I’m toying with the idea of putting a MagSafe charger on the underside of the armrest…

[JoeDimwit]

My current thought is to hot glue it in, but I’m looking for other ideas that are minimally invasive, and therefore easily removed when it is time to move on from this car.

i have already thought about printing something, or more accurately having a friend print something, but I’m unsure how to capture the shape and build the 3D model of the part.

has anyone done anything like this? And, does anyone have an idea I’m missing?


I want to mount it under the armrest so it is out of the way and out of sight. I would use the built in wireless charging pad, but it seems that it only (barely) maintains the current charge level, and generates heat in the phone.

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[TTT]

My current thought is to hot glue it in, but I’m looking for other ideas that are minimally invasive, and therefore easily removed when it is time to move on from this car.

i have already thought about printing something, or more accurately having a friend print something, but I’m unsure how to capture the shape and build the 3D model of the part.

has anyone done anything like this? And, does anyone have an idea I’m missing?


I want to mount it under the armrest so it is out of the way and out of sight. I would use the built in wireless charging pad, but it seems that it only (barely) maintains the current charge level, and generates heat in the phone.

If you mean the car will live inside the armrest , I get that. Do not use hot glue, use adhesive silicone which you will be able to remove later without any problems.

You will not be able to mount it on the underside of the lid and set your phone on top - I don't think that's your intention but if anyone misunderstands this thread in the future - that won't work.

If you are going to put it inside the armrest though - no wireless charger will ever work as well as plugging in directly, and it will always generate more waste heat - this time inside a closed box. Plus - if its inside the armrest you will still have to run a wire into there to make it work. Once you do that the phone could easily shift off of the charger and you would never know because its hidden inside.

You would be better off to just plug in your phone.

or get a custom phone mount with a plug in base like you can find a proclip usa.

If you are intent on using wireless charging, try removing the protective case to see if it works better, and remove any apps that you aren't really using as they can be sucking down our battery faster and preventing it from making full use of the wireless charging by consuming the power before it even makes it to the battery.

If it charges better without the case you might want to switch to a Bumper instead of a full case.

All that being said I did rig up a better wireless charger in my Bolt, but it had a good place to put it where the phone could just sit in a perfect place on top of the charger no problem...

Tom

 

[Davedough]

Others have reported a lot more stable charging characteristics with the iPhone 13 on the stock wireless pad. Almost all carriers are doing really good trade deals. Might be worth looking into

 

[Kamuelaflyer]

If you mean the car will live inside the armrest , I get that. Do not use hot glue, use adhesive silicone which you will be able to remove later without any problems.

You will not be able to mount it on the underside of the lid and set your phone on top - I don't think that's your intention but if anyone misunderstands this thread in the future - that won't work.

If you are going to put it inside the armrest though - no wireless charger will ever work as well as plugging in directly, and it will always generate more waste heat - this time inside a closed box. Plus - if its inside the armrest you will still have to run a wire into there to make it work. Once you do that the phone could easily shift off of the charger and you would never know because its hidden inside.

You would be better off to just plug in your phone.

or get a custom phone mount with a plug in base like you can find a proclip usa.

If you are intent on using wireless charging, try removing the protective case to see if it works better, and remove any apps that you aren't really using as they can be sucking down our battery faster and preventing it from making full use of the wireless charging by consuming the power before it even makes it to the battery.

If it charges better without the case you might want to switch to a Bumper instead of a full case.

All that being said I did rig up a better wireless charger in my Bolt, but it had a good place to put it where the phone could just sit in a perfect place on top of the charger no problem...

Tom

It took me awhile to come to the realization that just because the iPhone 12 and later can MagSafe, charge doesn’t mean they have to. I just took to plugging my 12 ProMax in with a black 6 inch usb-Lightning patch cord. Works fine.

 

[TTT]

Others have reported a lot more stable charging characteristics with the iPhone 13 on the stock wireless pad. Almost all carriers are doing really good trade deals. Might be worth looking into

I'm an android guy, but I can tell you that the case makes a huge difference . Just that mm gap changes the charge rate dramatically.

 

[markboris]

My current thought is to hot glue it in, but I’m looking for other ideas that are minimally invasive, and therefore easily removed when it is time to move on from this car.

i have already thought about printing something, or more accurately having a friend print something, but I’m unsure how to capture the shape and build the 3D model of the part.

has anyone done anything like this? And, does anyone have an idea I’m missing?


I want to mount it under the armrest so it is out of the way and out of sight. I would use the built in wireless charging pad, but it seems that it only (barely) maintains the current charge level, and generates heat in the phone.

Funny you should mention this Joe, I was thinking the same thing. I ordered a new armrest to mess around with this idea and it will be in on Monday. The two chargers I am looking at are these and will figure out a way to have it as flush as I can under there. I want the wiring to be completely hidden and will get my power under inside the console.

https://www.amazon.com/Car-Phone-Mo...+mount+wireless+charger&qid=1633750156&sr=8-3

https://www.amazon.com/Version-Wire...mount+wireless+charger&qid=1633749846&sr=8-14

 

[Murse-In-Airy]

Funny you should mention this Joe, I was thinking the same thing. I ordered a new armrest to mess around with this idea and it will be in on Monday. The two chargers I am looking at are these and will figure out a way to have it as flush as I can under there. I want the wiring to be completely hidden and will get my power under inside the console.

https://www.amazon.com/Car-Phone-Mo...+mount+wireless+charger&qid=1633750156&sr=8-3

https://www.amazon.com/Version-Wire...mount+wireless+charger&qid=1633749846&sr=8-14

I was reading this reply without seeing who wrote it and immediately thought, “ordered a whole armrest to test a concept. This sounds like Mark. Then I looked at the author

 

[macchiaz-o]

I was reading this reply without seeing who wrote it and immediately thought, “ordered a whole armrest to test a concept. This sounds like Mark. Then I looked at the author

I wouldn't be shocked if the real reason @markboris ordered a GT PE was to more quickly get parts for his Premium.

Have fun in Hawaii, Mark. I'm just jealous. ? ?

 

[markboris]

I was reading this reply without seeing who wrote it and immediately thought, “ordered a whole armrest to test a concept. This sounds like Mark. Then I looked at the author

Haven't had a laugh like this for awhile on this forum. Thanks Rod. ?

I wouldn't be shocked if the real reason @markboris ordered a GT PE was to more quickly get parts for his Premium.

Have fun in Hawaii, Mark. I'm just jealous. ? ?

Hey Jonathan, I did have fun and returned home this morning. The REAL reason I am getting another Mach-E (and have mentioned it before) is Infinite Blue is too dark for my DD. Don't get me wrong, I really really like the color a lot but it gets dusty/dirty fast and so I'm going with Silver which was actually the color of my last two vehicles. I figured I would order the GT model as I like the looks of the front end and the only reason I am getting the PE version is the performance gray color interior which I think will look good with the silver exterior and I like sport seats. I was really hoping Ford would have put in Recaro's like in my Focus RS and GT500 but unfortunately no.

Ok Joe, this is what I came up with. I decided to tear into this project tonight and figured if I messed up the armrest, at least I have a new one coming in tomorrow.

Removing the armrest is very simple. Remove the two end caps covering the hinges, remove the two screws securing the hinges to the console and lift off the armrest. I ended up using this wireless charger mount: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08MTN8VKF/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
And this fast USB charger: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07RHSD9WM/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I wanted to mount it permanently to the underside of the armrest so it would be solid and that required drilling a 7/8" hole. I also drilled a 5/8" hole about 1/2" below the the mounting hole to run the USB cable through. Pried apart the armrest (several clips on each side) to open it up enough and see exactly where I wanted to drill the holes and to attach the mount and run the wire. All of this did not take very long, about 200 minutes. The time consuming part was where I was going to get power. My first thought and usually the way I like to wire things is tapping into a wiring loom somewhere but decided for this install to just use the 12 volt power point in the console. There is no area where you can run the USB wire along the top edge and drop down because of the channel that the console cover slides into. You have to either come in from the bottom or the back. I chose to drill a hole in the back corner right next to the bottom. You have to remove the rear of the console that have the vent registers (it just unsnaps) to run the wire from the hinge down to the hole I drilled at the back of the console storage bin.

The wireless charger mount is a slick little unit in that there is a button on each side and when you push it, it opens and closes the side brackets that hold the phone in. When you place your phone in the charger, a light turns blue when it is charging and turns red when it is not. It also has a built in battery which holds a charge to open and close the brackets in case the USB charger this mount is plugged into is not powered. That way you can still put your phone in or get it out even when there is no power.

There is plenty of room between the wireless mount and the console when the armrest is lowered. If I ever want to remove this device, I can just pop in some flat black plugs in the holes and they would not look bad at all.

 

[macchiaz-o]

Hey Jonathan, I did have fun and returned home this morning. The REAL reason I am getting another Mach-E (and have mentioned it before) is Infinite Blue is too dark for my DD. Don't get me wrong, I really really like the color a lot but it gets dusty/dirty fast and so I'm going with Silver which was actually the color of my last two vehicles.

I definitely missed your earlier explanation. Thanks for repeating for me.

Yes, I agree about IB being a bit darker (and also less blue) than I'd expected. And it does get dusty quickly.

Silver looks really great on the MME. I hope you love it! It's also a great color here in Phoenix for hiding our prevalent light beige dust. The main reason I chose a different color was from looking around and seeing that most of the cars around here are white, with silver coming in a distant second. I wanted something more unique this time.

Somehow I misread the thread title and Joe's first post. I thought he and you were looking into embedding a MagSafe charger underneath the pleather cover, so that the phone would be magnetically held and charged while sitting on top of the armrest. I didn't understand why you'd want to do that, seeing as you'd lose some use of the armrest and it'd likely be lumpy.

This makes much more sense and it's a more straightforward, clean installation. But it looks like an annoyance to insert and remove the phone?

 

[markboris]

Yes, I agree about IB being a bit darker (and also less blue) than I'd expected. And it does get dusty quickly.

Silver looks really great on the MME. I hope you love it! It's also a great color here in Phoenix for hiding our prevalent light beige dust. The main reason I chose a different color was from looking around and seeing that most of the cars around here are white, with silver coming in a distant second. I wanted something more unique this time.

Somehow I misread the thread title and Joe's first post. I thought he and you were looking into embedding a MagSafe charger underneath the pleather cover, so that the phone would be magnetically held and charged while sitting on top of the armrest. I didn't understand why you'd want to do that, seeing as you'd lose some use of the armrest and it'd likely be lumpy.

This makes much more sense and it's a more straightforward, clean installation. But it looks like an annoyance to insert and remove the phone?

Exactly my observation about IB that it was darker and less blue than I expected never seeing the color in person. I still really like the color though as it is so unique and I get a lot of complements on it. We also get quite a bit of dust here because of living in a rural area and everyone around me having cows, horses, etc. I know silver is the second most common color in vehicles (white being first) but with the black accents the Mach-E has, it looks great and will hide the dust/dirt a bit better. I like to keep my cars clean and I am getting too old to wash and detail them on a daily basis. ?

About being an annoyance to insert and remove the phone, it isn't at all. In the video I was obviously not sitting in the car as I had to start and stop my camera that was on the dash so it was kind of awkward standing outside the car doing this. Get in the car, lift up arm rest, insert phone and push side button that closes the brackets against the phone. This procedures takes just 5 seconds. Taking the phone out is a second or so faster.

Yes, it isn't as fast as throwing your phone down on the OEM wireless charging pad but it does'nt always charge without me fiddling with the position. I know I can change or remove my phone case or even improvise the charging pad area like others here have done but not interested in doing that. This wireless charger mount provides a constant, faster charge than the OEM wireless charging pad. While I know I can easily plug the phone into a USB cable, I wanted to take advantage of wireless CarPlay, which has worked flawlessly by the way, the entire time I've had the car. I like the fact the phone and charger are completly hidden while sitting in the car. Keeps the interior from looking cluttered like some of the other charger mounts do.

I added a few more photos below. First one showing the USB cable coming down from the hinge then going down and into the rear of the storage box (you cannot see it actually going in). For the floor of the storage box, I taped down the USB cable then added 1/4" foam to the underside of the little cloth floor but cut it back about 3/8" to allow the cable to run in that channel so that black cloth floor would lay flat.

 

[markboris]

After using this wireless charger mount for a couple of days, thought I would update my findings.

1. When placing the phone in the charger, I thought you had to push the button on the side to make the brackets close up on the phone but actually it senses the phone and automatically closes which is nice so you can just place the phone in there with one hand and it closes up. You only need to use the button on the side to release the phone from the charger.

2. It seemed like this new one was charging at least twice as fast as the OEM charger but it's just less than that. I took a speed test and Charger A is OEM, Charger B is the new wireless charger mount. One thing is for sure, at least it doesn't charge erratically like the OEM does.

 

[JoeDimwit]

. But it looks like an annoyance to insert and remove the phone?

This is why I am thinking of using an apple MagSafe charger.

 

[JoeDimwit]

I’m also considering just getting one of these and flush mounting the charger into that area on the left.

 

[macchiaz-o]

I’m also considering just getting one of these and flush mounting the charger into that area on the left.

Yeah that'd be nice and clean too... You'll lose easy access to most of that storage area. Just something to consider, would be fine if you don't use that area much anyway.

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