No Breathing Rate or Heart Rate Variability in Charge 6

[Ozman1906]

Had No Breathing Rate or Heart Rate Variability at all - Comes up with No Data in the past 24 Hours. This has been happening for months - I did read somewhere to restart Charge 6. Have done that many times nothing ear works. I have checked the wearing of the wristband, and I wear it to bed but it still has no information & does not come up with anything for HRVor BR. So i get 3 out of the 5.

Moderator edit: clarified subject.

[ManuFitbit]

Welcome to the forums @Ozman1906.

Thank you for taking the time to share the experience regarding your Charge 6. Thank you for trying to fix it on your own.

The device uses heart rate sensor for tracking breath rate at night. I'd suggest you take a look at the following help article: Track your health metrics in the Fitbit app. 

I'd suggest you take a look at the points listed here: How do I track heart rate with my Fitbit device?

[Guzzilazz]

I've had a long call with Fitbit support as breathing rate and the dependent variables wasn't being monitored. After no response from support for over a fortnight, it's all now working again, but there doesn't seem to be any reason apart from them fiddling about at the back end. I do now wear the tracker loose

[raleighfit]

I don't get HRV or BR or Sleep stages on Charge 5 or Charge 6. I tried everything (different arm, adjusted the band, restart)

[RiekoC]

Hello @raleighfit 

My apologies if you've already checked this. Are you seeing the green light on the back of your Charge devices? Since you mention not getting sleep stages or HRV, my first thought is to check that the heart rate sensor (green light) is working/turned on.

[raleighfit]

Yes, I have a green light and my pulse is showing on the watch and is being recorded and reported. 

[Bill_209]

@Ozman1906 , Fitbit devices will not return HRV or Breathing Rate data unless the devices are able to determine and return Sleep Stages (Awake, Light, REM and Deep) by design.

Therefore, if you are only getting what Fitbit calls Sleep Patterns (Awake, Restless and Sleep), then you will not get the HRV or Breathing Rate heart metrics returned, once again, by design.

[Guzzilazz]

So, why did my Charge 6 work fine for 6 months and then throw its toys out of the pram? The replacement has been pretty much as unreliable as the original... 

[Bill_209]

Need some clarification for what the issue is, @Guzzilazz.

Is the issue that you are only getting Sleep Patterns (Awake, Restless and Sleep) and no HRV and Breathing Rate heart metrics?

[Guzzilazz]

As I understand it, because I don't get HRV and Breathing rate I don't get the Sleep detail either.  This started off originally as loss of sleep data, which Fitbit told me was due to not getting RHR and Breathing rate.  It's the Sleep detail I'm interested in.  As and ex IT professional, it's odd that there's been no Charge 6 firmware update for months, but the functionality has got less reliable, despite having my device swapped out under warranty.  Sounds like back end changes to me!

[Bill_209]

It's actually the other way around @Guzzilazz.  The Fitbit Sleep API measures HRV and Breathing Rate and that data is used to determine Sleep Stages (Awake, Light, REM and Deep).  If the Sleep API is unable to determine sleep stages, then it only returns Sleep Patterns (Awake, Restless and Sleep) and it does not return HRV or Breathing Rate.

I am assuming that you are getting at least 3 hours of sleep at night, which is also required to get Sleep Stages.  I am also assuming that you are getting a continuous Heart Rate curve (no breaks) and that you have already experimented with different band tightnesses.

If so, and you are still not getting Sleep Stages, it may be possible that you have a heart arrhythmia.  My wife rarely gets Sleep Stages, because she has a PAC heart arrhythmia.  If you run an ECG test on your Charge 6, do you get a 'Normal' Sinus Rhythm result, or is the result 'Inconclusive'?  You won't get Sleep Stages if the result is 'Inconclusive'.

[Guzzilazz]

Yes normal sinus rhythm. It's just an "undocumented feature" that breathing rate fails probably 2 nights in 10, and stopping the heart rate, rebooting the device and restarting it fixes it.

I've had a firmware update on the Charge 6 today, I wonder whether that will do anything. Now 66. 20001.214. 24