How often does your Ford mobile charger overheat?

[DYohn]

The amber light on for any reason indicates an issue, either a circuit fault or reduced power due to over temp.

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[MCR]

We were constantly getting the flashing amber overheat issue starting around week 2 of ownership in an 80F garage with a fan blowing on the unit (supposed to be rated to something like 120F). Assuming the charger was just a dud but read enough posts about dealers wanting you to leave the car for testing the charger and didn't think it was worth the hassle. So we installed a Grizzl-E charger and haven't had any issues with it.

 

[brancky3]

We were constantly getting the flashing amber overheat issue starting around week 2 of ownership in an 80F garage with a fan blowing on the unit (supposed to be rated to something like 120F). Assuming the charger was just a dud but read enough posts about dealers wanting you to leave the car for testing the charger and didn't think it was worth the hassle. So we installed a Grizzl-E charger and haven't had any issues with it.

Same for me. Installed Grizzl-E mainly because I don't trust the dealer to do anything about the charger. Leaving the car is not an option when the failing part is NOT the car.

 

[garcigarc]

charger has been turning amber since almost the beginning prof inst on outlet builders electrician so not sure but definitely headed to dealer on the charger

 

[Up and Over]

Almost every night for the last month or so.

 

[brancky3]

charger has been turning amber since almost the beginning prof inst on outlet builders electrician so not sure but definitely headed to dealer on the charger

It's 99% the poorly designed charger. I have 2 professionally installed 14-50 outlets in my garage (separate breaker for each) and the charger overheats on both.

 

[mkhuffman]

I wonder if anyone is using the Ford portable EVSE in the summer without any overheating issues? Mine worked until it got hot. Now even 120V charging fails.

 

[RockwallRick]

We were constantly getting the flashing amber overheat issue starting around week 2 of ownership in an 80F garage with a fan blowing on the unit (supposed to be rated to something like 120F). Assuming the charger was just a dud but read enough posts about dealers wanting you to leave the car for testing the charger and didn't think it was worth the hassle. So we installed a Grizzl-E charger and haven't had any issues with it.

The FMC worked fine for me with a fan blowing directly on it. I installed a GrizzlE as well but we don’t live in a perfect world! Sometimes it requires a reset from the breaker.

 

[MG101]

Everytime it's plugged into 240. On work days I have it plugged into 120 in direct sunnlight and when I do the math it seems to give full output all day.

 

[Lmazzola]

Mine won’t charge beyond 20 mins after the update I just received . Really pisses me off not even a year old and I have to spend $500 to buy an after market charger. Charges fine at the ford dealer but not at home using the mobile ford supplied charger .

 

[PilotMark]

I agree, If the plug is getting hot enough to melt, it's a plug/wiring problem. If the wires are not seated well enough that can cause the heat. I would not use that outlet again until an electrician fixed the issue.

 

[ElectrifyCLT]

We were constantly getting the flashing amber overheat issue starting around week 2 of ownership in an 80F garage with a fan blowing on the unit (supposed to be rated to something like 120F). Assuming the charger was just a dud but read enough posts about dealers wanting you to leave the car for testing the charger and didn't think it was worth the hassle. So we installed a Grizzl-E charger and haven't had any issues with it.

Same for me. Installed Grizzl-E mainly because I don't trust the dealer to do anything about the charger. Leaving the car is not an option when the failing part is NOT the car.

Add me to the list of doing exactly what y’all did. Grizzl-E has been rock solid from the moment I hooked it up. That alone told me it wasn’t the circuit.

My dealer made me wait 6 weeks for an appointment, only for me to show up and “not have an appointment” due to a scheduling error. Then they wanted the car overnight to test.

Just wasn’t worth the time or effort.

 

[UsernameChecksOut]

Not sure if you're facing the same issue I had. My mobile charger was turning amber and as a result, the car would display the full red ring next to the charge port, stopping charges pretty soon after I plugged in my vehicle.

I took my car to the dealership and they said I needed some software updates. After getting these updates, my car would successfully charge again without stopping with the red ring. HOWEVER, it turns out that my mobile charger was still continuously going into and out of the amber light mode (and back and forth to blue every few minutes).

When I checked the speed of charging it looked like I was getting only 1 kWH of charge per hour on the Ford Mobile Charger. I decided I had enough of this and bought myself a Grizzl-E charger, plugged into the same NEMA 14-50 outlet (50 Amp breaker). I'm now getting something like 8 kWH of charge per hour consistently.

Turns out that the software updates to the car allowed it to be more resilient to faults/issues with the Ford Mobile Charger, but it was just a band-aid over a dying Ford Mobile Charger. I'm taking the charger to my Ford dealership this upcoming week, but I'm now fairly convinced that this mobile charger is not fit as a regular/continuous-use charger.

 

[brancky3]

... but I'm now fairly convinced that this mobile charger is not fit as a regular/continuous-use charger.

Even not as continuous use, if it can't charge a car from 50-90% without overheating, it's 100% useless. Imagine plugging in overnight during a road trip on a 240v outlet only to find out you only got 20% charge in 10 hours.

 

[DR.J56]

Ford Mobile charger has been overheating frequently and thank goodness I was keeping an eye on it as it almost started a fire it was super hot to the touch and the outlet melted onto the charger headed to local ford dealer first thing Monday morning as I no longer feel safe using this charger in my home

I would blame the outlet on this one, not the EVSE. BOTH the pig tail and outlet need replaced at this point. I’m sure Ford will tell you the same.

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