Ford Mobile Charger, Intermittent Amber Warning Light

[Gooner54]

Is the overtemp led an indication of a heating problem inside the Ford Mobile Charger or the car internal system

I've been having the same issue for the last two weeks. Getting the light on and I'm also getting multiple charging faults every day. tested my outlet, and its working fine.

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[ReRe]

I had the same issue only I woke up thinking the car was charged and it did not charge at all. Got home that night actually needing it to charge for the next day and noticed that the wall unit was amber (yellow). After making sure the breaker was okay, I decided to take it out of the plug and plug the unit back in. The blue line came back and I was back to charging as normal. No problems since. I have not noticed any hot issues and I live in Alabama and it is 90' + here.

 

[dono]

I've been working on this issue for going on three months. If you read the owners manual amber and blue lights together indicate charger is over heating and you should " contact us". I assume "us" is Ford motor company. I did that and they made me take the vehicle and charger in for service. After two hours the dealer said they don't have a nema 14-50 outlet to test with. Ford said I had to find another dealer. I did and they had two outlets OK good setup appointment got there and neither were nema 14-50. They couldn't test it either. Meanwhile I did my own testing. Using an inrfared thermometer and an OBDII dongle I verified that the 240 VAC outlet & pigtail was not warm at all, 60 degrees, High temp would have indicate high resistance due to poor connections. the middle of the charger was warm not hot 95 degrees.
The OBDII readings show 239 vac at the input again proving no voltage drop due to poor connections an internal temp of 113 degrees, causing it to decrease output to 3 KW pulling only 15 amps. Normal is 6.9 KW @ 30 amps, it throttles back at 100 degrees. Every time I charge I send an update to Ford but they have now ghosted me. I'll admit two times since mid March, when I first noticed this it charged without the amber light illuminating. I have also charged using a different 14-50 outlet just to be sure and it had the same issue.

 

[johnhofy]

You can get a “wall unit” that plugs in.

Hi Susan. Can you give me some info on the wall unit that plugs in? Thanks, John

 

[Maquis]

Hi Susan. Can you give me some info on the wall unit that plugs in? Thanks, John

https://www.amazon.com/Grizzl-Charger-Premium-Regular-Charging/dp/B08Q22651D/ref=sr_1_5?

and don’t call me Shirley…or Susan. ?

 

[Mach-Lee]

I've been working on this issue for going on three months. If you read the owners manual amber and blue lights together indicate charger is over heating and you should " contact us". I assume "us" is Ford motor company. I did that and they made me take the vehicle and charger in for service. After two hours the dealer said they don't have a nema 14-50 outlet to test with. Ford said I had to find another dealer. I did and they had two outlets OK good setup appointment got there and neither were nema 14-50. They couldn't test it either. Meanwhile I did my own testing. Using an inrfared thermometer and an OBDII dongle I verified that the 240 VAC outlet & pigtail was not warm at all, 60 degrees, High temp would have indicate high resistance due to poor connections. the middle of the charger was warm not hot 95 degrees.
The OBDII readings show 239 vac at the input again proving no voltage drop due to poor connections an internal temp of 113 degrees, causing it to decrease output to 3 KW pulling only 15 amps. Normal is 6.9 KW @ 30 amps, it throttles back at 100 degrees. Every time I charge I send an update to Ford but they have now ghosted me. I'll admit two times since mid March, when I first noticed this it charged without the amber light illuminating. I have also charged using a different 14-50 outlet just to be sure and it had the same issue.

EV certified dealers must have NEMA 14-50 outlets for this reason, if they don't please report these dealers to Ford for not being compliant with the charger directive.

 

[S.B.]

So I can finally follow up on my experience with my amber charger fault and say my charger was finally replaced. I think I need to pick my battles better as this one was harder than I expected—harder than it should have been at any rate. After months of trying to address the issue with my slow amber-lighted charger, I was again told by my dealership -after having it there for two days, that there was nothing wrong with the charger. My response was that I could follow with my app and I know that they didn’t even charge my vehicle with it, so how could they say it was working? I almost gave up on Ford completely, but then worked with a Ford agent who helped by finding me another dealership that was willing to really check into it. This customer experience specialist followed up with me to make sure my issue was resolved this time. I am not planning to use my new functioning charger on a routine basis again; however, I just wanted a fully functional one to have if ever needed.
Now I just have to get my recall done. I waited too long I guess, and can’t find anyone within 100 miles of me that is still willing to do these. I am planning to travel 150 miles to have it done but have been waiting weeks for parts. That’s another story though……

 

[VirgilBoy21MME]

I have run into this same issue recently. Tried unplugging from the Mach-E, unplugging from 240v receptacle, removing 240v connector from control box and reconnecting, toggled circuit breaker off and on.

So I borrowed a neighbour's Ford Mobile Charger from his brand new Mach-E. Left charging for 90 minutes with no amber LED coming on. Ambient temperature was higher than when my charger had the issue. The amber had been coming on in much less than the 90 minute test I did.

My dealer has nicely ordered a replacement without their own test in the shop being required. It must be my honest face!.

 

[1969Camaro]

marginal design. It cant take any heat. I had to go with the GrizzlE since my charge time went from 7 hrs to 15+. Sometimes it had a charge fault and it just stopped. Imagine if you were leaving for a trip with an ICE mobile and filled up your tank the night before only to find the tank empty in the morning.

 

[Oklahomabear]

So I noticed something odd, maybe a little concerning, today. I plugged in my MME for a charge. Everything seemed normal. I was out in the garage doing something else and noticed the MME sounded "louder" than normal. Almost like the fans were blowing (temp regulating the batteries?). So I looked at my mobile charger and the amber/yellow light was lit along with the blue light. I watch it for a few seconds and it goes away and goes back to just the normal blue light.

So I naturally stop the charge and unplug everything. I unplug the mobile charger from the 14-50 wall outlet. I pull out the plug pig tail make sure there's no obstructions and push it back in and make sure it is fully seated. Replug everything back up and plug in my MME again. Then I sit there and wait.... (because I'm OCD). 10 minutes or so go by, I look at the app and it said 8:40pm til full charge (seemed about right for my charge level). Then the amber light kicked on. I was able to catch an update in the app and it now says 9:36pm til full charge. 20 or so seconds go by, the amber light goes off on its own. App now is back down to 8:40pm.

I have no idea what to make of all of this. Is it potentially an issue with my mobile charger? Is it possibly just the hot humid temps causing some sort of over temperature foldback? Should I be concerned with my plug wiring (it was installed by an electrician, but I had to move the plug outlet to a better location and rotate it 90 degrees and I did that myself with an electrical engineer friend)? Or am I just being paranoid?

I can't say I've ever noticed this before. But I usually just plug it in and walk away. I just happened to see it this time. I took some pictures, but of course the phones never show LED lights in the right colors.

Keep a fan on it and only hooked in on the bottom of the cradle. It lacks air flow and heats up to much

 

[Wimer]

Hey I had the same issue. It's over heating and cutting power. It's rated for 7kw when the yellow lights on it goes down to 5kw. And if hot enough goes down to 3kw. I complained and they sent me a new one

How did you go about getting a new one, because I just noticed this amber warning light as well?

 

[Mike G]

I'm not sure this is a defect. The owner's manual clearly states that when the left segment is amber and the center blue is pulsing with no right side red segment the charging is being reduced because the unit is overheated. When it cools back down it goes back to a full rate of charging.

I've been using the same portable charger that came with my '21 Mach-E for two years now to charge both the Mach-E and the Lightning I have, and it still works fine. It gets warm, slows down until it cools off, and then goes back to a full rate of charge. Again, this is all in the owner's manual and as long as you're actually getting a charge and not getting any other indications this should be considered normal behavior. I don't know what the fuss is about. This thing was never intended to stay cool and provide a full rate of charge under all temperature conditions at all times.

 

[Maquis]

I'm not sure this is a defect. The owner's manual clearly states that when the left segment is amber and the center blue is pulsing with no right side red segment the charging is being reduced because the unit is overheated. When it cools back down it goes back to a full rate of charging.

I've been using the same portable charger that came with my '21 Mach-E for two years now to charge both the Mach-E and the Lightning I have, and it still works fine. It gets warm, slows down until it cools off, and then goes back to a full rate of charge. Again, this is all in the owner's manual and as long as you're actually getting a charge and not getting any other indications this should be considered normal behavior. I don't know what the fuss is about. This thing was never intended to stay cool and provide a full rate of charge under all temperature conditions at all times.

It’s not normal. The specs state full capability at 50C 40C (IIRC) ambient temp. I’ve used mine in the summer when it was 100F and have never gotten the amber light. Some people even get it when charging outdoors in the winter.

Edit…it’s rated to 40C, not 50.

 

[Mike G]

It’s not normal. The specs state full capability at 50C 40C (IIRC) ambient temp. I’ve used mine in the summer when it was 100F and have never gotten the amber light. Some people even get it when charging outdoors in the winter.

Edit…it’s rated to 40C, not 50.

I get the occasional amber chiclet even when it's freezing outside.

I guess I'll dig out one of the other two I own and see if either one of those do the same thing. Regardless it's been charging both vehicles without any issues for two years now.

 

[Mach-Lee]

I get the occasional amber chiclet even when it's freezing outside.

I guess I'll dig out one of the other two I own and see if either one of those do the same thing. Regardless it's been charging both vehicles without any issues for two years now.

Yeah you shouldn’t be getting an amber light unless it’s 100+F outside.

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