Charge 5 battery is draining quickly

[Karencharge5]

A week ago my charge 5 charge only held a charge for 2 hrs. What’s up with that. Before I got 7 days. What would go wrong so fast?!? 
what phone no do I call for help ?

Moderator Edit: Clarified subject

[MarreFitbit · Accepted solution]

Hi there, @Karencharge5. Welcome to the Fitbit Community Forums. Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I'm sorry to hear that the battery of your Charge 5 is draining quickly. I understand your concern, I will do my best to help you with this!

As a first approach, 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, I'd recommend following the tips and recommendations provided here Can I extend my Fitbit device's battery life?

[Karencharge5]

But it’s so strange how it happened, I was doin* everything correct keeping it charged all working well then on sept 27 it went dead and stayed that way for 10 day   I had to reinstall it and that wasn’t easy. On October 7 it charged and from there on it will only hold a charge for about 2 hrs. 
This is my second Fitbit the charge 3 lasted 5 years and at that the light stopped but battery was still ok. This charge 5 is 2 years old, for the price it’s not worth replacing. Can the battery be replaced?  

[Karencharge5]

Sorry I meant to say my charge 5 is 1 year old purchased may 18/23 there should be some kind of warranty 

[SunsetRunner]

Looks like you got no useful help despite there being a high number of complaints about the same thing.  Let us know if you got a solution.

[Jilder]

I have the same problem and so does my husband! It is apparently a known issue but Fitbit is doing nothing to resolve it. The advice they give is the same for every inquiry and it doesn’t help!

[Karencharge5]

My charge 5 was just over a year old and out of warranty. They offered half off a new one but none available
Did they offer you anything?

[Jilder]

No, I haven’t been offered anything—did you go through a formal complaint? Not sure how to do that.

[TMKCHARGE5]

I am having the same problem with my Charge 5 - the screen went black all of a sudden, I tried resetting it several times, days apart, with the charger button, pressing it 3 times, 1 min apart. But the screen never came back. Then I found another fix to press the same button 5 times holding for 8 seconds each time. That is when another issue started, and it would not hold a charge. The battery drains very quickly, within a couple of hours. So now, I have a black screen and a battery that will not hold a charge. What is the fix? 

The answer you gave others about how a battery will lose its efficiency as it ages is not a helpful answer. The problem with the screen going black and not holding a charge happened right away. One day all was fine and the next day there were issues.

[Karencharge5]

I phoned and they tried to resolve it first and during our phone call my battery went from 100%charge to 80% charge in 5 minutes. He said he had to escalate the issue and someone would get in touch with me. The next day I got an email offer half off.

[blueorchid62]

Is there a way to reverse the most recent update? Many of the posters have noted that the extreme battery drain didn't start until after the last update was done. That could be the problem with my device too. Having to charge it several times a day will be impossible when I am on vacation in a few weeks, so I need to get this resolved if I can. I've done everything I can think of to save battery charge, and nothing works. 

[blueorchid62]

I asked Fitbit about battery replacement, and no, it can't be replaced. Sucks, because the only alternative we have is to replace the device ... pretty expensive to have to do that every two years because the batteries start to fail so quickly.

[Khanman]

Mine is doing the same. Fitbit needs to make this right.

[Karencharge5]

There is something wrong with the charge5 in manufacturing and they will not acknowledge their error. I could see if it was 5 years old but just over 1 year, at their pricing is a no no for sure. Fitbit needs to step up to the plate and take responsibility.
Call and ask for a refund

[Karencharge5]

Call them and let them know it’s not just you and me. I called and am still trying to get them to replace mine. If we all work together they will hopefully listen or we all move on to another tracker and they lose big

[vs16]

I am having the same issue. I somehow resolved it a couple weeks ago, had a few charging issues when crossing time zones, then it was fine, now that I’m back home the battery is draining from 100% down to 0% in less than 2 hours, and that was with no activity—just sitting watching tv and drinking my tea. This is my second Charge 5 in 3 years, with this one at 15 months. The last one pretty much blew up on my wrist in Italy, and no help from the company. Please advise. 

[vs16]

There is actually a YouTube video of someone doing it, but unless you have the right tools and are adept with tech repairs, it may not be worth the aggravation. 

[Moe2900]

omg   Here I am thinking of getting the Charge 5 and all these problems ??  SHEEHS

Sheesh!! I cannot beleive this... I need a SMART watch THAT.IS.SMART.   I do this for my insurance where I need to tract exercise, walking , steps, sleep... why is this so flipping difficult.  I have a sense 2 watch that sometimes it syncs and sometimes it doesn't.  Moody son of a gun she is.  or he. whatever.  I THINK this is since google took over , but I cannot be sure.  *sigh* 

Moderator edit: Merged replies

[Karencharge5]

Yes I’m upset as well. It should last longer than a year at that price.
They need to fix this for us. If it was an update that caused it that’s on
them.

[Jilder]

@MarreFitbit is anything being done from FitBit to rectify this massive problem with the Charge 5? Too many folks with the same sudden issue! This does not look good on the company.