Mods for the Blink EVSE ! (was Fix)

[DaveEV]

The contactor on my Blink has trouble closing lately, rattling loudly, making contact finally but sometimes not. I want to try to replace it but unsure what coil voltage I should get as there is no letter that designates the coil on the part.

Per Eaton catalog some of the coil types:
C25DNF240A - 110-120V ac
C25DNF240B - 208-240V ac
C25DNF240T - 24V ac
C25DNF2401T - 24V DC

I suspect it is the "B" 208-240V coil as there is no neutral coming in and use of lower voltages or DC seems unlikely, anyone can confirm?

Yes, that's the one you want. I had to replace the contactor on mine a while back as one of the contactor's contacts started overheating.

PS - Anyone want to buy a Blink EVSE? Works perfectly now at 30A now that the contactor's been replaced and the handle doesn't show any signs of the overheating due to poor crimps that others have reported.

[Valdemar]

The contactor on my Blink has trouble closing lately, rattling loudly, making contact finally but sometimes not. I want to try to replace it but unsure what coil voltage I should get as there is no letter that designates the coil on the part.

Per Eaton catalog some of the coil types:
C25DNF240A - 110-120V ac
C25DNF240B - 208-240V ac
C25DNF240T - 24V ac
C25DNF2401T - 24V DC

I suspect it is the "B" 208-240V coil as there is no neutral coming in and use of lower voltages or DC seems unlikely, anyone can confirm?

Yes, that's the one you want. I had to replace the contactor on mine a while back as one of the contactor's contacts started overheating.

PS - Anyone want to buy a Blink EVSE? Works perfectly now at 30A now that the contactor's been replaced and the handle doesn't show any signs of the overheating due to poor crimps that others have reported.

Thanks! I popped the front cover from the contactor yesterday and the contacts looked good, no signs of overheating. I guess replacing the contactor would be the easiest first attempt and they can be had for $20-30 on eBay, so that's what I'll try first if the problem persists. Not sure if it can be taken apart, it may just need a good cleaning. Of course the real fix would be to get a new EVSE, but I'm not ready to invest into one given there is a good chance we will not be getting another EV when the Leaf is retired in a couple of years. The Blink served me well so far, no major issues, I need to power cycle it to fix the frozen screen like once a year, apart from that it has been rock solid, for 16A charging anyway.

[GlennD]

I have never seen a real life unit. I have just purchased cables on eBay. I think that setting the un=its t0 24A helped a lot. I received a cable with appalling Crimps that was unburned.

On the contsctor side it the contacts look clean than I would not replace it. Instead I would meter the contacts. There is no point in replacing a good unit,

[Valdemar]

On the contsctor side it the contacts look clean than I would not replace it. Instead I would meter the contacts. There is no point in replacing a good unit,

That's what I think too. What it likely means then I'd have to take the thing apart and replace the smaller relay on the PCB, which is more work

[GlennD]

heck across the contactor coil to see if it has voltage first. I use keying relays on the DIY openEVSE boards and I have never had one fail. The non-DIY version has a built in solid state driver.

[GlennD]

s understand it earlier in this thread there is instructions on making the unit dumb. you might want to kill its intelligence first and see what happens.

[Valdemar]

heck across the contactor coil to see if it has voltage first. I use keying relays on the DIY openEVSE boards and I have never had one fail. The non-DIY version has a built in solid state driver.

There is definitely voltage across the coil as the contactor is trying to close when this happens. If anything I should measure current as the small relay contacts may have developed high resistance due to arcing. As I mentioned it is very intermittent, it may not happen for weeks, then suddenly it is stuttering for several times in a row, then it is fine again. Hard to troubleshoot properly. Some debris came out when I blew compressed air into the contactor, that could have been it. The "smarts" are working, it is the "dumbs" that are not.

[Nubo]

heck across the contactor coil to see if it has voltage first. I use keying relays on the DIY openEVSE boards and I have never had one fail. The non-DIY version has a built in solid state driver.

There is definitely voltage across the coil as the contactor is trying to close when this happens. If anything I should measure current as the small relay contacts may have developed high resistance due to arcing. As I mentioned it is very intermittent, it may not happen for weeks, then suddenly it is stuttering for several times in a row, then it is fine again. Hard to troubleshoot properly. Some debris came out when I blew compressed air into the contactor, that could have been it. The "smarts" are working, it is the "dumbs" that are not.

Replacing the relay would seem like the surest path to reliability.

[davewill]

There is definitely voltage across the coil as the contactor is trying to close when this happens. If anything I should measure current as the small relay contacts may have developed high resistance due to arcing. As I mentioned it is very intermittent, it may not happen for weeks, then suddenly it is stuttering for several times in a row, then it is fine again. Hard to troubleshoot properly. Some debris came out when I blew compressed air into the contactor, that could have been it. The "smarts" are working, it is the "dumbs" that are not.

You might have fixed it. I'd be tempted to wait for it to fail again, before replacing parts. My Blink is still going strong. I had to replace the cord and handle a few years back, but it's been charging my RAV4EV @ 30a for years with no complaints. I open it up every now and then to be sure the connections inside are ok. It's going to be charging my Model 3 once it gets here. The Rav will be using an OpenEVSE I bought from GlennD a few years back.

It's kind of trippy to log into my Blink account and see 8 years of charging history collected.

[Valdemar]

Yup, I'm gong to wait until it happens again, hopefully never My wi-fi module stopped working a while back, no charging history for me.