Blaze won't charge

[Recon777]

I bought the Blaze today at a local retailer, and it simply won't take a charge. There's enough battery for it to connect via bluetooth and pair up with my phone. But it insists on updating the software, which immediately fails with a message that the battery is too low to continue. Yet no matter how long I have it in the charger, it never indicates that it is charging, nor does it update the software because (again) battery too low. I've spent several hours trying to get this working today, and even took it back to the store where they could not figure it out either. It seems impossible to set up the Blaze! What is going on?

[SteveH]

Have you tried other sources of USB power such as a wall charger you use for your phone? It may be that the USB port you are using is not providing enough power.

There are some troubleshooting tips in this help file:

https://help.fitbit.com/articles/en_US/Help_article/1190/

[Recon777]

I charged it with my computer's USB3 port which is pretty reliable. But I've also now had it on my fast wall charger which can charge up my Note4 very quickly. Still no dice. There's not even any indication that it knows it is plugged in. I can give it a few more hours, but I was under the impression that the Blaze could fully charge in 2 hrs.

[SteveH]

Once the Blaze has gone through the setup process it should show a charging indicator (a battery icon) as soon as it starts taking a charge so this doesn't sound good.

If the connection in the charging cradle looks OK then I fear it may be defective. Any change of exchanging it at the store?

[Recon777]

I already did exchange it at the store, and both behaved the same way. The setup never happened because the battery was too low. But the setup needs to be there apparently for it to take a charge properly? That's a bit of a catch-22.

I just took it off my rapid wall charger after a couple more hours, and I did see a battery indicator for a moment. It was red and looked to be about 15% from the graphic.

When I try to update the software, it searches for the Blaze for a very long time. One would expect it to be pretty much instant. The phone then says "Bluetooth Issues" I'm trying another Unpair. Though it says the Fitbit Bluetooth service is busy. Infuriating. What an amazingly poor software design.

After trying several times and waiting, it finally unpairs. Trying to pair again. It takes a fair amount of time before it detects the device, during which time (this time) I see the battery (four red thin bars). Now the phone says "Is your Blaze powered on? I tap Try Again. I see the four thin bars again. At least it appears to have a bit of juice now, though my phone is no longer talking to it for some reason.

Now it says Bluetooth Issues once more. I tap Restart Bluetooth again. Also rebooting the phone.

It's very strange. Now I can't even pair the device because it won't turn on. I see the battery meter, but none of the 3 buttons will turn it on so I can see the log anymore. And the phone is not seeing it either. This is terribly frustrating. It won't turn on at all now. I'll put it back on the charger for a few more hours to see if that helps.

[SteveH]

A restart might be worth trying too. Does no harm and can sort out all sorts of problems:

https://help.fitbit.com/articles/en_US/Help_article/1186/

[Recon777]

I've tried restarting but it won't turn on at all now.

When it's in the charging cradle, it can turn on, but I can't update it from there. VERY strangely, when I download the Windows Fitbit app and try to update the software fromt here, it INSISTS that I use a wireless dongle rather than connecting via the charging cable which I know is capable of transferring data. Why is it requiring a wireless connection? It's like absolutely everything about this product is designed to be as frustrating as possible.

[Recon777]

After thirty-something attempts to get this thing to work, it finally updated. The actual software install must have taken a half hour or more. Charging with enough power to pull it off took at least six hours altogether. Now that it's up and running, things seem to be mostly okay. It's still flaky. Like if I tell it to use a certain clock face, it loads the previous one I chose. Then several minutes later it catches up to the current one. The battery indicator now seems to be working fine, showing about 40% charge. I'll leave it plugged in overnight. It'd be a shame if it took several hours every time I have to charge it. For such an expensive product, you'd think it would be a bit more refined in its features. Not the best first impression, I'll say that much. We'll see how it performs where it counts, though.