretty much makes it my car's fault even to Nissan's eye. Now just waiting for the Wed PD appt.

No problem, anytime! Especially in exchange for the electrons! It will be interesting to see what they do at the dealership.

So; this begs the question:What is Blink checking that the Nissan Brick and the other Level two EVSEs are not checking. Could it be a difference in the Ground Fault check circuits?
Please let us know; so those of us thinking DIY have an answer.

Part of the J1772-2010 specification allows the EVSE to "test" for a vehicle by sending a 12 volt AC signal over the control pilot pin and seeing if a diode is present in the vehicle, removing the -12 volts.

It's already known that the Level 1 Panasonic EVSE (included with the Leaf) and the Shorepower Level 2 EVSE does not test for this condition.

We know for positive that the Blink tests for this condition, however due to a software error it doesn't yet know what to do other than not charge in the event that the diode is in a shorted condition.

Apparently the Aerovironment EVSEs also do not test for this condition as bowthom's Leaf charges on the dealership units fine.

Apparently the specifications are up for a little interpretation, but personally I believe it is a good thing for the status of the diode to be verified:

J1772-2010 Standard

 

[davewill]

Apparently the specifications are up for a little interpretation, but personally I believe it is a good thing for the status of the diode to be verified...

And, of course, whether the check is really necessary or not, it's absolutely essential for the LEAF to HAVE the diode working since you never know when you'll run into an EVSE that does the check.

 

[fotajoye]

Thank you for the information; so in case of a shorted diode the other chargers are working on a reference point of zero (plus and negative 12vac), while the Blink works on zero and plus 12v. It would be interesting to see if the duty cycle square waves from the EVSE Pluse Wave Modulators are already set to zero, plus 12v so that a diode in the line is redundent. Interesting circuits question...anyone got an O scope they can check it out?

The inclusion/exclusion of the diode is important; if some EVSEs check for +/- 12v and others don't and it only shows up on some EVSEs when the diode is shorted, it could mean that is a weak part in the Leaf and will not show up in their QA processes. How would you like to pull up to an EVSE with a bar left in your battery and have it indicate a fault because you didn't know you had a shorted diode from the factory? The SAE J1772 committee needs to address the problem also.

 

[davewill]

...if some EVSEs check for +/- 12v and others don't and it only shows up on some EVSEs when the diode is shorted, it could mean that is a weak part in the Leaf and will not show up in their QA processes...

I was actually wondering how a dealer is supposed to diagnose this problem, since their EVSEs don't make the check. It's asking a bit much to have owners swap cars and EVSEs around as things go forward. Hopefully, a test for this becomes part of their standard diagnostic equipment.