Mods for the Blink EVSE ! (was Fix)

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DarkStar said:
Awesome, great to hear! Now we just need to work on understanding the software a bit better. I've looked at my SD card and it seems to be just a basic scripting language, so maybe we can figure this out...
Whoami did a whole working firmware (just read up-thread). Has anybody heard from him recently?
 
davewill said:
DarkStar said:
Awesome, great to hear! Now we just need to work on understanding the software a bit better. I've looked at my SD card and it seems to be just a basic scripting language, so maybe we can figure this out...
Whoami did a whole working firmware (just read up-thread). Has anybody heard from him recently?
I haven't heard anything new, my guess is that there aren't enough "rouge" Blink's out there yet that people are willing to "modify". :D
 
After 1 year of error free operations, I keep getting a 'Pink Screen' of death now. I will reset it by unplugging but the error will return after a day. Finally gave up and called Blink. They sent an electrician and basically all he did was to cut and reconnect 2 sets of wires. Somehow the new software is very sensitive and generating errors that it was previously ignoring.

Whatever it is, after Dec 31 2012, I will be 'dumbifying' the unit. The EVSE shouldn't be this prone to fail because of software updates. Hopefully, whoami can provide his software to help in this cause. :)
 
gbarry42 said:
I'm expecting an upsurge in interest, in about 50 weeks from now... :D
And...I was wrong. And everyone's signed up for another year of happy cooperation. Well, at least I get to support the project. I should just go build an openEVSE if I want to play. And buy a Raspberry Pi if I want a multimedia box.
 
Regarding the "pink screen of death" it's a simple fix you could do yourself outside of warranty if needed. Basically there are smaller wires going in to a crimp connection going in to larger wires from the GFI loop to the board. These create a poor connection, as they are not meant to mate two different size wires, which can cause a false GFCI trip or the pink screen. Mine did this and they sent someone out as others have had. All they do is use a proper connector between the set of wires and heat shrink them, problem goes away after this. If a guy were to just remove the connectors and solder the wires together this would probably do the trick also.

Also, if you haven't already had it done yet slide the GFI loop as far left as it will go near the junction where the incoming wires connect to the internal wires.

I let me contract expire despite Blink's better attempts to get me to hit "I agree" every time I login to their web site. Has anyone had any luck copying their SD card so they have a backup? I've done a disk image of it, I figure this is the best way to go about keeping a backup.
 
I was very careful not to accept their magnanimous offer of an extended warranty, and I even explained why in great detail when they called me to express their "concern" that I hadn't yet accepted. Basically, the only reason I've ever had to call for service for my on-the-Blink EVSE is to fix problems caused entirely by their buggy control computer. My contract has now expired, so the unit is completely mine. In fact it stopped calling home back in mid-January, before my contract was even over.

I am a Linux and networking geek. With just a little effort I could probably reverse engineer the whole thing -- but why? I simply can't think of a single useful thing to do with it. Fer chrissakes, an EVSE is just a glorified extension cord. Why do I need it to run Linux when all I want is a reliable way to charge my car, and its only real function is to inhibit that charging?

The next time I get a pink screen of death or have any other problem charging, I'm going in there and disconnecting Hal's higher brain circuits. (I see I'm not the only one to have devised that metaphor.) Maybe it would be worth hacking the thing just so it can sing "Daisy" in a slower and slower voice as I disconnect the Linux board's control and power lines. That should make a good Youtube video.

I really like Linux, but there are appropriate and inappropiate uses of any technology, and this was one of the inappropriate ones.

Here are some of my Livejournal blog entries saying what I think of Ecotality and their technology:
http://ka9q.livejournal.com/7340.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://ka9q.livejournal.com/7961.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
 
RickS said:
Regarding the "pink screen of death" it's a simple fix you could do yourself outside of warranty if needed. Basically there are smaller wires going in to a crimp connection going in to larger wires from the GFI loop to the board. These create a poor connection, as they are not meant to mate two different size wires, which can cause a false GFCI trip or the pink screen.
I see the wires you're talking about, and I will take your advice.

But I see four wires between the ground fault current transformer and the EVSE controller. Two apparently come from a winding inside the transformer (it appears to be a purpose-made GFI sense coil) and two more from a separate winding around the outside of the transformer. Why two sets of coils? Isn't one enough? Is the second there for redundancy? Maybe it's there to tickle the first as part of a self-test to ensure that the GFI is working?
 
Well, it's happened and it only took a couple of days. Wednesday night I got home after midnight (ready for bed) to encounter a Pink Screen of Death on my post-contract on-the-Blink EVSE. A "critical error" had occurred, but naturally it wouldn't tell me what it was. (We can't confuse the poor dumb customer with useful information, now can we?) I was simply instructed to cycle my circuit breaker. I did, and the pink screen reappeared. Nothing useful on the webserver either.

Muttering profusely, I hauled out the Level 1 EVSE and my heavy home-made #10 extension cord and dragged the footstool outside so I could reach the outlet. It finished normally, 12 hours later.

This afternoon I went out and performed my threatened lobotomy on Hal. The only hard part was finding a sufficiently long ice pick to reach the Blink's frontal lobes through the hole I drilled in the side of the cabinet...

Seriously, it only took a couple of minutes to pop the covers off, find and remove the 10-pin control cable and 3-pin power cable between the J1772 board and the Hydrogen controller board. I didn't bother removing the 3-pin RS-232 control cable between the two.

I buttoned it all back up, restored power, plugged it into my Leaf and promptly heard that familiar musical rhythm: beep... whirr... beep beep... KLUNK. Worked beautifully, though of course the screen remained dark. I didn't even have to wait the usual 5 minutes for the control computer to reboot.

What a piece of garbage Ecotality has created. I'm still angry about all my wasted tax money.
 
When Ecotality came out last month to replace my J1772 cord, they also redid those connections properly at the same time since it is a known failure point and they wanted to be proactive about it...
I, for one, am glad I took the extension... They were also nice enough to give me a spare SD card just in case for the future.

ka9q said:
RickS said:
Regarding the "pink screen of death" it's a simple fix you could do yourself outside of warranty if needed. Basically there are smaller wires going in to a crimp connection going in to larger wires from the GFI loop to the board. These create a poor connection, as they are not meant to mate two different size wires, which can cause a false GFCI trip or the pink screen.
I see the wires you're talking about, and I will take your advice.
 
TomT said:
They were also nice enough to give me a spare SD card just in case for the future.
Um...they gave you a spare? So, you should just change it yourself if something bad happens to the one in there?
 
Thanks for the comments on how to make a Blink dumb. I haven't had any problem with not having mine charge but I did become concerned about heat in the J1772 connector. I'd read that Blink got a bad batch of connectors. I only have the 3.3kw charger and was alarmed to find the connector getting noticeably hot. I wouldn't have wanted to put a car with a 6.6kw on that plug so I changed it. At first I thought I could fix the pin crimps (which is the problem) but couldn't. They are buried in a plastic housing that defies disassembly and reuse. I just changed the whole cord assembly. It's not hard if you're at all handy.

I subsequently figured out how to disassemble the connector. It just looks like the pins are buried. You can pull them out and either recrimp or add solder (which is what I did) to the connectors. Make sure you have a big enough soldering gun or small torch to make sure the solder flows deep into the wire.
 
About one month ago my Blink charging station in my garage, obtained courtesy of the EVProject, began to spontaneously reboot itself every few minutes. I placed a call to Blink/Ecotality, knowing at the time that the financial solvency of the company was...er...in doubt.
Four weeks later, 8 phone calls + 4 emails and I now have a DIY lobotomized Blink charging station. I guess I can't complain too loudly; the charging station cost me $177 for installation + $220 for the 220V/50A circuit. I will miss the nice display of the Blink, and the nice timer function.
I've been in contact with the local electrical contractor who would have performed the repairs, and am waiting for a callback to see if they can actually do the repairs. Otherwise, my Blink shall remain dumb.
I've lurked on MNL for many months and have not seen that anyone besides whoami was working on a replacement software. Is this correct? Is our only alternative a dumb Blink?
 
Most issues with the Blink seem to stem from SD cards that have gone bad. The card can't simply be copied as it has partitions. Does anyone know how to copy the SD card? I would like to have a spare before it is needed.
 
kovalb said:
Most issues with the Blink seem to stem from SD cards that have gone bad. The card can't simply be copied as it has partitions. Does anyone know how to copy the SD card? I would like to have a spare before it is needed.

Good call, now that future support is iffy it would be prudent to get a backup. I'll pull mine and see what the easiest for people to do this will be.
 
That's the plan, though, with Ecotality in apparent shutdown mode, it likely won't make any difference or be needed...

gbarry42 said:
TomT said:
They were also nice enough to give me a spare SD card just in case for the future.
Um...they gave you a spare? So, you should just change it yourself if something bad happens to the one in there?
 
OK, I have a question, my Blink was downgraded to 16A through the admin interface on the touchscreen. I suspect that if I dumbed it, then the EVSE would default back to 30A which is too much load for the circuit it's on (electrician put in a 20A breaker and a higher gauge wire), right?
 
kovalb said:
Most issues with the Blink seem to stem from SD cards that have gone bad. The card can't simply be copied as it has partitions. Does anyone know how to copy the SD card? I would like to have a spare before it is needed.
On Linux, you could use dd to copy it. On Windows, you should be able to use something like DriveImage XML to make an image that could be restored to another SD Card.
 
OpenEVSE and Raspberry Pi... :D

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10218702766_322c2424fc_z.jpg
 
Why bother all that hacking to install a Pi? There's a fully functional Linux SBC in there already mounted and wired! =)

Ecotality used a version of the Boundary Devices Hydrogen board:
http://boundarydevices.com/products/hydrogen-board-pxa270/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

-Phil
 
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