Charge 5 battery draining quickly after red X on screen

[psy01212]

About a week ago, my device showed a red x on the screen. I didn't think much of it at the time and just restarted the device using the charging cable, which seemed to have restored the device. However, after this, my battery started draining really quickly (within a few hours).

• I tried contacting the customer support, who just gave me a workaround (Turn on Do Not Disturb, turn off Reminders to Move, and uninstall the SpO2 app). This didn't help since the device still drained in a few hours.
• I tried to reset the device with "Clear User Data", which also didn't help.

One thing I noticed while using it was that while tracking my exercise, the battery seems to drain more slowly than not tracking, which is really strange.

At this point, the last thing I wanted to do was to try to update my firmware, in case the firmware got corrupted. I am currently on 188.58, and it seems like the latest version is 194.91. However, the update is not showing up in my app no matter what I do, and when I contacted customer support again, they just told me that there is no one that can manually trigger the update to show up. I don't really know what to do at this point. Did anyone have any issues like this, and is there anything I can do to fix this, or is my device bricked?


Moderator Edit: Clarified subject

[MarreFitbit]

Hi there, @psy01212. 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 keeps draining. 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).

Using features such as always-on display and GPS require more frequent charging. 

We recommend that you use the charging cable that came with your device. Note that after several hundred charge cycles, your device may need to be charged more often. If you turn on the always-on display, your Charge 5 will have a battery life of up to 3 days and if you also use built-in GPS continuously it'll have a battery life of up to 12 hours. 

Please find below some tips to best charge Fitbit devices:

• Use only genuine Fitbit charging cables
• Use only UL-certified wall chargers
• Avoid USB battery packs
• Charge at room temperature

For charging purposes, your charging cable or your base station can be plugged into any USB power source, including but not limited to:

• A computer
• A Wall A/C to USB adapter, commonly found with smartphones
• A DC to USB adapter (vehicle power port)

[Louza12]

I have the same issue with battery draining very quickly . Started about a month ago 

[psy01212]

Hi @MarreFitbit ,

• I understand that batteries age and that they hold less charge as you keep using them, but this definitely wasn't the case with my charge. As I described in my post, it was working without a problem (holding charge 3-5 days) until the red x showed on my screen. After this, it was holding charge for only a few hours. This immediate change in how long the battery holds charge leads me to believe that the problem is with the software, not the battery hardware.
• I do not use always-on display or GPS. I use manual wake on my device, and use the default GPS setting.
• I have only used the charging cable that came with my device to charge.

Is there any way you can help me either do an actual factory reset (with the firmware), or help me get the latest update? The update has been out since last December, so I'm not sure why I'm still not getting the update on my device.

[psy01212]

@Louza12 That's frustrating... Anything you have been able to do to fix it?