Phone gets hot on wireless charging pad?

[SuperFord]

Took delivery of my FE this week. I LOVE it!

I am a bit curious if anyone else is experiencing issues with their wireless charging pad?

my admittedly wonky (lately) iPhone 12 Pro Max gets very warm to downright hot when I leave it on the center console wireless charger. Doesn’t seem to charge much either. I am using Apple CarPlay while driving, but can’t imagine this is functioning as intended with the heat & very little charging detected. It shows that it is charging on the phone & on the SYNC touchscreen but never seems to add much to my phone’s state of charge.

not sure if this a device issue or a Bronco issue. I don’t normally wirelessly charge at home or work so I don’t have a point of reference to compare it to.

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[BigFootie]

Took delivery of my FE this week. I LOVE it!

I am a bit curious if anyone else is experiencing issues with their wireless charging pad?

my admittedly wonky (lately) iPhone 12 Pro Max gets very warm to downright hot when I leave it on the center console wireless charger. Doesn’t seem to charge much either. I am using Apple CarPlay while driving, but can’t imagine this is functioning as intended with the heat & very little charging detected. It shows that it is charging on the phone & on the SYNC touchscreen but never seems to add much to my phone’s state of charge.

not sure if this a device issue or a Bronco issue. I don’t normally wirelessly charge at home or work so I don’t have a point of reference to compare it to.

It’s an issue with the charger IMO. I had a similar issue with one used inside the home. A different brand works much better. On the other, if it was perfectly placed, no issues. But if not, no charging and makes a nice hand warmer of the phone. You can try removing the case if you have one but I didn’t find that helped much if at all.

 

[8421dave]

My iPhone 12 Pro connects and charges for about 2 minutes while in the case. Out of the case it connects and stays connected but using wireless CarPlay and navigation results in zero ability to charge. And the phone was hot.

 

[JohnnyBronco]

You can buy special gloves that will hold the "handwarmers"

but in reality the Bronco handwarmer heater works equal to same in a BMW

 

[VelocityBronco]

Sounds about the same for My Pixel 4XL. I use wireless charging almost exclusively, and some chargers get the phone hot, some don't, the one in the Bronco get my phone hot.
I am not sure how much I'll use the wireless charger pad, or just plug it into usb-c for fast charging and keep it cooler.

 

[Sideways]

My iPhone 12 Pro gets hot every time I charge it. It doesn't matter what charging medium I use.

 

[RagnarKon]

Wireless charging produces a ton of heat and is actually an extremely inefficient method to charge the device. If you manage to place the phone in the perfect spot it'll reduce the amount of heat, but it's hard to do that without knowing exactly where the coils are.

On top of that, I'm fairly certain Ford's wireless charger is only a 5 watt charger. Which is pretty low by today's standards... and if it charges at a maximum of 5 watts it probably only wirelessly charging at 1-3 watts. So... slower than the old iPhone chargers.

 

[jedmisten]

My Mach E wireless charging pad does the same thing. I would assume it’s the same as the Bronco one. More so in the afternoon when the car has been sitting in the sun. It’s also inconsistent when charging. I have to pick it up and set it back down.

 

[Drex]

If you are charging at the same time you are discharging (charging while having the phone CPU doing some graphically intensive task especially), you get a couple of things going on. if the phone is partially discharged, it is going to draw more Amps from the charger, the more Amps, the more heat, your CPU is putting out heat as well. The lower the phone voltage (the more discharged), the worse it will be. You can try a two things, first, make sure the phone is fully charged before trying to use it while charging at the same time. Second is to just leave the phone as a phone, don't run navigation apps or music and see if it charges on the pad and stays cool.

edit; batteries have internal resistance, that is why they heat up with you charge or discharge them.

 

[Drex]

My iPhone 12 Pro gets hot every time I charge it. It doesn't matter what charging medium I use.

you have damage inside your battery, a cell or two is opening up, it is well on its way to failure. I am not familiar with Apple phones, but if you can replace the battery, you will solve that problem.

 

[JohnnyBronco]

If you are charging at the same time you are discharging (charging while having the phone CPU doing some graphically intensive task especially), you get a couple of things going on. if the phone is partially discharged, it is going to draw more Amps from the charger, the more Amps, the more heat, your CPU is putting out heat as well. The lower the phone voltage (the more discharged), the worse it will be. You can try a two things, first, make sure the phone is fully charged before trying to use it while charging at the same time. Second is to just leave the phone as a phone, don't run navigation apps or music and see if it charges on the pad and stays cool.

edit; batteries have internal resistance, that is why they heat up with you charge or discharge them.

Difficult to not use phone even when not using phone. If you ever once connected your phone to your Bronco it even looks for it when you dont have it on you. And when you do, the 12" touchscreen is now an extension of the phone

 

[Tdifonzo]

Wireless charging in general is just not there yet in my opinion. Adding wireless CarPlay on top of that just makes it worse/drains the battery more. I would recommend plugging it in for CarPlay.

 

[Daktari]

I can't use it with my iphone 12, I have a metal disk glued to the back of my case for a magnetic holder in my other car, that piece of metal get extremely hot very quickly. So sadly this "feature" is completely useless and one of the few things I'll mention as a warranty issue when I schedule my first service.
I'm sure Ford knows about this and since it's not a safety issue (well, I guess until the first phone goes up in flames, LOL) we won't see a recall, but maybe we'll see some other charger we can switch to. I'll be using my cable to charge, but it would be nice to be able to put my phone into that spot while driving without cooking it, instead of using up one of the two cup holders. I like to have quick access to my phone for the camera, which is why I usually take it out of my pocket.

 

[BigFootie]

Wireless charging produces a ton of heat and is actually an extremely inefficient method to charge the device. If you manage to place the phone in the perfect spot it'll reduce the amount of heat, but it's hard to do that without knowing exactly where the coils are.

On top of that, I'm fairly certain Ford's wireless charger is only a 5 watt charger. Which is pretty low by today's standards... and if it charges at a maximum of 5 watts it probably only wirelessly charging at 1-3 watts. So... slower than the old iPhone chargers.

Agree 100%. Knowing how fussy there are when sitting on the night stand, I can’t imagine it working well in a vehicle while moving on the road or worse yet, off road.

 

[805Bronco]

My wife's iPhone 12 had the same issue today. It was not connected to the car infotainment center; almost got too hot to handle; and didn't charge (but didn't further discharge either).

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