[Fabulist]

Thursday night, when I came home and plugged my Karma into my Blink charger, instead of doing the screen showing the countdown to the charging start time, the screen stayed blank and the car started charging immediately, even though the charging cycle is not supposed to start until Midnight.

I rebooted the unit a couple of times with no change. Basically, my Blink has lost all of its smarts and has become a basic charger. It still charges the car just fine, but none of advanced features work any more.

Called Blink! and they think it will cost around $450 to fix it (warranty ran out in December). So I am wondering if it is worth repairing the unit or it is cheaper to just buy a newer, cheaper one, or to just keep using it as a basic charger until it completely dies and then replace it.

If I keep using it as is, I will be paying a few cents a KWH more because the charging is going to start before midnight, but it will take a long while to accrue $450 in extra electricity cost a few cents at a time. I have also seen newer, cheaper and more sophisticated EVSE equipment coming on the market recently.

What do you folks think?

 

[Harleyguy]

Fab we have one of those smart charging stations and the LCD display died on it but charges the car fine we also rebooted the station a couple of times .Well after six weeks of not working I went and looked at it and guess what now the display is working not sure you want to go with a blink charger again. Also this charger is outdoors but its made for outdoor install

 

[Fabulist]

Fab we have one of those smart charging stations and the LCD display died on it but charges the car fine we also rebooted the station a couple of times .Well after six weeks of not working I went and looked at it and guess what now the display is working not sure you want to go with a blink charger again. Also this charger is outdoors but its made for outdoor install

Is yours a Blink! model also? I guess I should just hold off repairing it to see if it self-heals. Thanks.

 

[doug]

I'd just hold on to it. Not too many of the new EVSEs have delayed charging since most every EV has that feature built into the car.

 

[WHITE KARMA]

Hey guys I have the GE level 2 installed but i also ordered the new blinkHQ indoor and outdoor but is still in the box which one should i keep the GE or the Blink HQ ?

 

[Fabulist]

I'd just hold on to it. Not too many of the new EVSEs have delayed charging since most every EV has that feature built into the car.

Unfortunately, as you know, the Karma lacks that feature and the prospects of an update to add it seems pretty dim at this point. Still, that feature alone is not worth the cost of repair, so I will keep using the Blink as a dumb charger until it totally stops working and make a decision at that point.

 

[Fabulist]

Hey guys I have the GE level 2 installed but i also ordered the new blinkHQ indoor and outdoor but is still in the box which one should i keep the GE or the Blink HQ ?

I was very pleased with mine until it lost its smarts and became a dumb charger. Given the simplicity of the circuits inside the unit, I am very disappointed that it crapped out so quickly. I would suggest doing some research on longevity before picking one over the other. There was almost no data on that back in December 2011 but there should be some information on that now.

 

[doug]

Unfortunately, as you know, the Karma lacks that feature and the prospects of an update to add it seems pretty dim at this point. Still, that feature alone is not worth the cost of repair, so I will keep using the Blink as a dumb charger until it totally stops working and make a decision at that point.

I feel you. If you're mechanically inclined, you might just wire one of these in upstream of the EVSE.

http://www.amazon.com/Intermatic-T104-208-277-Volt-Mechanical-Switch/dp/B000BQOX88/

I'm not endorsing this specific product. It was just the first thing that came up in a search. Since the Karma is only pulling 16 amps or so, you might be able to get away with a cheaper/lighter duty unit.

This is how the old school EV folks did it.

Edit to add: Here's a cheaper one rated to 5kW
http://www.amazon.com/Intermatic-HB114C-Heavy-Appliance-Timer/dp/B000AY1KKA/

You'd want set it to come on at midnight and to shut off at say 1pm, so the shut off is sometime long after you've left or it's finished charging. The idea is to leave the high power switching to the contactors in the EVSE or in the car.