Blink charger problems

My Nissan Leaf Forum

Help Support My Nissan Leaf Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
I have my Blink talking to a POS D-Link router that I took out of service as my main router because the it would die every few days and need rebooting. When my Blink was installed and turned out to be out of range of my new main router (a Belkin that seems to work very well), I put the D-Link back on my network, after the Belkin, just to talk to the Blink. It's positioned within about 10 feet of the Blink and this seems to work very well. Also, the D-Link doesn't hang any more; I assume it is related to quantity of data passing through it and the Blink uses very little.
 
gbarry42 said:
Doh! It says "RFID" right at the top of the board :roll: I guess I'm still stuck with the original recipe WiFi. At least it is somehow holding together. I was just out there trying to configure it for my other router. It's still kinda cranky. Not that these routers help. The Netgear means well, but crashes about once a day, and the MediaLink, it won't even talk to for some reason. Blink HQ has nothing on record about MediaLink, so I may have to see if anyone in MNL land has tangled with one of those.

After 6 mths of operation, my Blink's Wifi finally died. It was intermittently disconnecting initially, with brief connects back to Blink's network but eventually the Wifi connectivity just went dead.

I have a service ticket called in and waiting.

NOTE: The scheduled charging still works fine. Just not sending the data back.
 
I read the last three pages, but I'm not going to read all 19. Can someone let me know if this is a known problem and what to do about it, or whether I can just ignore it.

Most of the time my Blink works just fine. Two or three times in the last six months the Blink has emitted frighteningly loud sounds when plugged into the Leaf (which was on timer and not drawing power immediately). Each time it was determined that the plug had not seated fully in the J1772. I could stop the noise by jiggling the handle or unplugging and replugging. But I am wondering whether some harm is being done. The noise can best be described as a mechanical roaring noise, somewhat similar to a vacuum cleaner or leaf blower, and very loud. It doesn't sound like an electronic beep or warning tone. At the same time the Blink lights up and the screen flashes, and I can hear some sort of relay click or clunk. That click is a one-time thing but the roar continues until I reposition the handle. I haven't been able to read what the screen says because I can't read it from where I stand and I immediately unplug or jiggle it, stopping the problem. The car does not think it is plugged it when the roaring is going, i.e. the blue lights on the dash do not start.
 
Today morning I discovered that my Leaf was not charged. :evil: That's a second time I experience this kind of "surprise" in almost 9 months.

Last time I remember I had to power-cycle the charger and set it up again.
Today Blink display indicates "Charging Delayed". Not sure what it means, although my last charge was manual to 100%. Maybe it had something to do with it...

Pressing manual charge button in Leaf did not start charging so I decided to power cycle Blink.
However this time I am not able to set up my wireless network.
Once I enter wifi access passcode, the device seems to reboot, asking to calibrate screen and set it up again.
Ended up doing manual charge without doing Wifi setup.

Any ideas what might be going on with Blink?
Will a scheduled charging work if Wifi is not set up?
Also is there any way to set up an alert either from Blink or Leaf (SMS, e-mail or something) in case when charger did not start at the scheduled time?
Would be extremely useful in case like this or when one simply forgets to plug...
 
You folks having problems--did you get the latest update? Then again, did anyone?

I was on the beta program for the new software. I wasn't having many problems before, but some, prior to the upgrade. Since the beta, and now the production release, it's been great. I assume everyone got updated, but maybe not.

Didn't fix the craptastic wifi, however--that's a hardware thing.

So...if you haven't, and your Blink isn't connected, find a way to get internet to it, at least temporarily, so you can get updated. Might help, so long as your problems aren't due to faulty hardware, but that happens, too (I had my first Blink swapped out back in August or so).
 
lonndoggie said:
You folks having problems--did you get the latest update? Then again, did anyone?

I was on the beta program for the new software. I wasn't having many problems before, but some, prior to the upgrade. Since the beta, and now the production release, it's been great. I assume everyone got updated, but maybe not. ...
Not. Mine's hardwired and still on 1.8...Of course I didn't get the email announcing the 1.0 update, either.
 
jason98 said:
Today morning I discovered that my Leaf was not charged. :evil: That's a second time I experience this kind of "surprise" in almost 9 months.

Last time I remember I had to power-cycle the charger and set it up again.
Today Blink display indicates "Charging Delayed". Not sure what it means, although my last charge was manual to 100%. Maybe it had something to do with it...

Pressing manual charge button in Leaf did not start charging so I decided to power cycle Blink.
However this time I am not able to set up my wireless network.
Once I enter wifi access passcode, the device seems to reboot, asking to calibrate screen and set it up again.
Ended up doing manual charge without doing Wifi setup.
.

This started happening to me --- twice in one week. Blink recommended I set the network to LAN instead of wifi while waiting for service:

"Currently, we do have high service call volumes due to the upcoming firmware release and the preparations we have had to make in order to make the firmware push successful, including making sure all of our residential and commercial units are connected to the internet stably. We will make sure to service your unit in a timely manner, but until then considering your charging difficulty, please go to Settings and select Network Setup and configure your Blink to connect via LAN. This will keep your Blink from attempting to reconnect to your wireless signal and should eliminate charging difficulty until we can get out to service the unit. If you need any further assistance or have any questions or concerns, feel free to call or email anytime, we are open 24 hours 7 days a week.

Best Regards,

Heather Kwasnik
Blink Network Contact Center
e: [email protected]| d: +1.888.998.2546"

I always set my car to charge immediately after plugging in. That way, I know if it fails to start charging. Also, I'm not super techno-savvy.
 
I can't charge!
The charger is in permanent reboot cycle. Power off does not help.

Screen transitions between:

1. Welcome to EV Project
2. A minute long "Please Wait..."
3. A 2-minute progress bar (from 100% to 0)
4. Series of short "Please wait..."
5. Reboot, back to step #1
 
91040 said:
Have you left it unplugged for a while, say 30 minutes? That might help.

It has been unplugged actually. Plugging in does not result in a "handshake", and pressing the charge button in the car does not start charging.
 
jason98 said:
91040 said:
Have you left it unplugged for a while, say 30 minutes? That might help.

It has been unplugged actually. Plugging in does not result in a "handshake", and pressing the charge button in the car does not start charging.

I think he meant leaving the Blink unit unplugged from the wall for at least 30 minutes so that the Blink unit has no power and all the capacitors in it have time to discharge. That way your Blink unit will do a complete reboot.
 
kevin672 said:
I think he meant leaving the Blink unit unplugged from the wall for at least 30 minutes so that the Blink unit has no power and all the capacitors in it have time to discharge. That way your Blink unit will do a complete reboot.
Yes, I should have been clearer. 30 minutes seems long enough to do that without question.

The Blink has re-booted successfully after being unplugged for a few seconds and other times not. It has exhibited the same behavior when left unplugged for over an hour, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't clear the problem. However, I have never had it fail to provide a charge.
 
kevin672 said:
I think he meant leaving the Blink unit unplugged from the wall for at least 30 minutes so that the Blink unit has no power and all the capacitors in it have time to discharge. That way your Blink unit will do a complete reboot.

Yes, unplugging for longer time seemed to work. For a few days - then it starts over.
But at least I know how to fix it now. Thanks!
 
After about eight months of trouble-free Blinkness, last night it failed to charge.

This morning, its screen was on, but black (or dark grey). Couldn't revive it by tapping.

Unplugged, let it set, re-plugged. The splash screen came up, but then back to black.

Plugged in to the Leaf, neither the Blink nor the Leaf acted like anything had happened.

Damn!

Trouble call placed, waiting to get scheduled for a visit.
 
lonndoggie said:
After about eight months of trouble-free Blinkness, last night it failed to charge.

This morning, its screen was on, but black (or dark grey). Couldn't revive it by tapping.

Unplugged, let it set, re-plugged. The splash screen came up, but then back to black.

Plugged in to the Leaf, neither the Blink nor the Leaf acted like anything had happened.

Damn!

Trouble call placed, waiting to get scheduled for a visit.
My screen went blank yesterday also, but the unit still charges. I wonder if they pushed the update out to it, since I was running on 1.8 still as of a few days ago. When I reboot, the screen comes up, so it is not totally broken--a "Blink" splash screen flashes on with "please wait", then it goes thru the screen calibration procedure, then turns to blank again, and no touching retrieves anything or turns on the menu screen, etc. I called in and they opened a trouble ticket, but since I can still charge, they told me it is low priority and could take weeks to get someone out. :shock:

This is my first problem with it in 11 months of trouble-free use, but at least I can still charge the car!

TT
 
drees said:
lonndoggie said:
After about eight months of trouble-free Blinkness, last night it failed to charge.
Bummer. Is your Blink on 2.0 or still on 1.8?
2.0; has been for quite a while, I was one of the beta testers.

Tom--yeah, when I told them I couldn't charge, they said they'd try to get someone out ASAP. I don't get the calibration screen or anything after the white boot-up screen.
 
Well, after leaving the Blink unplugged for an hour instead of a minute, it rebooted yesterday and the screen came back, but even after going through the calibration process, it is still off on some screens and I can't configure it correctly. It still charged overnight again, and surprisingly, I got a call from Ecotality that they are going to be out today to change my SD card. I did see that I am still on ver. 1.8, so it wasn't an update to 2.0 that caused this hiccup.

Hopefully they are getting to Loondoggie today too, since he can't even charge and should be a higher priority.

TT
 
The "brains" of my Blink had been dead since 12/27/2011. The car could still charge display would freeze or be blank and the unit would not be reachable from the network. I've unplugged for differing amounts of time and it wouldn't come back. Blink customer support had diagnosed it as needing a SD card (apparently it is part of a suspect batch). Blink decided they won't dispatch anyone until they had new SD cards w/ 2.0 cards on it.

A few days ago I got a hold of a used Coulomb CT500 EVSE. To test the Coulomb I unplugged the Blink. After a couple of days of using the CT500 I unplugged it tonight to make room in garage for another project. I plugged in the Blink expecting to be back at the black screen again but to my great surprise it was in the setup screen. I went through the setup and appears to be working (for now).

arnold
 
arnolddeleon said:
I plugged in the Blink expecting to be back at the black screen again but to my great surprise it was in the setup screen. I went through the setup and appears to be working (for now).
Leaving it unplugged for an extended period, as some have suggested above, does seem to matter in a "cold boot" of the unit. However, although my screen did come up after waiting an hour, the display content was still corrupted--some screens in the setup process were offset, and the formatting of the text was wrong, with some lists of choices in very small text with no clear place to touch to choose that option. In trying to use the direct intranet connection to manage it, I continually got "http error 502" when accessing the network setup also. After the SD card was replaced with a new Sandisk unit yesterday (which still had ver. 1.8 of the firmware, BTW), the screen responded correctly to all setup commands and direct communication over the intranet is flawless now. The tech said it would be able to update to 2.0 when that is pushed out now as well. He did mention a bad batch of micro sd cards in the early units, and identified mine as one from the serial number.

The one hooker in my service call was that we found the insulation melted back about 2" on the 8-gauge wire on the line side of contactor #1 in the unit. This may have been due to a connector lug not tightened enough during initial assembly, or from vibration of the contactor in use slowly loosening the lug, according to the tech. He had not seen this before, and took pictures to send back to the office with his report. He is coming back out with a new length of black 8AWG wire this morning to repair this fault. It was a little disturbing to me to think that it got hot enough to melt the insulation on the wire. Can you say "fire danger?"

TT
 
Back
Top