San Francisco Bay Area Quick Chargers Getting them sooner

[TimLee]

My home Blink L2 unit has not caused serious problems. So far all of its failures have been recognized by me observing whether it was working properly when I first plugged it up to the LEAF, so it hasn't left me with the LEAF uncharged YET.
But the multiple failures of it have required power down reboot on at least 10 occasions, more frequently with the recent "Fault Detected" failure mode, and it has wasted at least one hour of my time rebooting it and then having to do the screen recalibration, which is stupidly unnecessary every time the unit is powered back up.
I finally tried using access to it from my network thinking it might have better more detailed information than is provided by the rudimentary screen access. It is inexcusable that it doesn't provide a log of each charging event.
It doesn't provide this from the network interface either. And the network interface is grossly slow in providing information via the network.
Overall I'd give the Blink L2 home units a 2 out of 10 rating.
Not really up to even an acceptable Beta test level.
After they finally fixed the grossly inadequate power supply to the RFID commercial card reader interface on the commercial units, they have been better. More like a 4 out of a 10 rating.
With the current dead in the water status of the L3 units, they're sitting at a 0 out of 10 rating.

 

[EricBayArea]

My home Blink L2 unit has not caused serious problems..

TimLee- No disrespect to your concerns but please take them to an appropriate discussion as this one is for Bay Area Quick Chargers.

Back on topic... I noticed today that BOTH of the Blink QC units (San Ramon and VW in Belmont) are not listed on the BlinkMap. Wonder if this has something to do with the software update or something else entirely?

 

[grommet]

Back on topic... I noticed today that BOTH of the Blink QC units (San Ramon and VW in Belmont) are not listed on the BlinkMap. Wonder if this has something to do with the software update or something else entirely?

Look at my post a few back... all are gone.

 

[TimLee]

My speculation is that all the Blink L3 have been taken off the map, probably on a national basis, because a large % of them had problems.
This is definitely the case for the ones in Tennessee.
They have reported on 06-17-2012 in a blog that the ones in Tennessee will be back in service within two weeks.
http://blinkshare.blinknetwork.com/blink/topics/blinkmap_quick_chargers" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
They're two weeks behind their original projection which was they would be fixed by mid-June.

 

[EricBayArea]

Grommet- didn't see your earlier post, sorry.

Guess we'll just keep an eye out. Too bad too because I wanted to use it next weekend.

 

[TonyWilliams]

Well, Blink stood me up after all. I stopped by in the hot sun with my whole family in the car only to find 'this port is out of service'. I was fortunately not too surprised based on what I had read here. The 350green luckily worked just fine. My sentiments are quickly turning against Blink :x, although I will say that the free L2 charger I have at home works just fine. Ecotality needs to get their act together pronto if they ever want to compete, but I guess with all those taxpayer dollars they don't really have to sweat it :x. Can someone who knows more than me please tell me that they have an actual fix for their faulty equipment coming very soon? If not, I think they should be reported to the DOE if that is even possible.

Read this thread:

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=182350#p182350" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[peter]

On a whim I stopped by Belmont today and the DC was up and running again - at least the right side.

How long it will stay up is anyone's guess.

 

[grommet]

They didn't put any of the DC units back on the map, so it's possible they aren't done with their broader bug fixes... as such, I'd expect more downtime. Just set those expectations to rock bottom for now.

 

[EVDrive]

I feel privileged to have used all three of the bay area quick chargers once.

When I used the one in Belmont, it was one week new and both sides worked. When one car completed, the other started charging. Cool design element with two charge chords. Unfortunate that the charge chords, the hardware and the software are not up to the task of being part of a reliable public infrastructure.

I think when charge point deploys level 3 we will have more reliability. The Stanford 350 Green seems to work as well.

 

[TEG]

On a whim I stopped by Belmont today and the DC was up and running again - at least the right side.
How long it will stay up is anyone's guess.

I think I saw one of their service guys there this morning, so he may have stopped by and reset the RFID card reader again.
They can keep it going if they keep opening it up and resetting it every time the card reader locks up.
The basic high voltage hardware seems to be reliable. It is just the "user interface" (plug & card reader) that seem to be the chronic problem areas.

 

[grommet]

I think when charge point deploys level 3 we will have more reliability. The Stanford 350 Green seems to work as well.

Coulomb/ChargePoint does not manufacture DC chargers... and likely won't anytime soon. Yes, the Efacec unit at Stanford has been pretty reliable other than randomly quitting charges early. But at least the badly designed UI is stable.

Being cost free (unlike 350Green) while they are in the pilot "live beta" stage... I will continue to give Ecotality/Blink a bit of a break. I do wish they'd lose that Yazaki CHAdeMO connector everyone insists on using, though. ;-)

 

[EVDrive]

Chargepoint announced that they were negotiating with several companies to license/buy and deploy L3 stations... a long time ago. They didn't provide more detail. They obviously aren't in a hurry. Maybe they are waiting to buy the Nissan units.

 

[Phoenix]

6/26/2012 12: 30 PM VWERL Blink DC Charger is OUT OF ORDER again. Both sides not working. Left side says out of order. Right side seems to work until you have to enter your zip code. Interface does not react to the numbers you punch in. Only 6's and 3's seem to be recognized. Then it just terminates your session, even though you punch the button that says you want to continue. Called service number and they said they had a ticket out for BOTH nozzles. Had to backtrack to use Stanford Shopping Center's 350green DC-QC which worked well enough, thank goodness!

 

[grommet]

I guess that's why Blink hasn't put them back on their BlinkMap yet. These guys really need to work on their transparency...

 

[EVDrive]

Boy is this a sad state of affairs. We waited so long, now they deployed a few DC stations and they are so badly built that they don't even work 69% of the time.

 

[ElectricVehicle]

6/26/2012 12: 30 PM VWERL Blink DC Charger is OUT OF ORDER again. Both sides not working. Left side says out of order. Right side seems to work until you have to enter your zip code. Interface does not react to the numbers you punch in. Only 6's and 3's seem to be recognized. Then it just terminates your session, even though you punch the button that says you want to continue. Called service number and they said they had a ticket out for BOTH nozzles. Had to backtrack to use Stanford Shopping Center's 350green DC-QC which worked well enough, thank goodness!

I charged at Belmont QC a few days ago - Sunday evening, 6/24/2012! Right port worked for me. No problem entering Zip Code. Left Port is still down. Charged 41% to 89% in 24 minutes according to Blink charger, thought the Blink percentage is a bit off. The charge actually stopped at 80% by the car, the Giddyometer showed about 77.9%.
I would not depend on this charger at this point, but it can be a pleasant surprise when it is working!

Does it seem possible that our problems entering Zip code and pushing the continue button are due to an improperly calibrated touch screen?

Try touching a little below, above and to each side of a button and see if it registers the touch. You could just run your finger all over the display and watch for any button reaction. So for example if you notice a button 1 inch above and a half inch to the right reacts to your current finger position, then try activate the buttons by touching 1 inch below and a half inch to the left. Note that the distance offset may change as you get to the corners or far parts of the display from where you "calibrated your finger compensation". Improper calibration would make a lot of sense for the funkiness we are seeing entering the zip and other button operations. I can't imagine that the touch screen is really going defective and getting replaced every couple days. I can easily believe that the Blink has *Blinking* resets where it re-runs the touch screen calibration and the calibration doesn't get done leaving the touch sensitive area for a button and that button out of alignment.

 

[ElectricVehicle]

I think when charge point deploys level 3 we will have more reliability. The Stanford 350 Green seems to work as well.

Coulomb/ChargePoint does not manufacture DC chargers... and likely won't anytime soon. Yes, the Efacec unit at Stanford has been pretty reliable other than randomly quitting charges early. But at least the badly designed UI is stable.

Being cost free (unlike 350Green) while they are in the pilot "live beta" stage... I will continue to give Ecotality/Blink a bit of a break. I do wish they'd lose that Yazaki CHAdeMO connector everyone insists on using, though. ;-)

Coulomb/ChargePoint does not manufacture DC Fast chargers, but their ChargePoint network and technology is inside the DC Fast chargers from some other companies. Two companies using ChargePoint in the DC Fast Chargers are Eaton and Fuji.

You can see some of Coulomb's ChargePoint partners by looking at their press releases: http://www.coulombtech.com/news-press-releases.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[grommet]

Charged today at VW ERL in Belmont. Left Yazaki connector has been fixed/replaced, and the unit is fully functional again. My charge started automatically after the other LEAF finished, just like the good 'ol days. They haven't put the units back on BlinkMap, though.

2 bars to LEAF 80% in 25 minutes. (Blink CHAdeMO SOC started at 32%, finished at 90%.)

 

[GoingGreener]

Is the Belmont QC still ok? Hoping to make a trip to the Gilroy Premium Outlets this weekend with this as a great segment point.

Also, uggh, the only EV charger card we don't have yet is the SemaCharge. Is there a way to get it locally/use their charger before having one on hand? Need a full charge to get back to Belmont. Would recent usage/demand @ Gilroy PO allow us to complete a full L2 charge w/o feeling like we're "hogging" 1 of the 2 chargers for hours (even w/the hrly fee while plugged in)? Thanks in advance!

350Green/Blink/Any Other QC Installers: QC in Gilroy, Salinas (was the original destination), up and down California soon?

 

[grommet]

Belmont and San Ramon are both working and on the BlinkMap again, though it looks like the left connector at Belmont may have been broken again. (Folks, please post updates to PlugShare!)

(Off topic, but I don't think there are any charging stations that require SemaCharge cards in the Bay Area... the 350Green SemaConnect units are unlocked currently -- no card at all.)