Blink EVSE blows out a pin on the Rav4 connector

[camasleaf]

If anyone has a Rema connector that melted the pins, but still has the outer case intact, then I would like to buy it. I have the old Blink/Rema connector that I cracked the case and broke the locking mechanism and I would like to fix it. I do not need the cable or pins. Just cut the cable at the connector. Thank you.

 

[mhrossowyc]

Encountered a big issue today when charging with our Blink charger at work. Looks like there was a short or fire between the plug on my 2014 Rav4 and the Blink connector. One of the terminals from the blink charger fused to my plug and melted. The terminal pin is still inside my plug rending my plug un-useable.

Of course I have engaged Blink and submitted a report with them. I am currently waiting on their response.

Has anyone else had a similar issue?

I have an appt with my local Toyota dealer for the repair.

Should I blame Toyota or Blink or both?

Marc

Pictures here: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ntgk8netxvjhptc/AAARFRXFkaN3IRuQOFeN7o0qa?dl=0

 

[TonyWilliams]

Should I blame Toyota or Blink or both?

Marc

Pictures here: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ntgk8netxvjhptc/AAARFRXFkaN3IRuQOFeN7o0qa?dl=0

You can blame whoever you like, but this issue is AT LEAST four years old. They modified the RAV4 EV inlet so that it is easy for the dealer to swap out. If you're within warranty, they might do it for free. Officially, Blink was removed from the Toyota "list" of approved / tested charge stations in the summer of 2013, so they could just make you pay for the repairs on your car.

Blink is owned by Car Charging Group for the past 3 years or so, and they are broke, and likely to be bankrupt any day (short of a hail mary investor, or some easy government cash). You're probably going to get nothing from them except frustrated. It sounds like you don't own the charge station, so it sounds even more complicated.

You could sue them, win a judgement, and then before you collect, they liquidate. You get less than 1 penny to the dollar of your judgement in bankruptcy court years down the road.

My advice. Get your car fixed, either warranty or otherwise, and STOP USING BLINK CHARGE STATIONS !!!

If Toyota can't replace your Yazaki J1772 inlet for a reasonable price, we can get one for you. It won't take 30 minutes to swap out.

If this damaged the onboard charger in some way, good luck.

 

[mhrossowyc]

Tony,

Thanks for the info and moving the post.

Marc

 

[mhrossowyc]

Toyota is refusing to cover this as warranty work and want to charge $700 for a new plug. Still trying to get somewhere with Blink. They claim to have sent emails but I have never received any from them.

Since Toyota is not willing to cover, I am going to push hard for Blink.

Marc

 

[TonyWilliams]

Toyota is refusing to cover this as warranty work and want to charge $700 for a new plug. Still trying to get somewhere with Blink. They claim to have sent emails but I have never received any from them.

Since Toyota is not willing to cover, I am going to push hard for Blink.

Marc

Well, again, we can probably get this taken care of for a fraction of what Toyota wants. You would have to send us you damaged inlet, and that is predicated on it being the newer version that is easy to pop out.

If it is not, then the traction battery has to be dropped. $700 might be a bargain!!!

 

[asavage]

I had a failure of a QC Charge J-Plug 40A J-1772 nozzle last week. it was purchased Aug2017 via the OpenEVSE Store, supplied as part of their "Advanced" 40A EVSE kit (assembled, in my case, by them).

More details here and here.

Boils down to a failed crimp on a socket-to-twin-12ga-wires connection.




At home, I'd disconnected near the end of a 1.5 hour charge session, and smelled hot plastic. First IR measurement was 200°F ! By the time I could get a picture, it had dropped a bit:




Sockets looked OK:




I opened the nozzle, and . . . uh, oh:




Fried insulation on the two black high-current 12ga wires:












It's discouraging to see fasteners installed that aren't corrosion-resistant, as I live near Seattle, and it's unreasonable to expect to only charge in dry locations when everything outdoors is wet most of the year. But water wasn't a contributing factor here (other than to accelerate the copper corrosion, as it broke down due to the heat). It's a failed crimp. I'm not trained to inspect this type of crimp connection, but I'd hazard it's possibly been overcrimped.

I replaced the nozzle and cable assy., as the bare nozzles aren't a lot of fun to replace unless one has access to the correct crimper, and while I own around a thousand bucks of crimpers and dies, I don't have this one and figured investing in more dies for a one-shot repair wasn't economical. I bought the next capacity larger nozzle & cable: 48A, as opposed to this failed 40A. (choose "48A" from the combo box near the Cart button); $219 plus tax, shipping, etc. That's almost half of what I paid for the whole EVSE in 2017!

 

[davewill]

You were lucky, I didn't notice until the heat had done damage to my inlet. Luckily, Toyota covered it under my extended warranty. I went with the Leviton 30a cable and connector to repair my OpenEVSE (the same one I put on my Blink a long time ago). It's a much more solid cable and plug than the 40a J-Plug was. I honestly feel that there isn't much need to use 40a charging on the Rav4EV, only risk in damaging it again at some point.

 

[asavage]

I'm no longer receiving email alerts to my subscribed topics, so I'm seeing this late.

I never needed 40A charging when I was commuting, but conversely, now that it looks like I've retired, I am doing a lot less routine/planned drives and many more ad-hoc and unusual round-trips. I have an OpenEVSE at three endpoints, all set to 40A delivery, and I'm using them much more than I ever did when working.

The 48A nozzle & cable is not quite as flexible as the 40A J-Plug was, but it's not hard to use, and it doesn't get above ambient after an hour of 38+A delivery, so I should be good for a while there.

I may have to update one or both of the other OpenEVSEs, though; I'm definitely going to be testing for heat-up of those periodically! One good thing: those other EVSEs are v5 or v5.5, so the replacement cable/nozzle will be a bit easier to replaced, due to the lead lengths.