Charge 5 Not holding a charge

[dj12345]

My Charge 5 won't hold a charge for over a few hours. It lasted for 5-7 days until last week. None of the power using features (GPS, screen always on) are turned on. There is no physical damage to the watch. Why has my battery life suddenly made the device effectively unusable? Help! Thank you

[Debpaints]

My battery is not holding its charge but a day or two!!  Used to hold for 5-7 days!! I have been a loyal, Fitbit user for years and years, and this is got to be the worst! not to mention no more group challenges! When this one dies, I am done with Fitbit!

[revonox]

Having the same issue here. Used to get 5+ days on one charge, today it went from 43% to 0% overnight. It was just fine a week ago.

[DavideFitbit]

Hi, it's good to see you visiting the community forums for the first time, @Doctorw. 

I'm sorry to see that you've been having this inconvenience with your Charge 5 and the battery life. 

Keep in mind there are a few features that would make the battery drain faster than usual, even in one day. Some of these features are: 

• Built-in GPS (Charge 5 can have a battery life of up to 4 days when using this feature regularly, or up to 5 hours if you use it continuously).
• Always-on display (Charge 5 can have a battery life of up to 3 days when using this feature). 
• Tracking SpO2 (Fitbit points out in this article that you may have to charge your Fitbit device more often when collecting SpO2 data).

If this doesn't apply to you, another step that has been helpful for other users having battery draining problems is the three pulse restart procedure using the charging cable: 

1. Connect your device to the charging cable. For instructions, see How do I charge my Fitbit device?
2. Press the button located on the flat end of the charger 3 times within 8 seconds, holding each press for about 1 second.
3. Wait 10 seconds or until the Fitbit logo appears.
4. If the device doesn’t restart, wait 15 seconds to try again.

In general, it is recommended to follow the recommendations listed in this article to improve or extend battery life. 

[P.C.Gamer]

I'm also having this problem. The chareg hs lasted 8 days, until last night. Suddenly, It died. I didn't change any settings. I tried charging it to full and took it off the charger at around 12:30 pm today. it is now 1:52 an the battery is down to 18%. Where is the button that we press?

[soilsally]

I am having the same issue as others and it just started yesterday.  Is it possible there was some sort of software update causing the issue?  I have already tried all the suggestions as outlined on the various community posts.  I am very disappointed as I like the device but this same issue occurred with my first fitbit.  This will be my last one if the problem can't be resolved.

[DavideFitbit]

Hi everyone, thanks for sharing that you've been having the same problem and that you already tried the steps suggested. 

If you already tried the steps mentioned here earlier, I recommend that you get in touch with the Customer Support team for further assistance with this. They will let you know how to proceed. 

The best way to get help for this problem is to chat with us online or give us a call. You can click here to get connected.

[LouiseD78]

I'm having the same issue, just started today with a red cross on the screen, and now it's dropped from 98% to 56% charge. It also won't charge. I've tried different chargers, cables and plug sockets. It says it's charging but the charge doesn't increase. I've also restarted it 3 times and each time loses more battery but doesn't resolve the issue. 

[P.C.Gamer]

I got in touch and they couldn't do anything. All support offered was a 35% off coupon towards another FitBit, since my FitBit was 2 months out of the 1-year warrenty.Luckily, I bought a protection plan through Amazon. Got a refund from them and used Best Buy gift cards to buy a Samsung Watch 5. Never buying from Fitbit again. Customer service is awful. 

[NC_Paul]

My Charge 5 was great, getting 7-8 days on every charge until yesterday's firmware update.  Since then, it drains the battery to zero in about 2 hours.   Have done multiple resets and still same issue.   Glad I am not the only one with this problem, but very disappointed in Fitbit.   Appears to be no or defective testing of firmware updates.

[Debpaints]

Yes I’m never buying another Fitbit either!! I’m going back to just a pedometer to capture my steps. I have an iPhone with me 24 seven and anything I need to do I can do on that. I do not need any connectivity on my Fitbit or on a pedometer! Looking for a wrist band, pedometer without any of the bells and whistles.

Sent from my iPhone

[MamaJenS]

Me too starting 4/2

The button is on the charging cord--atvthe end that plugs into the wall or block. I did it and it didn't do anything. It went from 24% to 0 in the short amount of time of trying the button pressing thing.

[P.C.Gamer]

I brought up my Charge 5 dying and replacing it with a Samsung in my WW meeting this morning and our coach mentioned this. devices are made to last mabey a year, then die just outside of the warranty period. That way, they don't have to do anything and they will hope you will just buy the latest new thing. 

[SunsetRunner]

Hey there. Same for me. I was fine until 2 days ago. Now I can’t hold a charge for a full day.

[DavideFitbit]

Hi everyone, I'm sorry to see that many of you are still having this problem. 

As you know already, there are few general troubleshooting steps that are usually helpful with battery draining problems. If the issue persists after following these steps mentioned here earlier, please make sure to get in touch with the Customer Support team so they can let you know about the options available for you. 

See you around

[ianl1427]

My first Charge 5 lasted 7 month with a display failure. While waiting for an exchange for the first one, I bought a 2nd one which only lasted 2 month before it went into a battery failure / excessive power consumption / boot loop. So I raised for another exchange and used the first exchanged one. This only lasted 4 months with the same symptoms of a battery failure / excessive power consumption.

In a short span of 1 years, I already have 3 failed Charge 5!! 

Yes, the exchange is a nice gesture but the failures with Charge 5 is excessive! I wonder how the development team managed to come up with a product that can fail so easily! Seriously, how do you guys make money?

I am now trying another brand of trackers. I now have 2 replacement Charge 5 units that I may decide to start using if I'm not satisfied with the brand I'm trying right now. At 1/4 the price, I won't miss the ECG, which only gives me crap readings and the GPS which I don't use anyway. 

[DavideFitbit]

@ianl1427 Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback and your experience with the Charge 5. I'm sorry to see that you've had this problem a few times. 

Please know that our team is always working to enhance your experience and your feedback is an important part of that process. This helps a lot to continue working on improvements to products and services. 

[ianl1427]

Yes, the fact that I have encountered this problem several times with brand new devices and even replacement devices suggests that there is a quality issue with the design and/or manufacturing of the Charge 5. As a comparison, my Inspire HR was still working when I changed to the Charge 5 for the additional features.

When customers report problems and failures to the help desk and a replacement is issued, do these failures get feedback to the development team? Do they review their design to see what are the causes of the failures? How can the OLED display suddenly fail? How can the battery drain be suddenly excessive?

I wear it all the time except during shower, and on nights when I'm charging it. Otherwise I wear it during sleep to get my sleep tracked. I hardly do sports and cleaning is done every day when I take it off.

So there is no excessive use and the only reason I can think of for encountering so many failures is a poor electrical design on the part of Fitbit.

Because of this, I no longer have confidence in the rest of the product line. No matter how good the software is, if the hardware is not reliable, then it is useless. It doesn't take a genius to figure this out.

I will be watching this space. Please post something if the development engineers have found the reason behind the failures and a fix is in place. 

Thank you. 

[cecewalks]

Same problem here. Have checked settings to remove whatever might be sucking the battery, but it hasn't helped.

Tried to take your advice to restart my Fitbit. What button?????? There is a Fitbit emblem on the top of the charger, but there is no button that I can see or feel. Just a suggestion, but could you guys make this a little bit more convenient and less complicated? Perhaps allowing users to actually use the features without having to recharge every other day? I chose this device because I thought it would be worth the money and be a quality product. I do live the features, but this draining charge issue is big problem for this user.

[ianl1427]

The button is on the USB-A plug.