Charge 5 battery is draining in less than a day

[RH296]

My Charge 5 battery was lasting about a week but it has suddenly started running down in less than 24 hours and the heart rate monitor doesn't work any more despite being turned on. Does anyone have any ideas of a way to fix this? 

Moderator Edit: Clarified subject

[Talahthas]

Welcome to the Fitbit community, @RH296!

Sad to hear you're having issues with your Charge 5.
As a first approach to hopefully get things fixed, I'd suggest restarting it. Before doing so you should make sure you've synced your device to not lose any data tracked so far. Also you should verify that the charging contacts on your device are clean and the charging pins on it's charging adapter are clean as well and can move flawlessly. In doubt please have a look here:

How do I clean my Fitbit device?

Next please closely follow these instructions as timing is crucial for this procedure:

1.) Connect your Charge 5 to the charging cable which has to be connected to a reliable power source.
2.) Press the button located on the flat end of the charging cable 3 times within 8 seconds(!), holding each press for about 1 second(!).
3.) Wait around 10 seconds until the Fitbit logo appears on your device's display.

I'd like to point out that it sometimes requires more than one attempt to restart Charge 5. So, before throwing the towel, please give it another try.

If that won't work for you, please have a closer look at 'What are tips to extend my Fitbit device's battery life?' following this link:

Can I extend my Fitbit device's battery life? 

I'll keep my fingers crossed.

[MarreFitbit]

Hi there, @RH296. Welcome to the Fitbit Community Forums. I'm sorry to hear that your Charge 5 is having issues. I understand your concern, we're here to help you! 

As a first approach, I'd recommend following the tips and recommendations provided by @Talahthas. If the issue with the heart rate persists, I'd suggest resetting the heart rate settings by following the steps below:

• Switch the Heart Rate settings from On to Off and manually sync your watch. To switch the heart rate settings on your Charge 5, from the main screen of your Fitbit device, open the Settings app > Heart Rate > tap to turn the setting OFF.
• Once it's done, manually sync your Charge 5. To do so, open the Fitbit app, tap on the Account icon, tap on your Fitbit device's image and tap on "Sync Now" 
• Next, switch it from Off to On and manually sync your Charge 5 once again. 
• Once it's done, restart your Charge 5.
• Next, confirm that your tracker is snug on your wrist (the lights shouldn't be visible). We also recommend when you're not exercising, wear the tracker just above the wrist bone.

[RH296]

Thank you for trying to help.

Sync Now is greyed out in the App.

There aren't any lights on the back of the device even when heart monitoring is turned on.

Yesterday it went from full power to out of battery in about 4 hours.

[MarreFitbit]

@RH296 You're welcome! Thanks for the details shared. 

It sounds like the battery is completely flat. Please note that sometimes a Fitbit doesn’t seem to be charging when actually the issue is that it has become unresponsive (this can happen if the battery has been allowed to discharge completely). I'd recommend putting it on to charge on a charging wire and outlet known to be working.  Leave it on the charger for a good two hours, even if it doesn’t seem to be charging.  

When it has had two hours, try restarting your Charge 5 once again I would recommend trying this maybe twice in a row if a first try doesn’t work.

If the above doesn't work, please see Why isn't my Fitbit device's battery charging? 

[RiekoC]

Hello @RH296 

When my Charge 5 started having rapid battery drain, I restarted and recharged my device multiple times over several days. As soon as I noticed the battery% had a big drop, I restarted my device then put it on the charger, often doing this multiple times in a day. This process eventually got my Charge 5 "unstuck" and the battery life went back to lasting 6-7 days. Although there's no guarantee that this will work, it might be worth a try.

Since you're not seeing a green light on the back of your Charge 5, that indicates to me that your heart rate sensor isn't working.

I've seen some users report that support had them do a factory reset, which restored the heart rate sensor. If you want to try this, be aware that the process will delete all the tracked data on your device. I see that you currently aren't able to sync. Otherwise, I would recommend that you do a sync first.

This help article has the instructions for erasing a Fitbit, aka factory reset (<-- click link). After the factory reset, you'll set up your Charge 5 in the Fitbit app as if it was a new device.