Remote or Spontnaeoius Restoration to Service - Blink EVSE?

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.

baumgrenze

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 15, 2011
Messages
114
Location
Charlottesville, VA
I came home from the airport Saturday night, 4/25/15, and tried to charge my Leaf. The screen on the Blink was blank and the car could not be charged. I got out the 120 V Nissan EVSE and charged the car. We used it again on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and earlier today.

On Sunday I cut power to the unit for about an hour, restored power, and saw a transient, 10 second screen reading "Welcome to the EV Project" followed by a black screen just like before on Saturday.

I called blinknetwork.com and they gave me a case number and promised a status report to my email. It has not come.

This evening, in a fit of pique/frustration, I swiped at the Blink screen as I was coming in from gardening and, 'mirable dictu,' it lit up. I plugged in and added about 11 minutes of charge. I have photos of the 'restored to service' screen.

Can blinknetwork.com aka carcharging.com restore a Blink EVSE remotely or is this just a 'chance phenomenon' of failure to work several times followed by a chance working response because the evening light and temperature were optimal?

Has anyone else seen sporadic functioning of a dying Blink?

If it is on its way out, is it more likely that it is the Linux controller card that is failing?

I was pleased to learn that the BAAQMD stood ready to call Blink and prod them regarding my open repair request. Their stand is, 'no data, we do not pay them.' They also said that they are still interested in my participation in the project through December 2015.

My recollection is that they reduced the current delivered to the Leaf because some of their cord/J1772 combinations were overheating because of quality of manufacturing problems? If this is the case, has anyone considered where and how this reduction is accomplished? If I open the case and turn the Blink into a 'dumb charger' by unplugging the Ecotality card does the current get restored to the default level? If this is the case, shouldn't I be concerned about the risk of overheating?
 
Back
Top