How often does your Ford mobile charger overheat?

[RickMachE]

Need to push the dealers to replace the charger under its 3 year warranty. They can test it all day long on their required 14-50 outlet and any Mach-E or Lightning or Transit.

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[UsernameChecksOut]

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.

When the car and charger were both new, it did work consistently. It lasted probably 4-5 months like this plugged in and charging 20-30% of my battery daily without issue.

But looking at the Ford Mobile Charger construction itself (compactness/lack of heat ventilation space and slim charging cable) you can see how this wouldn’t hold up over time in comparison to a true wall box charger.

Based on what I read from this forum I’ll get a replacement mobile charger and keep that just for emergencies. Otherwise these things are likely to have a much shorter lifespan if used day in and day out.

 

[JayGanz]

Based on my experience, the blue+amber light cycling is an issue with the FMC itself. After much hassling with Ford and 2 dealers, I eventually was given a replacement FMC under warranty. My original FMC started acting up after a few months of use one to two times per week. The dealer was absolutely useless. They had my car for a week and did nothing (unless you consider ignoring all of the information I gave them to be doing something).

i bought a Grizzle-E for regular use and relegated the FMC as a back up.

 

[Dave-O]

The FMC is useless when it’s hot out. Never expected to rely on it anyways. Installed a Grizzl-e on day one.

 

[mach-e-waiting]

Good Morning
Mach-E charger in use since Feb, now the Blue-Amber light
inside a garage and not that hot in San Jose, CA

Looks to me that the Grizzl-E is a nice "dumb" charger with now web interface or app etc. All the brains are in the Car right ?
Still happy with the Grizzle-E ?

 

[hack-e]

I've had the blue-amber issue since I got my MME 3 months ago, like others. I find it interesting that a similar issue happens on the Charge Station Pro EVSE and Darren Palmer mentioned in an interview on a State of Charge Youtube channel video that they tracked it down to the temperature sensing on the supply conductors being too sensitive and that an update is being pushed to those units to loosen the tolerance, which they can do since they are "connected". I wonder if the FMC is likewise set too sensitive? But if it is, I guess there's no way to update it.

I thought it was overheating because of our 50+ days of 100+F temperatures here, but I even pulled my MME inside my company's high bay where it's air conditioned and it still gets amber.

I ended up buying an Emporia EVSE (for price, UL listed, and amps adjustable through app, monitoring) last week and so far it's worked better than the FMC on the same NEMA 14-50R.

 

[JoeDimwit]

The FMC does work. That said, it really isn’t designed to be your daily charging solution.

 

[mkhuffman]

It's designed for winter use only.

 

[mach-e-waiting]

My Ford supplied EVSE started the Blue-Amber blink after a few months of use.
My Electrical is brand new installed by Lic Electrician
I bought a Grizzl-e and it draws 40 amps ( vs 32 amps for Ford) and it works 100%
Since Grizzle-e draws more amps than Ford I think this verifies that socket and wiring are good

Am now arguing with Ford dealership for a replacement EVSE. Dealership has NO 14-50 outlets all of their L-2 EVSE are hardwired so they are unable to test ( frown)

 

[macheavelli]

Has anyone found any tricks to get the dealer to replace the mobile charger without having to bring the car in for a week?

Had recurring charge failures with one FMC. Bought another that was working but now is doing orange and blue.

 

[mkhuffman]

Has anyone found any tricks to get the dealer to replace the mobile charger without having to bring the car in for a week?

Had recurring charge failures with one FMC. Bought another that was working but now is doing orange and blue.

I think Ford should replace all of the crappy chargers with good ones, but that won't happen. So I think we should just buy what we need and move on. IMO.

 

[Up and Over]

All. The. Time.

 

[thesloth]

It’s been almost a year since the last post here and i am wondering if there is any update on this?

Has Ford acknowledged the problem? Are replacement FMCs more reliable? Is there an easier way to get it replaced on warranty if you contact the right or quote some bulletin?

I have been using the FMC for about a year without a problem when I noticed the Amber light in June. Now it flips back and forth between 3 kW and 7 kW while charging slowing things down.

Thanks,

 

[MisterSofa]

I have been using my Ford charger for 9 months now. No issues yet

 

[Haven]

There are other posts on this topic as well if you search for Amber. The bottom line is take it to the dealer and tell them the error codes you’re getting and you want it replaced under warranty. They will need to test it with your vehicle so you will need to leave your vehicle too. I’ve heard of some dealers not even bothering to test as they have seen this issue and replacing the charger.

It happened to me and they gave me a new charger. If your dealer can’t test it with 240v, find one that can. My dealer first tested it with 120v because they didn’t have 240 plug to test it. Apparently several other EV owners had problems and they installed 240 so they could test. I was just about to go to another dealer.

Good luck.

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