Tony Williams
QC Charge
1497 Poinsettia Avenue, Suite 154
Vista, California 92081 USA
sales@QCcharge.com
www.QCcharge.com
Twitter: QCPower
1-844-EV-PARTS
1-844-387-2787
1-760-798-0342 Office
Hours M-F, 9-5 Pacific Time
wow, the more I hear about Blink, the happier I am that they do not have any service in my area. Everyone who owns one spends far too much time working on keeping them functional, and the public ones are always down as well.
Sorry to hear that it has damaged the inlet on your vehicle. I hope they can fix it quickly.
Tony, when a connector's electrical contact insulation looks melted like that the cause is usually a very high overload current, or perhaps a short circuit abnormal condition. Another possibility is a severe under voltage source condition. Did your circuit breaker trip open to your charging station? What is the output voltage & current rating of the Blink charger you're using? Is it the one on the following list Toyota says is "compatible"?
Please keep us advised on what they say at the dealership, i.e. cost to repair, how long to repair, warranty coverage, etc.
Toyota Approved - RAV4 Original Equipment:
Leviton's Level 2 (240V) 40A, 30A and 16A Toyota Program models and EVR-green series
Panasonic Level 1 Unit that comes with Rav4
Basic Compatability:
AeroVironment Level 2 EVSE-RS Blink / ECOtality Level 2 Charge Station
Charge Point / Coulomb Technologies CT2000 Series
Clipper Creek CS Series
Eaton Pow-R-Station (Commercial), EV Charging Station (Residential)
Schneider Electric EVlink Indoor Charging Station (EV2430WS)
Last edited by Dsinned on Sun Dec 09, 2012 2:45 am, edited 1 time in total.
Owner of 2012 Classic Silver RAV4 EV, 2012 Silver VOLT & 2008 Red C6 Z06
EMW JuiceBox Basic (fully optioned & customized) EVSE L2 charging station
https://enlighten.enphaseenergy.com/public/systems/TRVh161550
Blink (approved list) EVSE at 240v 30 amp (7.2kW).
No circuit breaker popped (on a dedicated 40 amp).
Toyota is flying somebody from Michigan to look at the Blink.
Dsinned wrote:Tony, when a connector's electrical contact insulation looks melted like the cause is usually a very high overload current, or perhaps a short circuit abnormal condition. ANother p;ossibility is a severe under voltage source condition. Did your circuit breaker trip open feeding your charging station? What is the output voltage & current rating of the Blink charger you were using? Is it the one on the following list Toyota says is "compatible"?
Please keep us advised on what they say at the dealership, i.e. cost to repair, how long to repair, warranty coverage, etc.
Toyota Approved - RAV4 Original Equipment:
Leviton's Level 2 (240V) 40A, 30A and 16A Toyota Program models and EVR-green series
Panasonic Level 1 Unit that comes with Rav4
Basic Compatability:
AeroVironment Level 2 EVSE-RS Blink / ECOtality Level 2 Charge Station
Charge Point / Coulomb Technologies CT2000 Series
Clipper Creek CS Series
Eaton Pow-R-Station (Commercial), EV Charging Station (Residential)
Schneider Electric EVlink Indoor Charging Station (EV2430WS)
Tony Williams
QC Charge
1497 Poinsettia Avenue, Suite 154
Vista, California 92081 USA
sales@QCcharge.com
www.QCcharge.com
Twitter: QCPower
1-844-EV-PARTS
1-844-387-2787
1-760-798-0342 Office
Hours M-F, 9-5 Pacific Time
Hi Tony
I was amazed by the photos your posted on the J1772 connectors.
I publish a newsletter on EVSE safety and compatibility issues. (my company Gridtest sells test equipment for EV Chargers)
Would you mind if I used your photos for a newsletter? Since I don't know the root cause of the issue, I won't comment on the manufacturers.
Thanks
Neal
nealroche wrote:Hi Tony
I was amazed by the photos your posted on the J1772 connectors.
I publish a newsletter on EVSE safety and compatibility issues. (my company Gridtest sells test equipment for EV Chargers)
Would you mind if I used your photos for a newsletter? Since I don't know the root cause of the issue, I won't comment on the manufacturers.
Thanks
Neal
My Rav4 was fixed under warranty, and I got a Camry rental for a week, also courtesy of Toyota. Of course, I don't think the Rav4 had anything to do with this, and IR thermometer testing indicates that another Blink/Rema handle got quite hot on one pin (opposite to my pin) on a Rav4. Keep in mind, these are only 30 amp Blinks and the Rav4 is capable of 40 amps.
The conclusion; a poorly crimped connector on the Blink/Rema charging handle. The following is not my work, nor my pictures:
"The copper wire and it's insulation are discolored and embrittled from the heat (the other side still is shiny), so it's quite obvious the crimp is defective. It's not evenly squeezed, is oblong, and the metal of the barrel was smushed in the crimper, which was a low-cost 2-jaw type. The crimps in the other handles I have had apart [Yazaki handle was pictured] are so much better, it's a world of difference."
"Here's the new 70A inlet connected to the same Blink, not it looks almost the same as the Rav4 did in my first test!"
"Here's the Blink handle:"
"I think it's safe to say the Blink has a problem on one side."
"Here's an IR thermograph of the external view of the Blink handle on the Rav4 after 2 hours of charging at 30A:"
Tony Williams
QC Charge
1497 Poinsettia Avenue, Suite 154
Vista, California 92081 USA
sales@QCcharge.com
www.QCcharge.com
Twitter: QCPower
1-844-EV-PARTS
1-844-387-2787
1-760-798-0342 Office
Hours M-F, 9-5 Pacific Time
About a week. That didn't slow me down too much, as I'm approaching 5000 miles already.
Tony Williams
QC Charge
1497 Poinsettia Avenue, Suite 154
Vista, California 92081 USA
sales@QCcharge.com
www.QCcharge.com
Twitter: QCPower
1-844-EV-PARTS
1-844-387-2787
1-760-798-0342 Office
Hours M-F, 9-5 Pacific Time
I got brave and tried a Blink station yesterday. While I don't have the Blink card yet so it cost me $2 for the 45 min I was plugged in, it seemed to work just fine.
They will all work just fine... until they don't!!!