Quick Charge CHadeMo is working in San Francisco East Bay

[mxp]

I called on the Blink again today about the Sunset Development L3 charger in San Ramon, CA. and the customer service operator reported an issue with the RFID tag reader, that was causing the problems.

Which is odd, as the L3 read my card, took my zip code, authorized the charging, asked me what level of charge I wanted 40% 60% 80% or 100%, then started the charged, then stopped the charge due to communications failure?????

in that case, there is definitely something wrong with the Blink QC. your Blink card is definitely working if you got past all that input on the touch screen.

i guess i was fortunate.... if that happened to me the other night, i would have been stuck there for a couple of hours on L2.

 

[OrientExpress]

I visited the Bishop Ranch Blink QC yesterday (4/25), and it was not operational. The L2 next to it was, and when I called Blink Customer Care, they said it was down for maintenance.

 

[TNleaf]

I don't know the total number of Blink DC chargers deployed. It's probably less than 10. Phoenix, Tennessee, one in California. They reported to the government that they built 61 last year and have them in their "distribution" points.

On the Nissan LEAF Facebook page, there is a series of posts indicated that at least two of the Tennessee Blinks DC chargers don't work. I wonder how many actually do work?

ECTY stock dropped 8.9% today, and 5% Friday. Close at $0.665. As most are probably aware, too long below $1 gets the stock delisted. They are still under indictment for securities fraud.

Here is a thread that I posted about repeated and continual failures of the Blink L2's in San Diego.

Of the ones in TN, I've been to two of the CB DC Quick Chargers. They have always been online and looked to be in working order every time I've been. However, I can't confirm that they worked every time as 6 of the 10 times I've been they have been ICE'd and management wouldn't do anything. The 4 times I've been able to secure a parking spot, they have worked without issue.

 

[vgonzalez]

Same here, April 26. 2012, I stop by the 2440 Camino Ramon in San Ramon Ca to check out the Blink chargers, the location does have 2 working L2 chargers and a not working quick charger.

 

[jefftrnr]

I can confirm that on Sunday, Apr 22nd, the CMAdeMO charger at Bishop Ranch 6 wasn't working. Strangely, though, the L2 had trouble working Sunday too. Perhaps they were troubleshooting something. I had also called Blink and they said they saw errors being logged in their system - due to something from their end, somehow.

Anyway, I had just seen the new charger appear on recargo.com the day before, and I was very excited to try it. I live about 60 miles away, so after a few errands with the family, I was just about empty when I finally got to it. I wanted to charge up so I could get home. Without it or the L2 working, though, I had to crawl back to one of the L2 chargers in Walnut Ck and had my car back up and running by the evening.

I must tell you, though, not having that L3 charger made me quite anxious. And, once my car was finally plugged in, not having the car did change my day quite a bit. Leafs are fantastic and the chargers are great to see - but you can't depend on them. Always have a plan-B, or even a plan-C. Getting stranded, or in my case "almost stranded", isn't fun.

 

[astrorob]

I must tell you, though, not having that L3 charger made me quite anxious. And, once my car was finally plugged in, not having the car did change my day quite a bit. Leafs are fantastic and the chargers are great to see - but you can't depend on them. Always have a plan-B, or even a plan-C. Getting stranded, or in my case "almost stranded", isn't fun.

agree, though i firmly believe this is mainly a problem with blink and their cruddy hardware. i have charged at a variety of coulomb chargepoints around the bay area and never once had a problem with one of them.

 

[jefftrnr]

i have charged at a variety of coulomb chargepoints around the bay area and never once had a problem with one of them.

Agreed - any charger on the ChargePoint network has been 100% fine. Now if only they'd make some L3 chargers too.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

i have charged at a variety of coulomb chargepoints around the bay area and never once had a problem with one of them.

Agreed - any charger on the ChargePoint network has been 100% fine. Now if only they'd make some L3 chargers too.

the launch of EVs has had its rocky moments and the EV Highway Project has fallen quite a bit below my expectations. L2's have been put out and that is good but L3 is still non-existent in our state except for one at Dept of Transportation which is technically public but must be "requested" first and it only available to be requested during business hours only.

Partnering with Ecotality for the bulk of the L3s is something that no one can know ahead of time, but it would appear that not going with an established company like GE may blow up but it is still early in the game. Someone will pick up the slack.

Version 1.0 has always been a tough one to make. I can survive without L3, but it does limit a lot of the "adventures" that i could have taken. But the Leaf does not sit in my driveway. it is used daily, so it was not a mistake in any way.

i dont question buying a passenger vehicle over a 4X4 because of potholes in the street and this is really no different

 

[glemieux]

I'm currently here at Bishop Ranch and the left plug is working. The screen next to the right says "not in service."

 

[GRA]

i have charged at a variety of coulomb chargepoints around the bay area and never once had a problem with one of them.

Agreed - any charger on the ChargePoint network has been 100% fine. Now if only they'd make some L3 chargers too.

Chargepoint is apparently going to use Fuji's. There's a thread in the past few days with the press release. [Edit] Found it:

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=8496&p=194348&hilit=coulomb+fuji#p194348" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[Christopher]

This doesn't appear to be on the Blink Network Map (big surprise?)

So here somewhere? It would be nice if someone would put a marker on the map or provide exact coordinates.

-Phil

It's showing up on the PlugShare app/map already. Gotta love crowd-sourced! And so nice to see two lovely yellow QC icons on the bay area map now!

Yay!

Oh... just read the rest of this thread – so the San Ramon one is not actually working yet. D'oh! So much for my enthusiasm.

 

[planet4ever]

I'm currently here at Bishop Ranch and the left plug is working. The screen next to the right says "not in service."

Thanks for the (half) positive report. Unless I'm doing something wrong, these chargers are still not showing upon the Blink map, though the one at Volkswagen in Belmont is. We'd really like to be able to make a one day trip to our granddaughter's home and back, but we can't unless we can depend on charging both directions at Bishop Ranch. It's 90 miles each way, broken up as 57 - 66 - 57 with the two QCs. We have made two trips there with overnight stays. We stopped for half-hour boosts on two of the four legs.

Ray

 

[MsLusty]

i have charged at a variety of coulomb chargepoints around the bay area and never once had a problem with one of them.

Agreed - any charger on the ChargePoint network has been 100% fine. Now if only they'd make some L3 chargers too.

We've been having frequent problems with the L1 ports on the ChargePoint devices at Apple. GFCI faults. About half the time I plug in to those I end up with no charge. Many others report the same issue.

 

[surfingslovak]

We've been having frequent problems with the L1 ports on the ChargePoint devices at Apple. GFCI faults. About half the time I plug in to those I end up with no charge. Many others report the same issue.

Yes, this is a common problem, especially if an extension cord is used. Have you tried contacting their support staff about this?

support at coulombtech.com
1-877-850-4562 (8am-5pm PST)

 

[sdittm1]

Both L3 stations were down today at Bishop Ranch. Customer service stated they were aware of it and will send a technician out this week.

 

[LEAFfan]

All three of our Phoenix area Blink DCQCs are working now. One of them has a broken connector, but the other side is in service.

 

[ChipsLeaf]

I stopped by the Bishop Ranch East Bay location last night to check it out. There are two terminals for a Quick Charge. The one on the right was down (message on screen) but the one on the left is now working using my Blink Card. It was the first time I was able to use the fast charger on my Leaf. It worked really fast - went from 1 to 8 bars in about 20 minutes. The screen reports the charge level in real time so you can see the percent charge number change every 20-30 seconds or so.

When you scan your Blink card it asks for your zip code and then it asks how much you want to charge to. I entered 80%. Interesting that 80% only turned out to be 8 out of 12 bars. I think someone else made that comment earlier in the thread.

For now it is free but that will cahgne at some point.

 

[garygid]

Starting a QC below 50%, the LEAF (not the QC) will automatically
stop the QC at about 80% instead of near 100%.

To QC past 80%, just restart.
For QCs that require a payment, would that restart double the cost?

Does the Blink QC allow selection of 100%?

 

[TEG]

...Does the Blink QC allow selection of 100%?

By 'default' it seems to offer only up to 80%. *but* you just click an advanced button then you can pick 90% or 100% too.

But the % on the Blink doesn't seem to coincide exactly with what the car thinks. For instance, if you pick 100% it never fully gets the car charged to the point where the car says it is 100% full. I was charging to 80% on the Blink QC, and then when done the car would still say like 30 minutes needed at 240V to get to 80%. So, basically I think the % the Blink shows when done is a little less than what the car will say is the SOC. The Blink seems to "undercharge" the car slightly.

I guess we need someone with the "GIDmeter" to go an tell how how many "GIDs" the car says are there at various Blink target SOCs.

 

[planet4ever]

I see that the Bishop Ranch charger now shows up on the Blink map, which says it is currently available. I'm debating whether I should depend on it, twice, tomorrow for a 170 mile round trip to our granddaughter's place for Mothers Day. (We'll be traveling from Morgan Hill to Antioch and back.) If it fails us either way we will have to make impromptu arrangements for overnight charging and lodging. The alternative is to drive our Prius.

Ray