Charge 5 battery draining quickly

[cornand]

My Charge 5 won’t last a day! I tried restarting several times but this doesn’t work!

how can I fix this problem? Any tips?


Moderator Edit: Clarified subject

[Vickilynn21]

Same here! Can't find an answer

[MarreFitbit]

Hi there, @cornand @Vickilynn21. Welcome to the Fitbit Community Forums. I'm sorry to hear that the battery on your Charge 5 devices are draining quickly. Thanks for taking the time to troubleshoot this issue prior to posting here. I understand how you must be feeling, I'll be glad to continue assisting you.

If you haven't done so already, please make sure that you've followed the steps provided in this article to improve battery life in general, as this has been generally useful for other users. In addition, please confirm that you've tried the steps below to properly perform a restart on your device: 

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 (end if the USB cable), pausing for 1 second between presses. Then wait 10 seconds or until the Fitbit logo appears.

The battery can last up to 7 days; because battery life is affected by use and other settings, actual results may vary, but the battery shouldn't be draining only after a few hours. 

Hope this helps. 

[cornand]

Unfortunately tried all these things already without any result!

I don’t understand how my battery that lasted for several days suddenly dies under 24h!!! I chose a Fitbit activity tracker for the good battery life, even have premium but now it can’t even track sleep anymore as it dies during the night… I charged until 10:30 this morning and now at 16:00 almost dead!!!

[traceyjanetp]

I have exactly the same problem. I went from charging once a week to now having to charge once a day if I want my Fitbit to record sleep. I’ve done all the things you’ve said. 

Update: 20th November 2023 was the last time my Fitbit charge 5 recorded sleep and then it died. Tried to charge it but it swaps between buzzing when charger connects and going to 1% and then dead, continuing this cycle until it displays a large cross in a red circle; to not charging at all. 

[Vickilynn21]

Same here. Since so many are having the same problem, maybe it's set that
way so we have to buy new ones.

[MaaikeA]

Same here

I restarted and reset. It's draining unusually fast. Way to fast to be a regular aging decay.

[Vulcansheart]

Joined the forums just to find out why my 4-month old Charge 5 won't hold a charge anymore. Seems to have happened suddenly. I was getting 5 or 6 days out of a full charge, and now I can't even get 3 hours out of it.

A few days ago, it fully died before I could get it on the charger. This morning I charged it to near almost 100%, took it off the charger and it suddenly started vibrating non-stop! It vibrated for half an hour then finally died again. I charged it again this afternoon and it seems to be behaving a little better, but the battery issue is still there.

Seems to be a firmware issue? I'm on 188.58

[Hikergirl2]

Same here and NO ANSWERS

[cornand]

My tracker is less than a year old, it can’t be normal aging if the battery. All started very suddenly too.

I suppose as we can’t have answers best solution is to return the tracker. (All of us) - it might make them think 🤔 

if this problem can’t be solved I definitely will not buy another Fitbit device… (if their equipment only lasts less than a year… it will be thé most expensive choice for the customers) unfortunately because when it was working I was quite happy with my tracker…

[Payan]

Same issue here. Bought the Charge 5 on 18th July 2023. From one day to another the battery is almost dead. Half a day is maximum.

Support first answered quickly, but now the conversation is dead and I didn’t get a  new answer. 

Tried everything they suggested, restart, cleaning, checking the settings of GPS, display etc.

Charge 5 is basically useless with this dead battery.

[simon.giubs]

Same here, 11 months-old Charge 5 worked perfectly whne in the past 3-4 days it's a nightmare. 

Battery lasts only a few hours, I tried to understand if there has been a firmware update recently but I haven't found anything.

I can only say that now the Firmware version: 57.20001.188.58

Any help appreciated

[SunsetRunner]

I have the same problem. I called Fitbit twice, but nothing helped to recover the problem.

[RiekoC]

When my Charge 5 started to rapidly lose battery power, I recharged and reset it multiple times over several days. This process eventually got my device "unstuck" and back to lasting 6-7 days. There's no guarantee that this will give the same positive results, but it's something to try.

If this doesn't work and your device purchased from an authorized seller is less than a year old, you should contact Fitbit support (<-- click link) to see what are your warranty options.

[Payan]

Hi Rieco, thank you very much!

after restarting (pushing the button at the charging cable 3 times with a pause of one second) about 7 times, it seems to be okay now.

but unfortunately I think that the days with this fast drain wasn’t nice to the battery life.

Edit: False alarm… empty again 😞 sorry.

[cornand]

Good tip RiekoC but I already reset the device several times. I will continu to try another day but few hopes this will solve the problem.
Glad to hear from the other members who participated on the forum whether they could solve the issue by these multiple resets …

I will keep you all informed through this link! 

----

Reset did not work… RiecoC. For all customers if this doesn’t work you would have to contact Fitbit if you’re still under guarantee. they are able to help with defective items …

[MaaikeA]

That would be the third replacement... I'm kinda done with this.

[Payan]

Yes, contacted the support. Could choose between a replacement or a new device with 50% discount.

After choosing the discount, I got a code and an explanation that it’s not applicable to the Charge 6. If I would have known that before, I would have taken the replacement. But support doesn’t answer to that (I didn’t use the code).

[nothappy23]

These steps do not work. I have tried them several times. I have done other steps listed in this community, nothing is working. This battery draining problem has been around too long now and has finally effected my charge 5 with or without new firmware updates. Since Fitbit does not want to fix our charge 5 battery issues, I will be trying another competitor! Thank you for your time!!!!

[cornand]

**ahem** that is just sad! Couldn’t you change and choose the replacement instead?

But not sure whether this will fix our problems as some have already had multiple replacements… I don’t know what is best. If the problem persists  after these replacements choose another option altogether, it is sad though because while it was working I was happy with the Fitbit tracker… (didn’t care much about the updated app though, much less attractive)