The First Blink

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sparky

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 23, 2010
Messages
745
Location
SoCal
Right on time, at 7am, Mike and Chris from Sunwest Electrical came this morning to install my Blink EVSE.
Also, an Ecotality mgr, Bill came by to document the install and check out how things went as this Blink is evidently the first residential install. The upshot is, the Sunwest guys were great, very professional and efficient and I cannot emphasize enough how thorough they were with getting me to Level-2. In fact, when they we were all done, I let a couple of them take turns behind the wheel to see how much fun the LEAF is to tool around in.

First the easy part; my install has to be one of the easiest-- From the photo, everything was there already except the Blink itself. They changed out the socket to a different NEMA type and fixed a ground wire connection that I had not properly tied, bolted the unit to the wall (and torqued the screws!) and that was it. The unit was then put on a tester and run through a variety of modes before we did the acid test and hooked up the LEAF. All went fine.


blink4.jpg



Now the hard part; the Blink has a network connection for detailed monitoring of EVP members energy consumption etc. That requires either a LAN connection, WiFi or if all else fails, they can activate a CDMA service (which they pay for). They brought their own Cisco wireless router which we connected via Cat-5 cable to my Airport Extreme (this Airport was setup as a repeater). No dice. They must have messed with settings for an hour before finally disconnecting the Cisco and selecting my router as the internet connection. That seemed to work fine but it seems the network settings aren't saved through power cycles, not good if you need to clear a fault by power cycling and then have to go through the whole config process all over again. I suspect this is all a matter of a SW upgrade and this issue will be gone. Sure hope so.

Lastly, I got an error code within minutes of doing the "what happens if I try this?" operation.
Charging continues even with the error code which is a good thing. In fact, it seems none of the network stuff gets in the way of the basic charging functions so I'm optimistic that as far as my needs go, this will work fine. However, I anticipate Ecotality will be working on connectivity/control issues with for awhile still.

Installers, Mike and Chris bright and early at 7am:
blink3.jpg



The last photo shows the error code I got when I hit "Stop Charging" while the unit was connected but not in fact charging since my LEAF was in "Charging Timer Mode". It was only cleared after power cycling the Blink.
blinkerror.jpg
 
csriram45 said:
That unit really looks nice. Envy all you free EVSE ppl. wish Bay Area was one of the cities. Nice install.

It is a nice display. I can't wait to get mine.....and see how much power it draws in standby mode!! :?
 
BTW, I emailed Ecotality about the Blink error screen etc and the next day, Rob from Ecotality came to my house with a firmware upgrade on an SD card. Nice service!
No more error screens so far.
Rob indicated the majority of upgrades will be done over the network connection but in this case the SD card sufficed and he could also inspect this first Blink installation.
The Blink user portal is not yet online but when it is I believe I'll have access to my energy stats.
Jimmy, as far as the energy use, I suspect it's more than a couple watts since the display stays lit. I'll check the standby power when my TED MTI gets here.
 
I am looking forward to my replacement EVES for my temp unit changed to a BLINK. I am hopeful to have it installed before I get my LEAF in 2 or 3 weeks.
 
Nice, Sparky...

Did they lock the unit upon leaving? I was wondering if we'll have access in case anything comes up....

Thanks, Randy
 
Let's see: Hardhats, check; Orange vests, check; Area roped off, check... The only thing they're missing is the biohazzard suits, but I guess they only need those in certain garages. :)
 
Randy said:
Nice, Sparky...

Did they lock the unit upon leaving? I was wondering if we'll have access in case anything comes up....

Thanks, Randy
They left a cute little "Blink lock". I guess that's understandable, since they own this unit for another two years.

blinklock.jpg
 
Did they say anything about unplugging the unit?? Or is that a condition that would cause a complete rentering of all the wifi data, etc??
 
Jimmydreams said:
Did they say anything about unplugging the unit?? Or is that a condition that would cause a complete rentering of all the wifi data, etc??
I have a cutout switch right next to the unit which does the same thing as unplugging it. The Wifi and other config info is supposed to be saved through power outages. I haven't tested this latest version yet but I'm sure that will be the default mode.
BTW, I measured the standby power to be ~12 W (±TED MTU accuracy)
 
Kataphn said:
Sparky, how much e hose did they leave you? I am going to need about 22 feet to reach across the driveway from the unit.
Kataphn, you're gonna want much more cable than this Blink unit has. This unit is spec'd at 18 ft and that is why I moved my 240V EV junction box to another wall in the garage. At 18 ft I wouldn't be able to connect to a car in the driveway. AV's 25 ft line was gonna be just enough if I didn't want the strain of all that copper strung in the air.
The cable on this unit is about 17 ft from Blink to J1772 tip. So, you'll need to find out if you can get a longer line.
I think that's one thing I would strongly suggest to Blink, 17 ft doesn't allow many options for where the car can be parked at the home.
 
We already asked Bill at ECO about a longer e hose and he said it wasn't available. We were wondering if that has anything to do with the UL listing?

Anyways, not available...
 
sparky said:
Kataphn said:
Sparky, how much e hose did they leave you? I am going to need about 22 feet to reach across the driveway from the unit.
Kataphn, you're gonna want much more cable than this Blink unit has. This unit is spec'd at 18 ft and that is why I moved my 240V EV junction box to another wall in the garage. At 18 ft I wouldn't be able to connect to a car in the driveway. AV's 25 ft line was gonna be just enough if I didn't want the strain of all that copper strung in the air.
The cable on this unit is about 17 ft from Blink to J1772 tip. So, you'll need to find out if you can get a longer line.
I think that's one thing I would strongly suggest to Blink, 17 ft doesn't allow many options for where the car can be parked at the home.

Well....this is good to know! Just means I will have to park in the more desireable spot in the driveway always which is closest to where the Blink will be. Should make for some interesting negotiations at home! I was hoping to be able to park in either of the 2 spots that we have.
 
I think ... the USA EVSE standards allow up to 8 meters (25 feet).
I do not know of any US EVSE offering longer than 25 feet.

But, I vaguely remember being surprised of reading about one EVSE offering more, but it might have been one for Japan.
 
Sparky,

How is the Blink screen. I found it unresponsive when I tried it last month. Is it a resistive or capacitive lcd ?

Does it show any data on charging ?
 
Sparky-
So you said they're using your WiFi network to connect back to their servers. I'm not sure of your technical background but can you sniff it? If you don't, PM me and I'll send you some instructions. Maybe do a "reboot" on the box and sniff?

I'm very interested in their protocol and they're encryption. (Suspecting SOAP over HTTPS).

Thanks!
-Syntaxerror
 
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