Blink Current and Previous Month Data - Are They Accurate

I tried searching for this to no avail.

The Blink EVSE installed for me by the EV Project can create a report for me for the previous month and also the current month to the time of inquiry. I believe this is stored locally. I certainly don't find any way to access the information at http://www.blinknetwork.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;. Here are the items it reports:

JUL, 2012
Charging Cost
CO2 Saved
Cost Per Charge
Equivalent (gal of gasoline)
Avg. Duration
Price Per kWh (I enter this number in the setup)
Charging Events (a total count of the individual charging events)
Energy (kWh)

I recognize that some of these are bogus or just manipulations of the price per kWh I enter in the setup. I want to know how accurate the energy usage (kWh) reported is. Is it a more accurate reflection of my Leaf's impact on my utility bill than information from CarWings? I appreciate that CarWings does not account for electricity delivered to the car that ends up heating the battery during charging. It may or may not record the power consumed running cooling components during charging. The car is off and not authorized to report. I don't see how it could unless it stores it on-board and uploads it next time the car is started.

Is there some way to get a Wiki entry that factually discusses the consequences of failing to authorize CarWings for a trip? Searching the forum is a disaster. Our Leaf is used primarily for shopping, an activity that can involve up to 10 trips driveway-to-driveway. Sometimes I forget to push the damn button. If the Wiki could explain the 'why' for this 'feature' that would be helpful, too.

i believe they are, but you can download an excel (anytime period you choose) of your data at the blink website.

Thank you for the reply.

I've looked for a way to do this. It is not obvious at

http://www.blinknetwork.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

If you can do it here, please provide a bit more detail about where to open the link.

If not, what is the proper url?

baumgrenze said:

Thank you for the reply.

I've looked for a way to do this. It is not obvious at

http://www.blinknetwork.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

If you can do it here, please provide a bit more detail about where to open the link.

If not, what is the proper url?

Click to expand...

go from there to:
my chargers > manage > usage stats.
after that it is self-explnatory.

if that doesnt work, the blink folks will walk you through it.
I would suggest going to the web tool, creating an account and then playing with the buttons.
best to you and happy blinking.
it is way way improved over the past year.
all the complaints are pretty much fixed and buried.

Thank you again. The process was not intuitive but it worked.

I have data starting on 2/1/12 which is when the EV Project finally got data transmission working on our EVSE.

Is it proper to conclude that, presuming good data transmission, the data in the CSV file I downloaded is accurate? I ask, because it is possible to open a connection between the EVSE and a PC and look at the “STATS” item. It presents information for the current month and the previous month. The total kW reported there does not match the sum for the month from an Excel spreadsheet. Does anyone know the source of this data?

FWIW, I opened the CSV file in Excel, copied the first 3 columns to Word, selected and deleted the ‘end’ column using ‘select column’ and ‘delete.’ I deleted (COPY AND REPLACE) the text kW, to make the data Excel compatible. I selected column 1 and deleted the EDT and EST text, then replaced the ‘space’ character with a TAB “^t”. I then converted the resulting table to text using TAB as the separator, then copied and pasted in to Excel. Now Excel could interpret the date. I deleted the ‘time’ column for simplicity’s sake. I made sure the data was sorted by date, added a monthly total column, selected the kW data for each month as a SUM in that new column, and I had a very nice, easy to read spreadsheet.

thanks back to you.
i could not, without your help, get the downloaded data compatible to excel.
kinda better if they would download to excel.

The Blink power consumption measurement is completely accurate. This is due to the fact that they use a third-party power meter built into the box. The trick question, though, is, "What do you want to measure?"
(1) Energy into the battery
(2) Energy drawn by the car
(3) Energy consumed from the circuit

The original Blink that was installed here actually measured (2). I have tracked both its readings and those from the electric company's dedicated meter. The Blink consistently under-reported energy use by a few percent. Apparently it was not considering its own consumption in the report. That raised an interesting question (as asked above). The manual for the unit claimed it "could be certified" for power meter service. I said, "Hmmm...". The entire unit was replaced at the beginning of the year, and now it follows the utility meter exactly. Presumably, they moved the internal power supply to the other side of the meter.

So, if your unit was manufactured this year, it probably reports total energy used.