Found holes in the charging terminals on the back of my blaze. I have only had it 15 months.

[akaJackson]

Found holes in the charging terminals on the back of my blaze. I have only had it 15 months.

[Tmacs]

Nope, I don't exercise at all and I cleaned the back of my blaze regularly and I have the exact same issue after about one year. So it's not sweat and salt. I think it's the design, ultra-thin plating over plastic on the back of the blaze where the charging pins come into contact. The pressure of the charging pins wears into the plastic causing the thin plating to wear off. Eventually there is an indentation and no plating where the pins touch. It will gradually have more and more problems charging. I am at the point where I have to wiggle it around in the charging base to get it to start charging. Eventually enough plating will wear off so that it will no longer be possible to charge it. I find all these comments about what it might be a waste of time. fitbit knows what it is. From what I see they have no intention of doing anything about it. So it's up the buyer, know that these are only going to last a limited time and have to be replaced every year or two. I may buy another fitbit but makes me look for something better. 

[Tmacs]

That's internal so definitely not from sweat and salt as someone suggested. This is a little sarcasm, but it looks to me like like they they hedged their bets, including a backup point of failure.

[BalaSEZ]

Hi

Try the below link

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/MLLSE-1Pc-Plastic-Back-Housing-Cover-Replace-For-Fitbit-Blaze-Smart-...

[Tmacs]

That's great, except they won't ship it to my country.

[TriDawg]

Thank you! I will see how easy/hard it is to replace and probably give it
a try.
much appreciated,
Tri

[Goshgo]

Same here, I have the holes and it stopped charging a week ago.  May take apart today to see if I can repair.  Has anyone has success repairing theirs?  I’d say my device is 1.5 years old., maybe older, no concept of time and unfortunately now, no way to tell time 😞

[brython]

“…this is yet another design error in the Blaze. Completely unnecessary IF
they had some of their engineers work on product longevity instead of fancy
features. These things seem to be designed to barely make it out of the
warranty period.”

This is EXACTLY what I think is going on! The sad thing is that I HATE all
of the other Fitbit models—everything but the Blaze and the Apple Watch.
I’d get an Apple Watch, but I work in a secure facility where mobile
devices are banned, so it's kinda pointless to get one that isn’t tracking
all of my daily steps. I plan on patching the holes on the outside and on
the circuit board one of these days when I have time since there’s no point
in wasting my money on another Fitbit.

[RickJay]

brython,

Thanks for quoting part of my post. It apparently got zapped by the Mods. Not sure why. I was going nuts trying to find it, and questioned if I had even posted it, but you quoted it, so I know that it existed for a while.

In fact, I replied to your post and pasted in the content of my original post and THAT got zapped too. No sign of the posts anywhere. Although the second time I did get a screen that says my post was pending approval, but when I clicked on "Status of Approval" (or whatever), there was nothing there. 

I'll patiently wait to see if those posts get "approved" and if not, I'll try again. 

[Jenny8050]

They have not asked me for a receipt the 3 times I contacted them for device replacements. Just where I got it and what month and year. 

[BalaSEZ]

Hi 

I have bought the back case on aliexpress since March and now it's working fine till now 

 MLLSE 1Pc Plastic Back Housing Cover Replace For Fitbit Blaze Smart Fitness Watch Repair Broken Parts Fix Units Back Base
https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/bx0XWNK0

search for the above back cover 

Good luck 100% working for me 

[akaJackson]

Thanks. This can not be shipped to the US

[DennisSho]

---

@BalaSEZ wrote:

Hi 

I have bought the back case on aliexpress since March and now it's working fine till now 

 MLLSE 1Pc Plastic Back Housing Cover Replace For Fitbit Blaze Smart Fitness Watch Repair Broken Parts Fix Units Back Base
https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/bx0XWNK0

search for the above back cover 

Good luck 100% working for me 

---

How easy was it to install? The ribbon wire for the HR  monitor looks fragile.

[RickJay]

DennisSho,

While I haven't replaced the back of my Fitibit with the unit specified in the link, I HAVE made repairs to my Blaze for another issue, which required removing the back and the main circuit board. 

You will need a #3 (small) Torx screwdriver and have a steady hand. A magnifying glass is handy, as is a jig which will hold the back while you use your two hands to reconnect the flex cable to the back.  It's not impossible, but does take a little practice. The flex cable is probably tougher than it looks, but things are so small you have to appreciate the delicate nature of the work you're doing.

On the other hand, those doing this basically have a Blaze that is useless, so for a modest investment, you have a very real possibility of bringing your Blaze back to life.

If you search on the internet for Fitbit Blaze repair, especially on the iFixit site, you find some very helpful information.

Good Luck,

~Rick

[Goshgo]

Just repaired mine, took 3 minutes. I removed the back cover and noticed that one of the 4 contacts was corroded.  I  took a small screwdriver and gentle scratched / cleaned the flat contact, as well as the spring contact that presses against not when closed and voila. 

[Goshgo]

Check out my response to myself.  There is a chance you do not need the back cover, just clean the inside of the contact.  I just uploaded a video of the repair.  

https://youtu.be/qDjwkW_HEgQ

[DennisSho]

Thanks. The back case will arrive in about 2 weeks. You are right. My blaze is basically useless and if things go wrong during the replacement, it will still be pretty useless 😊

Thanks

[BurningMyFat]

So glad I found this thread and others with the same issue. I have the exact same issue reported in this thread with the tiny holes in the charging points. My Fitbit Blaze finally stopped charging and I've walked away from the Fitbit line entirely because all the models use this same charging design.

I've officially moved to Apple Watch and I couldn't be happier. My wife is still using her 1st gen Apple Watch and I've bought about 2 or 3 different Fitbits during that same period that, in total, have cost me *more* than her watch. So I just can't keep justifying the purchase of a product with a clear design failure.

[TriDawg]

Hi everyone,

A few updates and notes:

- I purchased a new back from AliExpress.  It was relatively inexpensive and came in a reasonable time.  It came with a screwdriver (I was worried I'd have to find one that fit).  When I took off the back, I noticed the contacts inside were dirty, so I cleaned them.  As well, one of the pins (inside back) were stuck, so I got it moving again.  I put it back together and in the charger, and it starting charging!! 

- Unfortunately, it stopped charging again after about 1.5 weeks, so i ended up putting the new back on.  Removing the sensors from the old back was difficult but can be done.  Just be careful.  The ribbon cable it easy to disconnect and put back in but again, be careful.  Put it all back together and had some issues with it charging at first but it's now charging regularly.

- I ended buying a Garmin after the Blaze would not charge.  Highly recommend the Garmin for exercise tracking.  Some of the day to day are not as good but better quality (so far) and exercise tracking is much better.

Good luck!

TriDawg

[akaJackson]

Hello again,

I have an update LOL

I have 2 Blaze's and 1 Ionic. My original Blaze which prompted my post stopped working so i replaced it with another Blaze. When the 2nd stopped working for the same reason i replaced it with a Ionic. The 1st Blaze is currently on my wrist and working. I have only taken the back off and noticed dirty and stuck contacts on the inside and cleaned the slightly, smdh. When the 2nd stopped I got an Ionic. I started to notice the same tiny holes starting to appear on the Ionic and it stopped. the second Blaze started working after cleaning the contacs as well but it stopped again also. I could not figure out how to get the Ionic apart so I have done nothing with it. 

As I live in the USA  I can not have these parts shipped to an address here from these sites everyone has mentioned but I can and will buy used parts to fix them from ebay in the future.

[RickyBee]

Exact same problem with mine. They are definitely HOLES, not dirt or corroded spots... they are corroded completely through. From this thread, the issue should be well known to Fitbit. This is a manufacturing defect - inadequate material selected for the use. In my case the Blaze is 26 months old. I really liked the Blaze and am very disappointed in this failure.