Blink "charging anxiety"

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Marksp

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 2, 2010
Messages
58
Location
Redmond, WA
Question from someone who doesn't yet have car, but has Blink and is worried about the Blink technology & support. Background - I got my Blink installed a few weeks ago and have had nothing but problems with it. Won't stay on network, fails to update, looses settings, etc. and 3 of the 4 support e-mails to the Blink helpdesk have gone unanswered and the one that they did respond to was escalated to an "engineer" who again didn't follow up.

With that, I'm getting anxious about picking up a car that I possibly can't charge in the over night window as expected. So my questions is, if I put my Blink in the 'charge on connection" state, and use the LEAF's charging schedule administration capabilities (in-car or CarWings), can I be certain that the Blink will essentially act as a passive L2 EVSE?

Thanks
 
leafnode said:
With that, I'm getting anxious about picking up a car that I possibly can't charge in the over night window as expected. So my questions is, if I put my Blink in the 'charge on connection" state, and use the LEAF's charging schedule administration capabilities (in-car or CarWings), can I be certain that the Blink will essentially act as a passive L2 EVSE?
My Blink hasn't connected to my wireless network for the last 5 days and has been charging my car 100% without any issues. I don't use any vehicle charging timers and use a climate control timer for departure at 6:30am with the Blink configured to allow charging from 10pm to 6:30am, Monday through Friday, and the whole day on Saturday and Sunday.
 
Maybe I am a special / lucky case. My car was delivered on 3/31 (before Blink).

Blink was installed last weekend. It went through one firmware upgrade cycle after the installation.

Then it just works without me having to fiddle with anything. I am charging using Leaf's charging timer (to 80%).
 
There's a thread that discusses how you can turn it into a dumb EVSE, though you're probably violating your agreement by doing so.

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=3279
 
blink says it will charge fine without connectivity, but they will want you to work with them to connect it.

if you have a smart connect or easy connect on your router, try using that after the first dont pass. it solved my problems.

they also report that 1.4a has a sleep mode. I am not sure I believe that. but I am cking by powering up my unit. i dont have the car yet.
 
I have done this (Blink=charge on connection, LEAF=charge timer) with no problems so far. Have had it a week.
 
Can we please stick to the existing Blink threads, there are several already and they are getting redundant.
 
GeekEV said:
There's a thread that discusses how you can turn it into a dumb EVSE, though you're probably violating your agreement by doing so.

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=3279

Thanks. I'm not interested in hacking my Blink. In fact, I've already signed the agreement to that effect. As opposed to what's captured in the other threads, I'm hoping to establish that I can, in fact, charge my car with the logic side of the Blink not connected (but still on), not up to date (firmware) and generally acting randomly. Of course, this negates another Blink agreement item (reporting), but it's not based on user action, rather technical readiness of installed Blink unit. The larger issue is taking delivery of a car that can't be charged. Based on the responses, I'm feeling less "anxious" about that. Thanks
 
Knock on wood, mine has worked flawlessly since it was installed about 5 weeks ago. I use a timer on the car only to charge to 80 percent and have it set for a start and end time of 12pm.
 
thankyouOB said:
blink says it will charge fine without connectivity, but they will want you to work with them to connect it.

if you have a smart connect or easy connect on your router, try using that after the first dont pass. it solved my problems.

they also report that 1.4a has a sleep mode. I am not sure I believe that. but I am cking by powering up my unit. i dont have the car yet.

just got an email From Blink.
1.4 is NOT sleep mode. that will come later.
my rep apologized as he was corrected by a supe.
 
EVDRIVER said:
Can we please stick to the existing Blink threads, there are several already and they are getting redundant.
Good luck finding one. So many people have blink in their sig (which google also indexes) that searching for a term like that is useless. I had a heck of a time finding the blink mod thread (because I couldn't remember if it was mod or hack) - and I KNEW there was one.
 
GeekEV said:
EVDRIVER said:
Can we please stick to the existing Blink threads, there are several already and they are getting redundant.
Good luck finding one. So many people have blink in their sig (which google also indexes) that searching for a term like that is useless. I had a heck of a time finding the blink mod thread (because I couldn't remember if it was mod or hack) - and I KNEW there was one.
You could always try the Blink specific section...

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewforum.php?f=43
 
Just discovered that all of my issues go away with hardwire LAN connection. Maintains connection and is super fast in this mode. Unfortunately, my cable solution is temporary until I can get electrician out to drop me a permanent port next to my Blink.
 
leafnode said:
After reading through the Blink wireless thread, I decided to pick up one of these -http://www.netgear.com/landing/wnce2001.aspx. Allows configuring the Blink in LAN mode, which is clearly the design preference, while using encrypted wifi to your access point/router. Works like a charm :)
What type of power adapter is included? If it's 120-240v auto-ranging this would work well for me since I could just install it inside of the Blink. My only issue is that I don't have a regular power outlet anywhere close to my Blink...
 
Includes 100-240v adapter. Also supports USB as power source using included USB adapter cable. I have to say it's a night and day difference between the integrated wifi adapter and the WNCE2001. Reliable and fast, as it should be. Cheers
 
I took delivery of my Leaf in March and from day one it would never charge when using the Leaf's timer. Every morning there would be some error, or a charge indication of only a few minutes or no charge indication. Even after the latest Blink firmware was pushed, no dice. Manual charge would work OK.

However, it may be just a crazy coincidence, but last Wednesday the technician came out to my work with a laptop and updated my Leaf with the software fix for the A/C-no-restart problem and the timer charging has worked flawlessly ever since.
 
Elofan said:
However, it may be just a crazy coincidence, but last Wednesday the technician came out to my work with a laptop and updated my Leaf with the software fix for the A/C-no-restart problem and the timer charging has worked flawlessly ever since.
When they do the bulletin service, all timers are reset on the LEAF. If there were any errors with the programming it should have corrected itself...
 
It's been 1 week since I took delivery of my Leaf. The Blink has performed flawlessly.

Ethernnet connection
Leaf timers on, Blink timers off
Firmware L2R.1.5A
 
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