Level 2 public charger worked, but no blue light blink

Last night I charged my vehicle at a Chargepoint Level 2 charger at Disney EPCOT park. At first I thought it wasn't charging because the blue blinking light came on, but quit blinking after a couple of minutes. I unplugged the charger ($1.50 minimum charge) and replugged it in. It did the same thing, but I left it plugged in. I monitored it while I was in EPCOT through both the BMW and Chargepoint apps and the car appeared to be charging. After four hours, the i3 was about 70% charged meaning it was functioning both on the charger and i3 ends just no blue blinking light to indicate all was well.

Every time I have charged (both at home via Level 1 and at another Chargepoint site), the blue light blinks until the i3 is charged. I was wondering why this would happen. The blue blinking light is a quick way to know all is well when you walk away.

When you lock the car the blue light only blinks for a few minutes and then turns off. It will only continue to blink if the doors are left unlocked. You probably just never noticed it shut off when charging in public with the doors locked because by the time the light shut off you had already walked away from the car.

The charging indicator lights turn off after a few seconds when our i3's doors are locked despite charging proceeding normally. It would be nice if they were on whenever a J1772 plug is connected so that other EV owners would know the charging status when using a public charging station. I've noticed similar charging status lights on other charging EV's.

Is your i3 locked when you charge at home? I think I recall that the charging indicator lights remain on while charging if the doors aren't locked. If so, it makes no sense to me.

Thanks for the reply. It is unlocked in my garage. I agree that blue light = good/no blue light = not charging regardless of whether doors are locked would be a better approach.

waltsi3rex said:

Thanks for the reply. It is unlocked in my garage. I agree that blue light = good/no blue light = not charging regardless of whether doors are locked would be a better approach.

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I look at it this way...you plug things in, verify that it's working, then do you really care? Flashing the light could annoy people in a public space, and even though it's not a lot, cost more to charge the vehicle. LED's last a long time, but they do have a life as well.