DESPERATE! Need contact to repair EVSE in San Diego!!

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T

twingo

Active member
Joined
Jul 19, 2010
Messages
42
Location
Escondido, Ca.
So I called Blink 3~4 times over the course of the past 3+ months to have my failed Blink EVSE repaired. They keep telling me someone will get back to me and nobody does. Finally, I get a call about a month ago. All I want is a contact in the San Diego (preferably north county) area who can repair an EVSE. The guy at Blink said he'd have someone contact me. Yea right. I am very close to giving up and just buying a new EVSE, but I thought I'd try one more time here.

So, does anyone know someone in my area who can repair one of these things?

They can't be too complicated to fix. I tried some of tricks I read here by myself, but nothing worked.
 
I don't know anyone doing repair, but if you post your symptoms, and some pictures of the inside, people here may be able to help you repair it yourself.
 
Prior to its bankruptcy Blink contracted with local electricians to do repair work, and I imagine that's what they still do - that is if they even try to repair broken equipment any more. You might try asking Blink not for repair but for referral to an electrician. Failing that, if anyone remembers the name of an electrical contractor they sent out who did a good job (sorry, I don't recall) you could call them. Failing that you could call IBEW (International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers) which has an EVSE at their training center, and ask them for a referral. Failing that you could call any electrician, ask if he works on EVSE's, and say goodbye if he asks what an EVSE is.
 
davewill said:
I don't know anyone doing repair, but if you post your symptoms, and some pictures of the inside, people here may be able to help you repair it yourself.
Click to expand...

I went out of town and when I returned the screen was blank and the unit totally dead. I researched here and found I could disable some functionality by unplugging a connector, but that did not work. I checked to be sure it is receiving power and that was fine. I checked the fuse and looked all around inside for anything burned and found nothing. that's about the most I can do by myself. The unit it not complicated, but I do not know how to do any further diagnosis.
 
I was quoted $400 to have someone from Blink to fix it- you can buy a new charger for less than that. Just make sure your breaker is off while doing the fix of disconnecting the motherboard. When you disconnect it - the LCD screen will stay off but if you plug it to the car, you'll hear the relay connecting to the car.
 
braineo said:
I was quoted $400 to have someone from Blink to fix it- you can buy a new charger for less than that. Just make sure your breaker is off while doing the fix of disconnecting the motherboard. When you disconnect it - the LCD screen will stay off but if you plug it to the car, you'll hear the relay connecting to the car.
Click to expand...

I am afraid the cost may be prohibitive. Having a licensed electrician come to your house is outrageous for a homeowner. They charge astronomical amounts and use the "peoples lives are at stake" as a justification. I once had a guy come to my home and install an outlet I needed to plug in a sprinkler timer. He charged $100+ for the plastic electrical box that costs $7 at home depot and $500 for the whole job. That was 20 years ago. So if it costs $400, you still have a poorly designed unit. Sounds like I'm talking myself into a new one!
 
twingo said:
I went out of town and when I returned the screen was blank and the unit totally dead. I researched here and found I could disable some functionality by unplugging a connector, but that did not work. I checked to be sure it is receiving power and that was fine. I checked the fuse and looked all around inside for anything burned and found nothing. that's about the most I can do by myself. The unit it not complicated, but I do not know how to do any further diagnosis.
Click to expand...
Hmm, having to guess, I'd say the the power supply for the electronics went out. If it were the mainboard or the SDCard that went bad, unplugging it from the EVSE board would have worked, and if it were the EVSE board, the system would have tried to boot up. If it were my Blink, I'd junk the electronics and replace them with an OpenEVSE logic board and power supply. The rest of the parts should be just fine. There's a nice little utility grade meter in there, I'd remount it so that it's display was visible through the display opening and have power consumption info.

If you aren't that kind of handy, I'd suggest offering it to people on here who could do such surgery, and getting a new EVSE.
 
As others have said, your best bet is probably just to get a new one at this point.

ClipperCreek just dropped the price of the LCS-20P w/6-50 plug to $395 which would be great for a 2011 LEAF and swap right in place with your Blink station.

I work in Escondido and probably could figure out what's wrong with your Blink after getting it home, but can't make any promises or get it done in any guaranteed time.
 
I can rent you a charge cable for a month at a time. I'll even drive it straight to your door in Escondido, and hook it up for free. But, it will have to be today or early tomorrow for the personalized service, as I'll be at the Long Beach Formula E race this weekend, and traveling to Washington next week:

http://shop.quickchargepower.com/JESLA-Rental-JESLARent.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

If you rent the unit, I'll diagnose your Blink and give you a cost estimate to repair when I return from Washington.
 
Did Blink never produce a service manual for their EVSE?
In working on a 1935 vintage Zenith radio I was able to get a complete detailed circuit diagram from the manufacturer that was sufficient for troubleshooting anything about it.

Now days a company like Ecotality throws together components in a shoddy half baked fashion with poor cabling, poor connections, dangerously inadequate power connections, REVA J1772 cables with improper dangerous crimps; and sells it to the US at grossly inflated prices, with no documentation, and creates throw away devices that are junk unless you find a very generous highly trained electrical engineer that is willing to donate lots of very valuable time to repair it for you.

Clearly something badly flawed in this reality.
 
TimLee said:
Did Blink never produce a service manual for their EVSE?
In working on a 1935 vintage Zenith radio I was able to get a complete detailed circuit diagram from the manufacturer that was sufficient for troubleshooting anything about it.

Now days a company like Ecotality throws together components in a shoddy half baked fashion with poor cabling, poor connections, dangerously inadequate power connections, REVA J1772 cables with improper dangerous crimps; and sells it to the US at grossly inflated prices, with no documentation, and creates throw away devices that are junk unless you find a very generous highly trained electrical engineer that is willing to donate lots of very valuable time to repair it for you.

Clearly something badly flawed in this reality.
Click to expand...

1935: Parts Diagram = we owe it to the customer
2015: Parts Diagram = "Intellectual Property"
 
Honestly anyone who has ever looked inside of one of these knows that it's one step ahead of the bubble gum and bailing wire school of engineering. Just a bunch of off-the-shelf parts connected with a rat's nest of custom wiring harnesses. It's amazing they work as well as they do.
 
drees said:
With a the offers of help we should turn it into a Blink fixing party. :)
Click to expand...
Actually this is a good idea. All those that have a Blink EVSE in the San Diego area could learn a great deal about their EVSE and how to understand their faults.

Anyone else there could just learn about the inner workings of the EVSE just for general knowledge. Just set the time and place and I will adjust my schedule to be there.

Maybe we could even turn it into another EV gathering. Maybe the NRG eVgo station at Fashion Valley again.
 

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