I’m wondering how reliable Level 2 Chargers are, particularly Blink. We had one go out within 24 hours of installation. We’ve had another outage after that, of the other one. Yesterday evening, my daughter said, “Your charger’s screen is black.” I checked, and sure enough, it was dead and would not reboot. I cycled power by unplugging it and then again by tripping the breaker. Finally, I tripped the breaker between the main panel and the sub panel used by both chargers. Not only did mine remain dead, but my wife’s charger seemed to have died as well. It would get to the calibration screen and allow me to calibrate the touch screen, but never boot after that point.
I then tripped the breakers to leave them shut down all night, hoping that the problem was heat related and letting them cool down overnight would help. I called Blink at 5:52PM and asked for a tech to come out. They said they’d have someone call me to set up a time. No call back.
The next morning, I called Blink at 9:18AM and asked for a tech to come out, emphasizing that BOTH chargers were not working. They said they would “escalate” the call to their corporate support group. Again, I was told a tech would call or email to set up a time. An hour and a half later, still no call.
Imaging my frustration if I owned a pure EV! I could potentially be stranded with no call back.
Once again, around 1:50PM, I called them. I was told the issue was again being “escalated.”
I may have discovered part of the problem. On the phone calls, they asked me for a phone number where I could be reached. I gave them my iPhone number, since I was not going to be at home waiting for their call. When I got back home, around 2:00PM, I found a technician had left a voicemail message on my home phone, rather than my mobile. He left a call back number, so I called him and… got voicemail.
Tag. You’re it.
Later in the evening, I called the technician’s phone number again. Got voicemail again. Left a message again. Grrrrrrr.
It’s 10:41 at night. Both Volts are being recharged using the 110 volt chargers. Just 10 more hours to go…
**UPDATE**
I just called Blink support again (4th call) to ask why I have not been contacted yet. I explained again that I needed the technician to call my mobile number and not our home number. The support person noted this and said she would contact the “project manager” who is over the technician to “see if they could get him to reach out to me.”
I guess that worked! The tech just called and will be at my house at 1:00PM today.
**FINAL UPDATE**
The problem was that the plastic housing was squeezing the display too tightly. The units were installed last november and now that Summertime temperatures have risen, the expansion of the housing causes the display to get squeezed, preventing calibration and therefore won’t finish the boot cycle.
Questions:
What has your experience been with your Level 2 charger? What brand? How long have you had it? How many times have they gone out on you? How quickly was the issue resolved?
<I had asked this on a Facebook post. Here are some answers I received there>
Dayna Needham Love our GE Charge Station. We’ve had for about 3 weeks. No problems so far.
Wen Vaughan I am all ears as I am in the market to buy one.
Brandi Larson I think irate wouldn’t cover how upset I would be. That is exactly why I wouldn’t want to be driving a Leaf. My house is all electric and occasionally Edison shuts us off to make repairs.
Judy Huff-Lee We had an L2 Clipper Creek brand installed about 3 weeks ago and so far it has been working great.
John Koeller 19 Months with my SPX/Voltec with no problems at all.
Donald Deming Are you sure you don’t have a loose wire connection somewhere? Check with voltmeter? Considering both aren’t working, maybe it’s in the wiring to them
Donald Deming Spx Voltec here too, 16 months no issues, installed it myself
Andrew Rogers 24 months with the SPX/Voltec with no problems. It has even been moved once.
Don Moore My Blink was DOA at installation in August of last year but has been working fine since initial repairs. Since there is a ChaDemo (sp) nearby the Leaf visits there frequently and the Blink is usually charging the Volt with no issues so far. As I recall there was a real lack of response and a question of where to call for support on the dead unit. The installing electrical company was the one who came out to do repairs and that took a couple of days to get parts. I just hope that I do not have further problems.
Geoff Gommerman No problems with my SPX charge point unit.
Brant Walsh I have 2 Blinks, one started failing its self test so I called it in and Blink contacted the local electrician and they were out within 3 days. They “fixed” both of them while they were here. Swapped some parts and the SD card out. No other problems!
Dr-Raza Khan Hi Buzz -sorry to hear abuot your trouble. We have no garage so we wanted one that would over for the outdoor. We installed what was the cheapest at that time – no $$ in pocket to afford a good one – and it has been working wonderfully well for both our Leaf and Volt with no hiccups…. Keep in mind we installed this in October 11…. the price at that time was $800… we got a competitor coupon for 10% so it wsa ver nice with free shipping…. Even though it is crude, NO issues as welll….
Dr-Raza Khan I must add we did get the federal 30% and MD’s $400 credit as well on the charger….. I am extremely happy with its performance so far…. the less bells and whistles… the better they seem to be!
Jeff U’Ren 2.5 years with my SPX/ Voltec with no problems at all. Best value at $499.
Mark Polakoff I’ve got a Chargepoint CT500, no issues love the network features.
John DeMillion My Blink has been fine, knock on wood! I’ve had it for about a year now.
Matt Goodman We have an Aerovironment (AV), which is produced in the US by a CA based company. We’ve had it since February ’13 and it works great.
Jon Hutch I’ve noticed that Blink chargers are great for their reports and other information, however, they seem more finicky when compared to the less “fancy” ones. I’ve experienced problems with the touchpad and one time my Volt did not charge and I didn’t realize it until I was about to leave (4 hours later). I charge at 110 at home right now due to other issues, but nearby I have Coulomb and Clipper Creek units that I use and they never seem to have problems.
Cathy Eschenbrenner Steinbeigle 14 months with Voltec – no issues other than taking spikes in electric from ComEd every so often, but hasn’t effected the Voltec unit. Knock on wood!
Seth Totten I have the Ge charger it is the only one I know that you can turn off completely when done charging. I 1st had the voltec charge but had to have it replaced 3 times through Spx. I recommend not using SPX or the Voltec.
Brad Medcalf GE Watt Station for almost a year with no problems.
Bob Prochaska Had the VersiCharge put in a couple months ago with no problems. Comes with a three year warranty too.
Bill Wright My Blink charger has been humming for 6 mos with no issues.
G. Michael Murphy Buzz, there’s a REASON that they choose the name “Blink” and that is because that is what they are often on: “the blink” https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&rlz=1C1RNKB_enUS491US491&ion=1&ie=UTF-8#hl=en&rlz=1C1RNKB_enUS491US491&sclient=psy-ab&q=problems%20with%20blink%20chargers&oq=&gs_l=&pbx=1&fp=1e8c6f387dd6af43&ion=1&bav=on.2,or.r_cp.r_qf.&bvm=bv.46471029,d.dmQ&biw=1745&bih=868
Conrad Encarnacion Buzz Smith my chargepoint ct500 its been 10 months with no problem yet!
Conrad Encarnacion Sorry Buzz I have to agree with Michael, “Blink”.
Clayton Baker Been using a Clipper Creek lcs-25 for a few months with no problems. Install was easy, put in a switch box right next to it so i can power down the unit when not in use.
Eric Cote My 240V Voltec has been trouble free for close to 2.5 years now.
Edward Ellyatt I have two SPX Voltec units. One is on a plug for at work and portable use and the other has been installed in my garage for over 2 years with no issues. Both are used every day.
G. Michael Murphy Voltec chargers are built pretty lightly: the cords don’t like being stretched. While the coil looks cute it tends to cause the strain relief to break. I didn’t keep mine long enough to know how well the electronics hold up but I can say that it freaked out a couple of times when I used an electric drill in the garage. The electronic noise thrown into the electrical panel caused it to flash red and had to be reset by throwing the breakers. happened every time I used a Bosch 3/8″ VSR drill (brush type motor). Not a single problem with this using my GE Durastation.
Seth Totten My voltecs that I had would not work. I would plug it in & the car would honk & the green light on & when I wake up in the morning my car was not charged at all.
Craig Hydrick I have a tech coming tomorrow to install an update with a SIM card. It won’t update via net. It always works but as G. Michael advised, it’s on the Blink a lot!
Jim Ervin I have used the voltec 240v charger and have had 1 go out after a year. I have 1 at the house and another at work which are working. Don’t know if I will get another one because there is no service for it after 1 year, unless you have their over priced installer come out and do it. All you need is a filter on the circuit to better protect it. The circuit protector is an Eaton SP1-240S. I posted a pic on the pics page. Cost is where you have to decide. For $500 I installed myself with an electricians advice.
