Charge 5 battery behaving erratically

[kiwimiwi]

My Charge 5 battery is going bonkers. For weeks now it's been draining and charging weirdly.

A few examples:

Charged the watch to 100%, it was dead within 3 days - I don't use notifications, always on screen, or GPS, but I have the heart rate monitor on at all times. Charged to 100% again, and it lasted 7 days which is usually normal for my use. Charged it again to 100% and it was dead within 2 days. 

I charge the watch to 100% and it will lose 5%-10% battery within 10 minutes of it being on my wrist. 

Watch was dead, put it on charge, left it for over an hour and it was stuck on 45%. Came back another 40mins later and was still on 45%. Restarted the watch with the three pulse, watch then said 95%. On another few occasions it did the same thing at other percentages around halfway, getting stuck and not showing the true charge unless I restarted the watch. 

I checked my battery yesterday afternoon, I had 54% (usually I charge my watch when I wash my hair or shower but didn't yesterday). Looked at my watch at about 2pm today and it was completely dead. When I got home I put it on charge and it said the battery was at 68%. Thought this was odd that it had more charge than less so I tried to restart it but it wouldn't restart from the menu or three pulse, it just stayed switched off and the only way I could get it to turn back on was to put it back on charge. I synced it to my phone and then the battery percentage while on charge dropped to 45%. If it had significant power, why is it switching itself off? Why is the battery reporting the wrong level all the time, while on my wrist and while charging? 

I have restarted this thing from the menu and by the three pulse more times than I can count. It has been reset. It has been synced, added as a new device and I have changed the clock face. It is up to date on firmware. My watch is way past warranty as I purchased it in April 2022. 

[MarreFitbit]

Hi there, @kiwimiwi. Welcome to the Fitbit Community Forums. Thanks for bringing this to my attention and for the troubleshooting steps you've tried. I'm sorry to hear that the battery of your Charge 5 is not working properly. I understand your concern, I will do my best to help you with this!

As a first approach, please bear in mind that as all rechargeable batteries age, they deteriorate to some extent and an older device will need to be charged more often than a new one. The best way of minimizing this effect is to avoid deep discharges of the battery. To maximize the overall life of your Fitbit device's battery, ideally keep it between 20-80%.  Many people find that a daily battery boost works best ( e.g. giving it a 15 minutes charge while you are showering in the morning). 

If you haven't done so yet, please try the following steps:

1. Confirm your Charge 5 has the latest firmware version. For more information please visit How do I update my Fitbit device? and What's changed in the latest Fitbit device update?
2. Check to see if you’re using high battery use features. For more information please visit Can I extend my Fitbit device's battery life?
3. Make sure you've restarted your Charge 5 as described here How do I restart my Fitbit device?

Regarding the battery not charging properly, please note that there are some issues that affect this, being which power source is used and how clean the contacts are and how well the charger is seated. If you are charging your Charge 5 on the wall socket, try using another CE certified USB adapter for low energy devices.

If you haven't done so yet, I'd recommend following the tips and recommendations provided here Why isn't my Fitbit device's battery charging?

[kiwimiwi]

Hi MarreFitbit, thank you for replying. 

My Charge 5 has the latest firmware and I do charge my tracker that little bit whenever I take it off. 

I don't use GPS nor do I have it constantly connected to my phone for any syncing or notifications, I do that manually at the end of the day. Dim screen, no always on display, the only thing I ever have on at all times is the heart rate monitoring.

With regards to the restarting, I have to use the USB cable and a wall charger (the three one-second button presses) as the function in the watch itself turns the watch off completely now and it doesn't turn back on unless I connect it to the charger. This is a new development in the last week. I was able to restart from the menu previously. 

Today, the tracker had died while I was asleep. When I plugged it in to charge it had 24% battery. I wore it until midnight so I could get my day's data and sync. I had 7% left at that point but as soon as I plugged it into the charger it suddenly had 88%. I restarted it and it had 79% and then dropped to 71% in 1 minute while charging. It's now charging upwards from there. This makes no sense.

I have cleaned the contacts on the charger and the tracker. I have changed the adapter I am using. 

[MarreFitbit]

@kiwimiwi Thanks for all the details shared in your previous post. Since all the steps you tried didn't work, you have a Charge 5 and report that the battery is not working properly, I need additional information from you that would best be shared privately. I’m sharing a link to a form for you to fill out so we can look into this further. 

This form is only meant for you to use, so let me know once you’re done. Click here to get access to it.