Charge 5 battery draining too fast

[SharleneH]

I have had the new Charge 5 for 2 days. The battery discharges within a day. GPS is off, the phone is not set to always on. In looking over the troubleshooting instructions from Fitbit, it seems that you essentially have to disable all of the features that were selling points of this device in order to get decent battery life. Even my ancient Charge 3 got 6 days on one charge! Has anyone with this battery problem found a solution other than disabling everything?

[ComradeF]

Hi @Alex_Lane, mine was made in Malaysia.

[Alex_Lane]

OK - same as mine.  My China unit had to be replaced, but since I had the Malaysia version, and I did the USB cable reset everytime it was charged, it has been bullet proof for me.  Such a shame - they are really good, if you have a working unit.

[ComradeF]

Yeah I've tried all the tricks and it's only getting worse. I have a paperweight now. They'd better honor their warranty - this is bad.

[Maze1405]

Hi
Where is About your Fitbit? I cannot locate it.
Ta
Maze1405

Sent from my iPad

[tcat007]

I was a naysayer until I tried this.  So far 2 cycles over 10 days since I did this.  I was getting less than 24 hours for a week.

Mine says Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, made in Malaysia.

 

[Alex_Lane]

Settings

Device Info

Reg info

Scroll to bottom

[Alex_Lane]

Agree - works great for me, and I brought the C5 as soon as it came out - 7 or 8 months now.

[ComradeF]

I think the tech support people didn't understand me, even though I repeated myself I don't know how many times that what's happening to my unit does not at all resemble what's happening to the people who are in line for a fix from the firmware update. They've been given a blanket directive to deny all of you your replacements and make you wait for the firmware update, which still has no scheduled release date. They lumped me in with you.

Truth is, at the rate this is going, soon my unit won't even function if it's not sitting on the charger. So I'll tell them I have a brick, not a fast-draining battery, and go from there. But in the meantime, I'm very angry about this.

[shimsim]

@ComradeF dont blame you, I'm on my 3rd charge 5, 1st had a battery issue (only lasted 2 days), 2nd just stopped working after 2 months (went dead overnight, then wouldn't power on), 3rd seems to be working fine, but I'm still following this thread just in case.

Again, to be fair to Fitbit support, they replaced my 1st and 2nd unit, but I get your frustration, took me about 1 hour of chatting and going tough some pointless steps before I finally managed to convince them the device was defective and it wasn't me doing something wrong (i honestly had to record a video and send it to them). Maybe try the online support, that's what I used, but for sure get a replacement, no reason they should not be able to offer you one.

[JenRock]

There’s 45 pages of people complaining about the battery life. 45 pages. Someone at Fitbit needs ti take notice and do something yo correct this ongoing issue because they will lose customers. I preordered the C5 and have had this issue off and on since they released. It’s not all of the time and and I have the thing barely functioning, meaning not all of the extras set. I can go months with it okay but now I’m back to it dying  in the middle of the night and needing charged every day. Even if it’s firmware, that is not what I signed up for and is ridiculous overall. My refurbished C2 off of Groupon lasted forever and never had an issue until it died after about 5 years. I will not be purchasing another FItbit. 

[ChrisB1966]

@ComradeF That's a point that a lot of the people on here are going to get to or worse. 

My C5 is less than a year old had issues from day one, would be fine for ages - suddenly drop 50% in hours - go back to being okay. Recently it dropped each day overnight until on the 4th day it would not boot properly just flash logo after completely draining flat. Could be different issues are at play, but excessive charging and going flat can not be good.

I'm in the process of getting a replacement because it has now failed completely. As others have said, I reported it by live chat, put up with the 'script' answers, busy work, did the video, and now just the C5 is in the post back to them to 'see' if they are going to replace it under warranty.

The law where I am (UK) says that I must give then the chance to repair/replace as it is over 6 months old now, I can understand the need to have a product returned, but when you know you have issues - making out that you're doing customers a favour is a PR disaster. 

[Bunchadogs]

I think this is the biggest frustration - there might be multiple issues we are facing (some of us have never gotten the charge / reset trick to work) BUT support wants to lump EVERYTHING under one solution - just wait.

At this point anyone with a possible PHYSICAL  problem with their battery will probably be out of warranty before FitBit acknowledges a problem...which seems VERY dishonest and a poor way to treat loyal customers!

[shimsim]

I think if the official line from support now is that anyone with a battery issue should wait for a firmware fix, the push from the community should be for this magical firmware fix. Its been well over 6 months, I can totally accept a product shipping with a bug (even though that is not ideal) but having to wait this long for a fix is where the line gets crossed. 

Can anyone from fitbit explain why its taking this long? perhaps that will help alleviate the frustration that is being vented here.

[LiJaHi]

Given the firmware fix is taking so long, it would be great if Fitbit could also explain why they think this is the solution. It evidently hasn't worked yet, or they would have made it available already.

[Sailrmon]

Interestingly,

MY C-5:(Manufactured in Malaysia - Firmware - 57.20001.149.11) - NO trouble with Charge life. I've had my C5 since 11/2021 even with Sp02 ON. No issues.

WIFE's C-5: (Manufactured in China - Same Firmware - 57.20001.149.11) - Discharges in 4 hours. I bought it for wife around 01/2022. GPS OFF. Sp02 disabled. Hers was fine until recently, now same frustrating problem.  I have tried everything in this forum as well to no avail. 

1. Very interesting that Malaysia-manufactured ones seem to have no problem. Does anyone out there have a Malaysia device with this problem? Per Alex_Lane: To find manufacturer source: Settings | Device Info | Reg info |Scroll to bottom
2. If it was a firmware issue, why isn't mine having the same problem?
3. I'd bet it's a hardware issue (maybe battery came from a different source?) All parts should be the same, but companies source parts from different manufacturers all the time. I worked in the industry. I know. Not all parts are equal, even if they fit inside the device.

I'm calling BS on Fitbit that it's a firmware issue.

[JKOFFOTH]

If I recall this turns out not to be relevant. My C5 is a replacement and currently is not having a problem. I do believe that there are defective batteries that cause all the discharge problems including those that died completely like the one mine replaced.
I believe the so called firmware/software problem simply allows them to not honor the replacement under warranty for some devices.

John

[ComradeF]

@Sailrmon My Malaysia-manufactured C5 dies in about 2 hours. Was a perfect device for months - until it wasn't.

@MalRadd Nailed it.

[NewSuttonGirl]

Is there a way to know in advance where the C5 is made by looking at the box if we shop at Best Buy or another retail store for example?  Does it say on the box that it’s made in Malaysia?

[NewSuttonGirl]

Fitbit is a product of Google and Google is owned by Alphabet which is traded on NASDAQ.  I have a hard time believing that Fitbit’s atrocious customer service affects Alphabet’s stock price.  If it did, it would be remedied.

[ComradeF]

There are failures across the spectrum. My Malaysian C5 is garbage. Hardware failure cannot be fixed with firmware tweaks. This is some of the worst customer service I've ever seen from a corporation.