Charge 5 Battery Defect

[AlFernandez]

I purchased a Charge 5 Fitbit four months ago. Its battery would last nearly a week before requiring a recharge. Two weeks ago the battery failed. From a state of 100% charge it goes to dead in 5 hours. I have talked to customer support twice. I was given the run around. I followed all their recommendations and disabled most features on the device. No effect. I was then told to wait for a firmware fix. I am a software engineer with experience developing products.  When a battery goes bad, there is nothing that software/firmware can do.  I'm disappointed because I really liked my Charge 5. Fitbit needs to fix their battery issue.

[Bunchadogs]

I'm having very similar issues with my Charge 5 - about the same age.

At first I thought the screen was just going black - which seems to be an issue too! - but after doing multiple reset / restarts I noticed the battery was also going down within hours.

I was able to do an Update from the iPhone app - firmware?  not sure, it was just a big red button in the app.  It failed a couple of times but by connecting / disconnecting the charger every 5 minutes I was able to get it to complete.

However that didn't resolve ay issues.

I noticed it also seems to be having Bluetooth connection issues - watching the Bluetooth device list on my phone (iPhone 12) it constantly changes from Connected to Not Connected - I've tried disconnecting every other Bluetooth device, and I've tried connecting multiple devices along to the phone with the FitBit.

No other device has a connection problem - speakers, AirPods, car audio (Chevy and Toyota) - so I'm sure it's not an iPhone issue.

I'm wondering if the Bluetooth issue could be killing the battery?

[AlFernandez]

Thanks for your input.  It could be that the Bluetooth chip in the Fitbit is the issue.  A constant Bluetooth connection is very efficient but if it is constantly trying to reconnect that may cause some drain on the battery. Unfortunately, I can't test your hypothesis because I got so frustrated with Fitbit's customer support group that I returned my Charge 5 to Amazon for a refund.  I've decided to go with an Apple Watch instead even though I really liked the Charge 5. Good luck.

[Crisie]

Bought 2 Charge 5 watches less than 2 weeks ago and they are both lemons. 1st watch (my husband's) the battery died after after overnight. My watch had 44% battery 2hrs ago now its DEAD and I'm missing all my steps. Every 2 years we've been replacing our Fitbit watches and now these new ones are not working efficiently even though it states battery life is 1 week.

[Bunchadogs]

Looking at Apple watches right now, too! 

I used to think charging every day or two would be a ridiculous, but my Charge 5 is teaching me how it can be done.

(Charged to 99% this morning after the last post, currently at 17% )

[Spurs01]

Same problem for me. I purchased the Charge 5 last Nov, and apart from sync problems it worked fine lasting 6-7 days on a charge, until about 2 months ago when it went down to 3-4 days. Then on Sunday when I fully charged before a trip to the UK, it lasted just 5-6 hours, and took probably 10-15 attempts over 2 days to get it working again, finally managing with a full charge at 12:30 today, and 4 hours later it was dead again. Just chatted with support and he said it’s a known problem and they’re working on a fix, and he gave me a link for tips on how to reduce minimize battery usage, but given I’d already turned off just about all functions, there’s no point trying any of those, and instead I’ll return it to the store where I purchased it and demand a refund. I’ll purchase an Apple series 7 instead, as although the battery only lasts 1-2 days for my type of usage, from others I know who have purchased the series 7, it’s trouble free and good functionality, something the Fitbit Charge 5 can learn a lot from

[Fbituesr766]

Hey thanks for posting this. I have the exact same issue and I’ve discovered that it is indeed this bluetooth connectivity issue that is draining the battery. It can’t connect properly. Basically here is what happens:

- Your battery is draining rapidly. up to 10% per minute or so.

- You try a hard reset (by going into the Fitbit device menu and selecting “clear user data”)

- the hard reset does not work as the device does not turn back on. You’re left with having to reset via plugging in the Fitbit and pressing the button on the charging cable three times (with a 1s pause between each press).

- the device then boots back up, and you confirm that the hard reset did not work, as all settings such as watch face are the same and nothing reverted back to factory default.

- you then go into the app on your phone, and try to change the watch face manually there, and notice that a sync of apps/watch face is not possible, indicating that there may be bluetooth connectivity issues.

- you then remove the device, and reconnect it by pairing with bluetooth: interestingly, this step to pair with your phone works every single time (after removing the device first from the app and re-adding/pairing.

- you then proceed to try and adjust watch faces etc to only find out again that bluetooth connection is a problem.

- you then proceed to try a hard reset and run into the same problem as above…

[Spurs01]

Turned out I was too optimistic about a refund as the store refused saying they’d send for repair and only if Fitbit confirmed it was not possible to repair would they consider a refund. Not surprisingly almost 3 weeks and still waiting, guess for the firmware upgrade that’s never coming because if Fitbit really could resolve the problem that way, it would have been pushed out by now. At a guess hardware related which would be too expensive for Fitbit to admit. So the Apple series 7 will need to wait a little longer …..

[Spurs01]

No refund but I received a new Charge 5, and this one connected and setup without problems in 15 mins, unlike my previous one which took several attempts/hours, so a much better experience. It’s currently at 83% and on the 3rd day, but my previous one also held the charge like this for the first 3-4 months. Anyway will be interesting to see how this one goes but at least a good first impression

[lakelochness]

Hi, I spoke to Fitbit about this on Twitter because my battery stopped lasting just after I had issues with my screen. I assumed it was the display issue that was killing the battery. They sent me this reply: 

“Copy that. The display issue
wasn't the cause of the battery
drain. This is an on-going one
that we are working on. We'll
release a fix via a firmware
update. Anyways, please
continue to monitor the
screen's behavior. If the issue
happens again, let us know.“

They’ve since deleted this message from the chat, but I have screenshots. They also said they can’t give me an ETA on the fix, so I got in touch with Amazon for a refund. 

[Gravelburg]

I’ve had my charge5 for 13 months and 2 days. Once it was past warranty, over night it stopped holding a charge. I got the total brush-off from Fitbit support. 35% off a new one if I order through them within 
30 days. So I’m to understand that the watch is built to work for one year then pay to replace it!  I am most frustrated due to the brush off. There are replacement batteries available from other battery companies. The watch is useless now so it’s worth a try. 

[RosannaB]

I had mine go dead as well. Went through precedure to restart nothing. Cleaned terminal, tried restarting multiple times. Bought new charger, bought new battery and nothing helped so I guess my Fitbit is dead after less than 2 years. I have just purchased my 3rd one. I am disappointed that you only get 2 years out of a charge 5 but I like the size of it and options it gives. :(.

[Gravelburg]

I feel similar. I really like the watch - size and functions are awesome. It’s a great piece of modern technology but it seems to be managed poorly. Fitbit support is exceptionally poor. Unlike you, I’m not sure I can stay loyal to FitBit. I’m exploring options like Garman or Apple.

Sent from my iPhone

[SteveManser]

Fitbit Charge 5 have a 2 year warranty - contact Fitbit and request they replace or do what I did and return to Amazon for a full refund - I then ordered a new one which was actually cheaper than my refund as they are on special with Amazon 

[slinkypossum]

I can confirm the exact same behaviour is occurring with my Charge 5. 

I wish people would focus on providing accurate information to identify the exact nature of the problem instead of endless "Fitbit sux and they should all rot for their abhorrent transgressions!!!" 

My monkeying with the Charge 5 leads me to believe that ALL of the issues affecting people are from a faulty or overactive bluetooth connection. 

Unresponsive Screen? The battery voltage is too low to power the screen. You can put it on the charger, but the bluetooth problem is draining the battery faster than the charger can supply so it appears to be unresponsive. 

Battery Drains in an hour or two? Overactive or broken bluetooth connection is consuming battery at an alarming rate untill the battery drops to zero. 

Did 194.61 cause this? Hard to say since people (smaller numbers) were reporting the battery drain issue on 188.58. 

My opinion is that 188.58 had a bluetooth problem that manifested itself as "its taking a long time to sync.." for most people but for others it burned a battery up in a few hours. 194.61 was released to potentially address the bluetooth problem, but the upgrade process on essentially fragile devices introduced the problem to a huge number of people. 

"We're going to fix the flakey bluetooth problem by deploying new bluetooth code and we're going to use bluetooth to do it...what could possibly go wrong?"

I believe that though my Charge 5 says its running 188.58, it really is trying to run a corrupted mismatch of some 188.58 code and some 194.61 code. 

What would be truly amazing is if Fitbit would allow us, via a USB cable that they would provide, to completely wipe and reflash a device to whatever version of software we want to try. There are 4 contacts on the back of a Charge 5. Two are used for charging. The other two have to be for communication. I just want the ability to completely wipe and flash my device just like they do at the factory. I also don't want to spend $1000000 for some "Fitbit Developer Kit" to get a usb cable with 4 contacts. 

With that, thank you for attending my Ted-talk..I look forward to a Fitbit software release that may or may not solve this problem.  

[Manenb]

I've also had battery issues recently. Charge 5 is about 2 years old. The screen will be unresponsive, but when I plug it in, it will say something like 60%.

If it is this Bluetooth issue, is there anything to be done aside from hope they release better firmware?

[Gravelburg]

Thanks for your insight. I’ve gone into my phone settings and turned off Bluetooth connection to FitBit. I then went into Fitbit app in my phone settings and turned off Bluetooth there as well. My battery seems to be holding its normal charge now. When I want info from my Charge 5, I have to go to my phone settings, turn Bluetooth on long enough to sync, turn Bluetooth back off, go to my Fitbit app to view data. At least it is now holding a charge.

Thanks for your observation.