New Firmware Pushed : L2R.1.6A

[Jim66]

Have you ever seen the Blink reset itself (not after a firmware update) without being forced by you or anyone? One time I came out in the morning and saw it "stuck" in the reset mode (the "Please Wait" screen you normally see after it comes back up after a reset).

Also has anyone seen a case where your remote app says charging is done at 83%, plugged in but not charging. But then you go out to the garage, disconnect from the Leaf, wake up the Blink screen only to see it still say charging? Again at this point, the only recourse is a power cycle to reset.

I swear, it's like there are electronic gremlins inside my Blink causing all sorts of weird problems. A reset may zap them away for a little while, but it's only a matter of time before they return again.

Oh yes, the Blink resets itself frequently, at apparently random times. Also twice so far while I'm plugging in to the Leaf. The screen says "Touch here to reset" but touching it does nothing. Leaving it alone for a while seems to let it reboot and return to the normal screen. The statistics often show "core failure", apparently a software bug. So far it has not affected charging (using the Leaf timer). I don't use the remote apps.

[davewill]

Blink support has apparently been listening to my weekly reports of various lockups, spontaneous restarts, and losses of connectivity after all. A tech is coming out to swap out my SD card. I'll try to find out anything I can about the situation while the guy is here.

[Volusiano]

I found out by accident that if I power cycle the Blink but don't bother going through the calibration, eventually it'll time out and go to the main screen anyway. By then it probably just uses the default calibration setting instead. But sometimes it does get hung up during a self reset and never gets pass the Please Wait screen.

Sometimes I only find out that the Blink resets itself because I'd look at the charge time and it says 6 minutes into charging, but I KNOW that it's been plugged in for a couple of hours already at least. The only plausible explanation is that the Blink reset itself recently. So it may even reset itself more often than you know if there's no clue left behind for you to tell that it did.

[Volusiano]

Blink support has apparently been listening to my weekly reports of various lockups, spontaneous restarts, and losses of connectivity after all. A tech is coming out to swap out my SD card. I'll try to find out anything I can about the situation while the guy is here.

I'm looking forward to a report from you after your tech visit, Dave.

I envy you for having a tech coming out. I've been waiting for 3 weeks already for somebody to come out to look at my wifi issue and so far I've heard not a peep from anybody. A few phone calls to Blink support landed me talking with a supervisor and all he could say is "Sorry, the subcontractors have been too busy making house calls on non-functioning Blinks that they don't have time right now to deal with minor issues such as wifi problems." I told them about all the other issues I had with Blink and they said they'd make a note of it. But as long as you can reset the Blink into functioning again, even if it's several times on a daily basis, they don't consider that you have a high priority issue.

Of course the situation varies depending you where you're located. I'm in Phoenix and I just realize that the issues I've been having with the Blink started getting worse with the hotter weather. So I don't know if there's any link to the Blink becoming more flaky due to the high temperature or not.

[davewill]

OK, just had my service call on my restart and network problems. It was anti-climactic, but good. When we walked up to the unit, of course it had gone offline. So he changed out the SD Card since the service folks had called for that. But that didn't fix the network! So, I dragged out an old laptop and plugged in the cable. I couldn't get online with that, either. So, I grabbed another cable and plugged into the wall. Now, it worked. So, I looked at the connectors on the cable that Sunwest ran over to the Blink...

It turns out the installer didn't know how to wire the ethernet cable he installed. He wired it brBRgGbBoO. Since he made the same mistake at both ends, it kinda worked, but not very well. The Blink tech was very patient as we worked through the problem, and had RJ-45 connectors and the crimper, so all we needed to do was crimp on new connectors and Voila! Since we had changed the SD Card, we had to sit through a software update, and I'm crossing my fingers that I don't have to reenter my electric rates. The tech said, to contact support if they don't download, and they can push them down.

So, bottom line...install problem, not a HW or SW problem.

[QueenBee]

So, bottom line...install problem, not a HW or SW problem.

They ran cat5 in the wall and terminated it using crimp connectors?? That seems a bit lazy. Also, I can't imagine ever running cat5 and not using a tester. Nice that it was an easy fix though!

[davewill]

They ran cat5 in the wall and terminated it using crimp connectors?? That seems a bit lazy. Also, I can't imagine ever running cat5 and not using a tester. Nice that it was an easy fix though!

No, the cat5 in the wall was done by the builder. They ran some on the wall from the wall plate to where the Blink was. Plugged into the wall at one end and into the Blink at the other. If it wasn't a garage, I wouldn't have gone for it but, after all, the conduit for the 240v is on the wall, so running the cat5 alongside it wasn't that big a stretch.

And yes, a tester would have been a darned good idea for the installer, or the tech who came out today for that matter...I know I was wishing I owned one.

[QueenBee]

No, the cat5 in the wall was done by the builder. They ran some on the wall from the wall plate to where the Blink was. Plugged into the wall at one end and into the Blink at the other. If it wasn't a garage, I wouldn't have gone for it but, after all, the conduit for the 240v is on the wall, so running the cat5 alongside it wasn't that big a stretch.

And yes, a tester would have been a darned good idea for the installer, or the tech who came out today for that matter...I know I was wishing I owned one.

Ah, that's pretty clean then. Although the purist would say you can't make patch cables out of solid CAT5 and I'd be really surprised if they had stranded but no tester . No wonder you had issues though. Relatively high current electricity running parallel to mismatched pairs so there was no cancelling help from the twists. It might not end up as clean but my personal policy is no patch cables that are home made. The time needed to make them isn't even worth it when they are so incredibly cheap and in my experience it takes a lot of skill and perfection to create patch cables that are the same quality as manufactured ones.

[davewill]

It might not end up as clean but my personal policy is no patch cables that are home made. The time needed to make them isn't even worth it when they are so incredibly cheap and in my experience it takes a lot of skill and perfection to create patch cables that are the same quality as manufactured ones.

If I have any more problems, I will just buy a replacement (and tack it up properly, they hammered the brads too tight). Since this is a fairly fixed install the solid wire shouldn't be an issue.

[EVDRIVER]

I make far too many RJ45 connections every year as it is needed for long runs and the many devices I run, most of the blink network issues are related to their software setup, in the last year I would say the Blink unit is one of the worst IP devices I have configured but I have learned how to get around its issues and also trick it to stay connected when it is not.