Charge 5 battery draining quickly and the green lights on the back won't turn on

[Davedub]

Suddenly, green light on charge 5 won’t go off.  Battery goes from 100% to zero in 8 hours.  Advice?  Thanks!

Moderator Edit: Clarified subject

[Kiki112]

Mine is doing the same thing! 

[Slcltn]

I seem to be having battery issues since the latest update on 8/8. My Charge 5 used to hold a charge for almost a week and now it’s hours. They need to address this issue.

[MarreFitbit]

Hi there, @Davedub @Slcltn @Kiki112. Welcome to the Fitbit Community Forums. Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I'm sorry to hear that the battery of your Charge 5 devices is draining quickly. I understand your concern, I will do my best to help you with this!

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)

Regarding your inquiry, please note the green LEDs flashing on your Charge 5 are used to track your heart rate. Keep in mind that even when heart rate tracking is off, the LEDs on your device will continue to flash. For more information, please see How do I track heart rate with my Fitbit device? 

[Davedub]

Thanks for the advice.  To be clear, the light is not flashing.  It’s a VERY bright green that never goes away, even when the fitbit is on my wrist.  I’ve had my Charge 5 for nearly two years, this only started a week ago.

[Slcltn]

I did many resets to my charge 5. On the device itself and with the charger and finally got the green light to go off when not on my wrist. Now it sometimes registers as being on my wrist sometimes it does not and I have to reset again. The battery was only holding a charge for a few hours vs. many days. Literally happened overnight. It’s not an issue of an old battery slowly being less efficient. The issue with the green heart rate sensor is clearly the cause of the battery drain.

[litlesister4]

NEVER will I buy another fitbit! I have had 2 and after about a year they update and cause something to happen so you will have to buy a new one! Crappy products just so fitbit can get more money! 1st one the screen went black and now this one does not hold charge! Don't give in and buy anymore from them!

[Camish]

Haven't noticed a green light on mine that won't go off but my Charge 5 battery just went from 65% down to 5% in just a couple hours. I've disabled all possible apps on my Fitbit. Battery was at 100% this morning. So much for the 7 day battery time frame they claim....

[Camish]

Thanks for the steps on charging a device I've been charging with zero issues for 1 year and 3 months.

[JenRW]

I've had my charge 5 for about 2 years, always got about 6-7 days out of the charge, and one day after the update, I've had to charge it twice. Yesterday, I went from 100% to 67% across the course of the day. That's not in line with my experience or expectations for this product. 

[DLZT]

I had my Charge 5 just die today, no indication of any problem of course.  I was able to reset it via the charger and my 100% charged battery actually lasted less than 2 hours.  I WILL NEVER, EVER BUY ANOTHER FITBIT, and I will tell everyone I know not to ever buy a Fitbit either! 

This had been the 3rd Charge 5 I had after getting two replacements because the notifications were not working in which I finally gave up working with technical support and just resolved to not having a working device for the features they advertise, yet don't work.  They will NEVER get any of my money again for their overpriced devices that don't even work/last!  Shame on Google/Fitbit!

[Slcltn]

I think mine is now a complete goner. Worked without any issues up until a couple days ago. Thought maybe I had it fixed but now, after resetting itself randomly multiple times, won’t stay turned on. Very frustrating.

[nx6]

I'm also in this boat. Went from a device that got 4-5 days on a charge to one that died in less than 12 hours after full charge with the green light staying on the whole time. The only change was the update to the new firmware released around August 9th. No heartrate monitoring at this point, but it seemed to be counting steps and responding to auto screen wake. Haven't done anything else.

 Hey @MarreFitbit 

Are you going to keep toeing this horse**ahem** line that all our devices suddenly had battery failure at the same time coincidentally? The LED isn't supposed to stay on continuously for hours when you're not wearing your device. There is clearly a firmware issue here. I have already done full resets, removed the device from my phone's app, cleared the device of user info, and removed/reinstalled apps on the device itself as part of getting this back from "X-on-screen-bricked-status" I started with after the update. There's nothing more for you to suggest I haven't already done.

[Davedub]

Many thanks to nx6!
I hadn’t linked the constant green light/ battery draining to the firmware update, but it sure seems possible. I sent an email to the “Contact” address on the Fitbit website several days ago, but no one has responded. I couldn’t find a phone number. It appears that they have successfully circled their wagons. This is my third Charge, none have lasted more than 2 years. I won’t be buying another.
Sent from my IPad

[nickfel]

I haven't noticed any change in the green light but I'm having the same battery problem this week. I'm on 30% having fully charge about 24 hours ago.

[DLZT]

Mine is now officially dead!!!!!  I was spending two days restarting it and charging it to 100% each time, every two hours.  I put it back on the charger after the battery got to 8% and it no longer charges, complete goner.  I have tried every troubleshooting step they say to do to no avail.  I did open a ticket with customer service two days ago but I am sure nothing will come of it.  What a shame, you spend a nice price for a device that you think is going to work (which some functionality didn't work from the get go on my 3 devices), and for more than 2 years, and then you experience this.  I will buy a $30 off brand, that offers the same functionality and if it dies less than 2 years later, oh well, at least I didn't spend almost $200 on it!  Good luck to others!

[outdoorluvr]

I am also having the same. Battery starts draining immediately after charge. Started happening overnight and I have every battery draining option turned off. My 3rd Fitbit and my last. They are pieces of crap. 

[Tiff4242]

Mine just started this too. The same day you posted about it. 8/9/24.

[Tiff4242]

Please be aware this info didn't help fix the issue. It's odd that everyone is having this issue all of a sudden at the same time. Please pass this on to the updates team. She this to a human customer service  or programer.