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?

[themezman]

@Sarahyogi   You asked what can be done about this pathetic C5 problem and lack of decent customer support

Well, you could try following the advice, quoted below, from a topic in the most recent Fitbit Perks email newsletter that just arrived ( I guess we should thank our lucky stars that we are getting the advice in that mailing and that the mailing still works, even though us C5 owners do not have a Tracker to put that advice to use with). ! NOT!

"Find your happy place Try this to ground yourself and allow kindness in.  Breathe through it"

[Sarahyogi]

The irony!! I’ve literally just put my watch on as was told they can’t track my battery life as there’s no data… that’s due to the fact that I don’t wear it as it dies within the hour now so best get my 100 steps in before it goes again!! I’m breathing through it though! 

[piaf211]

I’m having the same experience. The response is to charge, sync and wear, but the device dies within an hour or two and doesn’t track anything so what’s the point. Maddening!

[Loveoldtrux]

I believe I got mine Friday too - charged to 99%; lasted several days and only dropped to 36%.  Charged it up then and still going strong.  Not gonna count my chickens before the eggs hatch, but I’m happy with that!  😊

[SunsetRunner]

jones2000, I believe that we have surmised that there is a looping condition in the update which doesn't fix the looping condition that existed previously and has further broken a bunch of other Charge 5s which were previously working fine.

[SunsetRunner]

akldave, good for you!

[themezman]

@SunsetRunner   Are you also referring to the "looping condition"  in the responses from Fitbit CS & Forum Mederators, the "wait for the next Firmware Update" story that has been given out for 6 months oe more ?

It makes me think of being stuck in the story line of the movie "Groundhog Day', for those familar with that...

[Phatboi20]

My Charge 5 underwent the firmware update about 2 hours ago and now it won't hold a charge at all. 

[tcat007]

Did you reboot it with the charger button?

My charging history:

Each date is full charge.
3/12 received
3/21
3/31
4/11
4/22
5/03
5/12
5/16 started losing charge
5/18
5/20
5/21 rebooted with charger button
5/31
6/12
6/24
7/05
7/15
7/27 updated
8/06

[SunsetRunner]

We're all getting loopy at this point. Thank heavens I have been able to avoid updating so far. Oh no, I probably just jinxed myself!

[Phatboi20]

Yes I tried the reboot button several times.

Sent from Samsung Galaxy smartphone.
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[RogerAuwers]

Exactly!  They sent me a replacement after about 2 months.  It is another C% (I knew that) but it took so long and the old one was worthless at the end and then gone -- had to send it in to get the replacement -- for 2 months.  By the time the replacement C5 arrived I had already purchased a competitive product and am now a happy non-Fitbit customer.  Most likely my shopping list in the future will start out as "anything but a Fitbit"!

[RogerAuwers]

The initial post on this thread was back in September 2021 -- this is now August 2022, so this problem is almost a year old!  And the promised miracle firmware update apparently did not fix a thing (I wouldn't know, I now wear a competitive product).  As a company Fitbit really blew this one.  Feels like they couldn't decide what they were making, a tracker or a smartwatch, maybe as a result the that product indecision the battery life doesn't hold up, and now they have totally bungled the situation -- terrible customer service, keep promising a magic "firmware update" that turns out to be worthless, and all the while they keep selling the same crappy product.  Sounds like a going out of business strategy to me!

[Micodude]

So an update:

Got my replacement device back from Fitbit today. When I received it, it was on 93%, put it to charge to get it to 99%. Have been wearing it for the past 5 hours now and its only down to 98%! So hopefully will continue that. Still didn't update the firmware, quite scared to do so TBH at this point. Maybe will do it later.

Will, of course, keep you posted. 

[Smccain1962]

How did you reach the company to get a replacement???

Sent from my iPhone

[Micodude]

Well, I also had to contact support numerous times like almost every few days. And kept receiving the same answer that a firmware is coming. At some point, while waiting for the firmware like everyone else, I put my device for a charge, as people already started getting it. Since I had to charge it often, at some point my device won't turn on anymore at all, the screen was black, device won't respond to the button pressing on the charger, nada.

And here I contact the support once more saying that despite the rollout of the firmware my device is now literally dead, and its also very hot to the touch when its connected to the charger, thus even through the firmware is rolling out, I simply cannot install it as my device is defective and I demand a replacement. This time the agent decided to collect more info from me including pics, then gave me a case number and then said that I will be contacted by a different agent within the same chat that deals with such cases, and there was the other agent and then eventually I finally got a green light for a replacement, a prepaid DHL label was emailed to me, I arranged a DHL pickup accordingly and today got the replacement. Needless to say that while my device was still responding I already was asking for a replacement.

Its been 11 hours me wearing it and my device is down from 99% to 95%! 

[Cathiedb]

That is awful. Be sure to call them back snd don’t give up

[MalRadd]

I activated my Charge 5 in December 2021. I was initially getting about 7 days per full charge. Then on May 10th, my battery life dropped to 2-3 hours.

On July 23, I applied the infamous firmware update to my C5. For about 2 weeks the firmware update seemed to be doing nothing - I was still getting about 2-3 hours per full charge. On Tuesday Aug 2, suddenly my Charge 5 started lasting much longer (12 hours). My Charge 5 is now (August 6) lasting a whole 24-hour period (one whole 8-hour sleep cycle then a full day including a 1-hour gym workout) with the key features enabled. This is NOT the 7-day battery performance I am used to from before but I can live with a 24-hour charge cycle like my smartphone.

I tend to charge the C5 device on the charge cable up 100% then I do a hard reset using the button the charge cable before wearing it.

Here are my C5 device settings for reference:

Display Settings: Brightness: DIM, Screen Wake: AUTO, Screen Timeout: MEDIUM, Always ON Display: OFF

Quiet Mode - DND: OFF

Sleep Mode: OFF

Heart Rate: ON, AZM Notification: ON

Vibrations: STRONG

GPS: PHONE

Version: 57.20001.17150

I hope this helps a few frustrated Fitbit C5 users...

[KlausVanderson]

I'm starting to wonder if part of my issue may be the charging cable. The watch never seems to charge fully, it only ever gets up to 99%. When I take it off the charger, the screen goes black and unresponsive. Then when I reconnect to the charger it says 1%.

[tcat007]

Mine charges to 99% and stays there for 2 or 3 hours, then hits 100%.