Hard time charging

[Lyssmacch]

Why am I having such a hard time charging my ionic? Shouldn't it just plug in and charge? Is anyone else having this issue? 

Moderator edit: edited title for clarity

[sandy.b]

No, it just started charging. I figured it must have been fixed with a
firmware update. The version I am running is 27.31.1.16

-sandy

[Trudstar74]

I took it back and they replaced it.

Sent from my iPhone

[Gunsout]

I have had some issues charging my Ionic lately. when I am able to get a positive connection with the magnets it charges fine and lasts really well.  I have found that getting a good connection can be an issue because when the Ionic is laying on a flat surface, the charging cable conflicts with the wristband causing the connection to fail.I am having some success now by feeding the charging cable through the clasp on the wrist band which seems to keep it lined up with the charging ports. Part of the problem is that the cable is rolled up and wants to stay that way, if you could straighten it it might be easier. If the magnets were a little stronger that would also help.

[Williams169]

I had the same problem after about a week or two of having it but I cleaned both ends of the connetions then it worked fine but it got harder & harder to get it to connet..

[Williams169]

Same things going on with mine..

Should have kept my blaze 

[Williams169]

Mine don't ever vibrate it will show how much of a charge I have & it will stay that way as long as I can get it to charge... 

[JenRadTek]

I bought my ionic 3 weeks ago and all of a sudden my charger doesn’t stay in either. It’s like the magnets aren’t working

[ScrewMonkey]

I didn't start this thread, just another customer angry about the same issues. Enough with the restart. Clearly people are having a serious problem with this, never mind the fact that a restart is impossible when the device is completely dead and will not charge. If the cables that come with it are bad then send replacements, if the connection is faulty then figure it out. I'm not going to pay more money for a charging station or anything more involved. I already spent $300 on the watch, I just want it to work.

[Fxdci]

Mine went completely dead today.  So I tried charging it.  I had the fitbit symbol facing in the correct direction.  After an hour it was still dead.  Did a soft reset and after about 15 seconds it flashed 0%  with a battery icon.  I noticed the connector just didn't seem to be making a solid contact.  It seemed uneven.   So I took my glasses off and looked closely at the receptacle on the back of the watch.  I got a toothpick and ran it around the recessed portion of the receptacle.  It took a bit of work to get whatever it was out.  Now it's charging.

I had washed my hands and forearms with soap and water after shoveling mulch for 4 hours so somehow during the washing process I must have wedged something in the grooves of the receptacle.

[HariSeldon99]

Same problem here - sometimes charges, other times not. I have 3 charge cables now, all the same problem. Cleaned contacts on watch and cable multiples times. Reset watch. Latest firmware 😞

[bhwolf]

Charging definitely finicky... The screens with battery indicator seem to flash so quickly and about half the time, simply putting the device down (gently) seems to dislodge the cable enough to not allow it to charge.  It really needs a better indicator.

[Wayne-bowen1]

I have the same trouble need one like the charge 2 or wireless 

[GStrad]

Same issue here, but have now lost the centre pin 

[Gunsout]

Mine has completely stopped charging now.

Taking it back today!!!

[JenRadTek]

Wow! How long have you had it? For the amount of money we pay for this you would think they would make it better. 

[GStrad]

For the number of watches out there, it may not be that many failures  Big party of a company is how they deal with these things and so far pretty quick responses. 

[Fxdci]

Well since I figured out my issue I started using it in earnest. Noticed it was draining my phone. Removed the application and reinstalled. Problem continued. Changed all day sync to no and turned off background refresh. Problem continue.  Took app off my phone. Powered watch off and threw it in the draw. Had knee replaced September. Reinstalled in December and charged phone. Out of the box with factory defaults on watch and s/w it all worked fine. Then I noticed exercises weren’t going over to MyFitnessPal. Messed around with it for a week. Also found the GUI interface to be lacking. Took the app of the phone and the watch is back in the draw. 

Reverted back to my other watch which doesn’t run down the phones battery, interfaces completely with MyFitnessPal and has better battery life. 

Never buying a Fitbit again. 

[GStrad]

On the whole I would say mine has been my until this issue. No major impact
on phone battery life and watch itself has needed charging just under one
per week.

[JenRadTek]

Omg why didn’t you at least call tech support. They would have sent you a new one. They did when I bought my first one and in a couple of months the band broke. 

[Fxdci]

Well my thoughts on tech support after reading this and many other forums:

Usually it goes:

1 remove software

2 reinstall software

3 hard reset of device

4 redo step 1 and 2

5 verify phone/pc device is current on maint

6 redo step 1 and 2

7 review settings

In my case it was initially grit in the charging receptacle.   Then it became a software issue.  Which resolved three months later. One thing i didnt report was the heart rate monitor.  On my left wrist I wore my vivoacte hr and on the right I wore the ionic.  Went on multple bike rides over a few weeks.  The garmin device never registered a hr > 110.  The fitbit device would record spikes into the 160s. Multiple occurence during each ride.  Because of a corrected afib issue, my heart doesn't beat > 135.  Its a physiological issue not a pacemaket caused issue.  i realize its not an expensive EKG machine.  I suspect its a contact sweat issue because it doesn't happen when it's cooler.  But the not linking exercises to myfitnesspal just bugged me to no end.  

I'll try it again in a few months.