Mods for the Blink EVSE ! (was Fix)

gsleaf said:

Can anyone post before and after pictures of the GFI loop?

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Look at the pictures below, you can see the two CTs around the black power wires behind the ethernet cable. Originally, those CTs were located up next to the opaque terminal block, but were moved to their current position and then secured in place with a tie wrap. Would be interesting to see what yours looks like.

Thanks! I'll get a picture of mine tomorrow.

FYI, I just fixed a Blink yesterday that was displaying the "fault" error whenever a car was plugged into it. I re-routed the pilot signal wire out from behind the power supply board as it was being stretched tight.

Thank you all for this thread. I got a black screen and could not charge until I pulled the blue connector as shown. That got me on my feet until I could drive to best buy and get a new micro SD card. I was able to download the img file from another thread and bring my charger back to full operation! Nice to have my Blink back in service.

Sorry for the delay in getting a picture. Since I turned my Blink into a dumb EVSE it has worked without any issues. I'm a little worried about opening it up because I don't want to jinx anything. Once it fails again I'll open it up and take pictures.

Hi all.

This is a great thread. I'm glad I found it. I fixed my fault issues with the help of your posts. So, I thought I would give back and wrote up a new thread on how to Enable SSH and Root access to the EVSE.

How-To Enable SSH and Root access
http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=17570

Hi All. I have tried all the remedies posted here and still get the fault-- Pink Screen of Death (PSOD)! I have to power cycle the unit at my breaker panel or unplug and plug the unit back in at the 6-50 outlet. Sometimes it takes two tries to get it to clear. Very annoying! There should be a reset button on the unit to force a hard reset like desktop computers have but the Blink doesn't have one. I came up with a mod that others might like to try: I put a momentary off, push button switch in series with the 240V AC supply to the power supply board. This is a much more convenient way to power cycle the boards. Has anyone tried this? Any thoughts? Ingineer: Your thoughts?

gmuzhik said:

Hi All. I have tried all the remedies posted here and still get the fault-- Pink Screen of Death (PSOD)! I have to power cycle the unit at my breaker panel or unplug and plug the unit back in at the 6-50 outlet. Sometimes it takes two tries to get it to clear. Very annoying! There should be a reset button on the unit to force a hard reset like desktop computers have but the Blink doesn't have one. I came up with a mod that others might like to try: I put a momentary off, push button switch in series with the 240V AC supply to the power supply board. This is a much more convenient way to power cycle the boards. Has anyone tried this? Any thoughts? Ingineer: Your thoughts?

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Just do the mods on the first page of this thread and turn your Blink into a dumb EVSE. You'll have to use the car's built in timer, but that'll save you from having to replace your EVSE. A friend of mine recently did this. Blink wanted more than $300 just to look at the thing and gave him the upsell to their new model. I pointed him to this thread and now he's able to charge at home again.

Yeah, thanks. Lobotomizing the unit is an option that I will use if needed with the added advantage of lower standby current. I do like having the so called "higher functions" though. I'm on TOU2 in San Diego so I like having the double redundancy with both timers to not accidentally charge at $0.49 per kWh during peak. I'll try my reset switch and if the problem gets worse, I'll try pulling the blue connector from the logic board. Someone on the post called the Blink a "turd" and I couldn't agree more! I would never buy their new unit. It's Clipper Creek for me if I junk the Blink!

Keep in mind that the Blink old units have two problems that could result in unsafe operation.

Some of the REMA cables had bad crimps. They recently sent change to maximum 24 amps due to several meltdown damage to the vehicle incidents. Be very careful using above 3.8 kW. Preferably replace the cable.

Also the power connection block has experienced overheating problems.
See http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=14542&start=80#p331686" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.
When technicians were fixing the wiring design problems that caused unreliable operation they discovered signs of overheating on mine and replaced the unit under warranty I think it was August 2012.
I need to inspect the replacement unit to be sure it hasn't developed the same problem.
Probably best to replace the power connection block with something better though.

You really need to know what you are doing to make an old Blink safe for long term use.

I don't think the new owner is going to fix any of these problems and I think it is shameful that they will not.
Why would you buy a new Blink unit from a shameful company?

Bought a used Blink cheap and after 3 charges, it has the red screen. I unplugged the two connectors mentioned in the beginning of this post and it still will not charge. I even tried the timer button on the dash next to the steering wheel heater button and nothing. Any ideas?

I was trying to find which wires need to be resoldered that was mentioned here also, but there is a lot of wires there. Any ideas here too?

braebyrn said:

Bought a used Blink cheap and after 3 charges, it has the red screen. I unplugged the two connectors mentioned in the beginning of this post and it still will not charge. I even tried the timer button on the dash next to the steering wheel heater button and nothing. Any ideas?

I was trying to find which wires need to be resoldered that was mentioned here also, but there is a lot of wires there. Any ideas here too?

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I believe one of the common causes of that failure is a poor crimp/etc. on the current transformer that is on on the wires going to the J1772 cord. While there was a whole lot of different things going on when they serviced mine so it was hard to tell exactly what all was replaced I know one of the issues was with that. You should also see people describing an issue with it's placement and getting "interference" from other things and how moving it resolved their issues.

I did remove the crimped connectors on the coil after moving it about 1 1/2 inches away from the terminal block and re-soldered them and no change. Its really sad that I can't even make it a dumb charger!

Tomorrow, I am going to swap in another known working Blink J1772 cord and plug to see if that is the problem. Luckily I have two blink units....Any other ideas?

braebyrn said:

...Any other ideas?

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You did make sure the power cable connections to the Blink are in good shape and haven't overheated, right?
See links earlier in the thread about that issue.

If you have made it dumb and it has power and the J1772 cable is OK, then some component is probably bad and you will have to do detailed component testing to isolate the cause.

But it is possible that the cable is bad. Someone said they had theirs go bad. The design of how it is pushed into a slot for storage is poor and it failed at that point. Mine developed small tear in the flexible rubber piece at that point so I quit storing it in the slot after learning of that failure. Cable lays on box and just drape handle over top of reel. Better for the cable.

TimLee said:

braebyrn said:

...Any other ideas?

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You did make sure the power cable connections to the Blink are in good shape and haven't overheated, right?

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Yes, I checked them and looked for heat discoloration. No signs at all. Connections were all tight too.

I removed all crimped connections, soldered the connections, removed and replaced the J1772 cable with a known good working one and still have the red screen. I also again tried to use as a dumb charger, with no luck.

I have a good volt meter but do not know how to individually check components properly. Since I have another good working Blink unit, how would one go about testing each component?

Check/swap the 5VDC power supply.

113 volts going into the power supply, but nothing coming out of the bundle of blue wires. Should I be reading low voltage coming out from the blue wire connectors? The fuse is good and has 113 volts on both sides on that board. The other unit is at home, so it looks like I will bring them together and do the testing with them next to each other.......

That was it, thanks Camasleaf and others. Next, where do I get this power supply fixed, or is it just easier to buy another? I don't see any burnt or ballooned components. It says Meanwell.

braebyrn said:

I removed all crimped connections, soldered the connections, removed and replaced the J1772 cable with a known good working one and still have the red screen. I also again tried to use as a dumb charger, with no luck.

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Here's a data point for you. After I performed the lobotomy operation on my Blink, as per the OP instructions, I have a blank screen. Also mine works great now. Having a red screen is curious.