Charge 5 battery draining quickly

[SteveFP]

Hello all,

I have a Fitbit Charge 5 running firmware 57.20001.194.91. I also have implemented a new desk charger, the Anker Prime Charger - 200W. This is my first GaN charger I have ever used. When I connect my Charge 5 to the charger it starts giving me very strange charging percentages. It will start at whatever the device is actually, but then will drop to single digits and then ramp up to 100%. When I see the 100% I take it off the charger and typically put it back on my wrist. 

I have seen the Charge 5 run out of battery in 2 days and a single day. This tells me either the charger is messing up the battery charging process or I have a battery that cannot accept a full charge? I have moved the Charge 5 back to the original desk charger and am testing it. I will give an update when I have but I figured I would ask this community and see if anyone else is seeing very bad battery life on their Charge 5?

I have had my Charge 5 for less than 2 years. I received it as an Xmas gift in 2023. Could I have a bad battery? The device now states it is charged up 100% on my old desk charger. I am going to take it off the charger and put it back on my wrist.

Update: 

So I have had it on for 60 minutes and I have lost 11% on the battery. That seems very high!

I turned off AOD and notifications. Not sure what to do at this point.

Thanks,

Steve

Moderator Edit: Clarified subject

[MarreFitbit]

Hi there, @SteveFP. It's nice to see you around the Fitbit Community Forums. Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I'm sorry to hear that your Charge 5 is having charging and battery issues. I understand your concern, I will do my best to help you with this!

Please keep in mind that the Anker Primer Charger might have affected your Charge 5's battery behavior. With that being said, I'd recommend trying to use only the original charger for at least a week or more to see how the battery behaves. Also, 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? 

Last but not least, 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 see Can I extend my Fitbit device's battery life?

[DebinLA]

I now need to charge my Fitbit Charge 5 every other day when I only charged weekly. This change occurred after a postponed upgrade that I finally accepted 2 weeks ago and after a black screen was screen problem for 5 days. 

[SteveFP]

I have stabilized the charging process but when at 100% it drops 10% to 12% within an hour.

[RiekoC]

Hello @SteveFP , @DebinLA 

When my Charge 5 started having rapid battery loss, I restarted and recharged my device multiple times over several days. As soon as I saw a rapid drop in battery, I restarted my Charge 5 and put it on the charger until it was back to 100%, often doing this multiple times in a day. Eventually, this process got my device "unstuck" and the battery went back to lasting 6-7 days. Although there's no guarantee that this will work for you, it might be worth a try.

[SteveFP]

I am doing the same...to see if it gets "unstuck" as you mentioned. Once I get it stable I am going to put it back on my new charger and see what happens.

[RiekoC]

Hello @SteveFP 

That sounds like a good plan. Please keep us updated.

[SteveFP]

So here is what I witnessed...

My Charge 5 came off the charger at 100%. Within 15 minutes it had dropped to 88%. It then lasted for 3 days before being fully depleted. I again charged it up to 100%. Within 15 minutes it dropped to 89%, so either something big seems to be happening coming off the charger or my battery has lost some of its capacity?

I definitely do not understand the almost immediate drop off the charger. Does anyone have the same results?

[CbensFytbit]

I think there was a software update that is causing issues. Found that when the Fitbit charge5 is in sleep mode and uses less battery normally it would not need a charge for up to a week until in March it started to have to be charged daily, I also noticed that when I would tap it to wake up the screen had an abnormal response. There was a very bright full screen of light and then flickering and then it would normalize to my screen and then flicker once in a while. 
I accidentally went into the heart rate app and it looked a little different than in the past which made me think that there was likely an update to the software too. 
I restarted the Fitbit more than once and the issue remains. I only use the charge cable that came with the device. 

I hope that they push out the old software again to restore functionality or a patch to fix the new. On the forum there are tone of this issue for nearly every model. Not user error…

Also not normal wear and tear because some reporting this have only used their device since November and December and any product so bad that it can’t last 6 months is not supposed to cost this much…

[Bushypak]

I’m having the same problem, did you have any luck getting yours to work?

[R1willi]

I am having the same issue -- again!  This happened to me a few months ago.  I talked to Fitbit support and went through everything they said.  Nothing worked for a couple of days.  I continued to restart my Fitbit and removed the app a couple of times.  I am not sure what happened, but it started acting normally again.  Unfortunately, nothing is working now.  This is likely my last Fitbit.  Too many problems. 

[SteveFP]

I cannot blame you for giving up on Fitbit. I am ready to give up on them. I have had up/down success with their devices for years. I really need a device that just works...and no I refuse to buy an Apple watch.

I am thinking I might try a ring!

[SteveFP]

So a bit more information...and this is on the backend of a charge cycle. What I have now seen twice is the Charge 5 will discharge to approximately 40 percent and then there is a massive loss in less than 12 hours. I am now sitting at 11% percent and will have to put my device on the charger.

Anyone else seeing this?