Charge 5 only works on charger (battery likely dead)

[greenghoulie]

I bought it on 11/21. I wear it daily, and suddenly it shut off while mostly charged last weekend.

I followed all of the steps from this forum, but nothing seemed to work.

If I take it off of the charger, it shuts off immediately. If I put it on the charger, it shows 1% - and if I leave it on the charger, it will make it to 99% and work normally. The moment I take it off the charger, it dies.

Can I replace the battery? What's the next step? Landfill?

Best.

-p

[Talahthas]

Welcome to the Fitbit community, @greenghoulie!

Sad to hear you're having issues with your Charge 5. As a first attempt to 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. 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 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.

Sometimes this won't work on first attempt. So please try this procedure again. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

If you're out of luck, I'd suggest contacting Fitbit support for further assistance:

Fitbit Support Contact 

[greenghoulie]

Hey Talahthas -

I've tried this multiple times. I'm not sure it will work - Every time I release the button after the ~1s push, the screen shows a horizontal line, like "I'm trying to power up, but I don't have enough juice." Then, on the third press, when I just let it be, it just shows the logo almost immediately before entering its normal 1% charge messaging.

[Talahthas]

Thanks for your feedback, @greenghoulie. I would have liked to hear something different though.

At this point I think contacting Fitbit support for further assistance would be a good choice:

Fitbit Support Contact 

I'll keep my fingers crossed.

[CoreyMS]

Try holding it down?  

[greenghoulie]

I'm not sure what you mean, but that didn't work.

Many Charge 5 users have bricked devices due to a recent firmware update. The official response was to give those users a coupon for a new device, which is not a satisfactory solution.