Erratic battery level, turning off at 40% charge and impossible charging speed

[SpaceCoyote]

My Charge 5 is coming up to 2 years since I activated it. In the last couple of weeks I am seeing some odd battery level behaviour.

Last week I noticed the battery was getting low at around 20% so I put it on charge. The instant it was on charge it reported a charge level of 79%, but this varied, going down to 49% and then apparently charging normally until it hit around 80% and suddenly it went to 100%.

Today, before I went for a walk, the battery reported a charge of 46%, I did my usual 6,000 step walk and when I got home I noticed the Charge 5 was off and had only captured about 2,000 steps. I put it on charge and the battery status went straight to 79% again.

I have removed the Charge 5 from my account, factory defaulted the device and re-paired it and as I type it appears to be charging normally, but I am concerned that my battery is at the end of its life after less than 2 years of use.

Can anyone suggest what I should try next please?

Thanks.

[SpaceCoyote]

Oh, and it’s worth mentioning that I have removed apps from the Charge 5 I don’t use, have the screen brightness on dim, and manual, and if I use GPS, I use my phone’s. I believe I have it in its lowest power-usage state.

[John1D]

Plug it into the cable/charger and do the 3 button reboot. You’ll see79% and after the reboot it will be around 50%. Do the 3 button reboot 3 times or until the battery percentage stays the same. Fully charge it.

whenever things get wonky, 3 button reboot. I have to do this 2-3 times a week.  

[SpaceCoyote]

Thanks. I will give that a try.

[RiekoC]

Hello @SpaceCoyote 

When my Charge 5 battery started dropping rapidly, I restarted & recharged my device multiple times over several days, similar to what @John1D did. This process eventually got my Charge 5 "unstuck" and it went back to lasting 6-7 days. Hopefully you will have similar positive results.

[SpaceCoyote]

Okay, thanks for the info. I will spend some time charging and restarting over the next few days.

Thanks for the replies. Appreciated.

[SpaceCoyote]

Okay, I have done a little testing with charging and resetting, and here is the outcome from this morning.

Battery: 69%
Connected to charger: 75%
Reset 1: 93%
Reset 2: 93%
Reset 3: 94%
Reset 4: 95%
Left charging for 1 min: 88%
Left charging for 35 min: 88%
Reset: 96%
Left charging for 5 min: 100%
Removed from charging and 10 mins later: 93%
Clock is 11 minutes slow, assumed it synced and updated because it corrected itself after a few mins. Is this related to the multiple resets?
10 mins later, battery level is 87%
Connected to charger: 88%

This is mostly for my tracking, but if anyone has any thoughts, I'd love to hear them.

[SunsetRunner]

I am having the exact same issues @SpaceCoyote. Mine is one month shy of the 2 year purchase, I thought that maybe the lifespan of the battery is over.  I am hesistant to factory reset because it doesn't sound like that fixes the issue, I have done the the 3 button reboot several times, but to no avail. 

[SpaceCoyote]

I would definitely try a factory reset. It’s easy and has made a slight difference to my Fitbit, although it hasn’t fixed it.

I tried the recharge/reset sequence again yesterday. As far as I can tell it has made no difference so far.

Battery: 72%
Connected to charger: 70%
Reset: 92%
Left to charge for a few mins: 84%
Reset: 92%
Reset: 93%
Reset: 93%
Left to charge for a few mins: 85%
Left to charge for 30 mins: 85% (clock is 10 mins slow)
Reset: 94%
Left to charge for 1 min: 100%
Took it off charge and 20 hours later battery is at 65%

[SpaceCoyote]

I thought I was getting somewhere with my Charge 5 after all the reboots and regular charging. After connecting to the charger, the battery would charge normally with no silly jumps in charge levels, but today it was showing a battery level of 52% - went for a walk, it shut itself down during the walk. When I connected it to the charger, it rebooted and immediately showed a level of 81%.

I suspect the battery is done. Hey at least I got 23 months out of it.