Charge 2 battery draining

[Loulappin]

Hi there I am having a major problem with Charge 2 battery life. I have had my Fitbit for 2 years and would always have got about 4-5 days out of a full charge. Now for the past 2 days I am lucky to get a few hours before the battery completely drains and dies. My battery was at 60% last night at 9.30pm and by 5.30am this morning it was dead. Today I have had to charge my Fitbit 3 times already which is ridiculous. My use of the Fitbit has not changed and I don’t have it set to sync all day. Really it is unusable due to battery continuously draining and not fit for purpose. Very disappointed and still waiting to hear back from customer services 

[MarreFitbit]

It's nice to see you around the forums @Loulappin! Sorry to hear that your Charge 2's battery life is not lasting as expected. 

Let's consider these tips when you want to conserve battery life:

• If you use the Fitbit app, make sure All-Day Sync is turned off. All-Day Sync increases battery drain on both your tracker and mobile device. 
• If you don't need heart rate data, change the Heart Rate setting to Off. When you turn it back on, use Auto. 
• Turn off Quick View. Since it causes the screen to light up when you turn your wrist towards you, turning this setting off may prolong battery life. 
• Don't receive reminders to move every hour. To get fewer reminders, make sure you walk 250 steps each hour, change the number of hours you want your stationary time monitored, or turn off the feature on days you don't need it.
• Turn call, text, or calendar notifications off if you know you're going to receive many hundreds of notifications. A large volume reduces battery life. 
• If you have many silent alarms set, consider deleting some. Each alarm you add up to the maximum of 8 reduces battery life by a small percentage. 
• Don't charge your tracker in extreme heat or cold. 

If you've been having difficulty charging your device, check if the contacts on your tracker or charging cable are not dirty? Dust and debris can accumulate over time and prevent a charge. Try cleaning them by following these instructions.

I wonder, where do you charger your tracker? Have you checked if by any chance the USB port or outlet is faulty? If you haven't done so, try a different port. A UL-certified wall charger will also work. Don't use a USB hub.

Last but not least, check the alignment and try reconnecting your tracker to the charging cable. See my image below:

If after following those tips and recommendations you keep having difficulty when charging your tracker, try restarting your Charge 2.

I also noticed that you got a reply from our customer support team. Please keep an eye on your inbox for further instructions. 

Give this a go and let me know how it goes! 

[kiphallman]

I began having the same problem yesterday with my Charge 2, which I've had for 18 months.  Very suddenly my battery life went from a consistent 5-6 days to 12 hours or less.  No change in use, alerts or anything else.  I downloaded the latest iOS 11.4 update a week or so ago and am wondering if that could be the cause.

Whatever the cause, my Charge 2 is essentially unusable at this point, so any additional information would be helpful.

[Loulappin]

I have now cleaned the tracker and also restarted it twice. This has had no effect. The battery is still draining very quickly and only lasting 3-4hrs after a full charge. I have had to charge my tracker 3 times already today.

I don’t have my Bluetooth connection on all day so I don’t receive messages etc via my Fitbit. All day sync is off.

The reason why I brought the Charge 2 was for the heart rate and sleep monitoring as well as exercise tracker so I won’t be turning this off. I am sorry but unfortunately the advice you have given is more or less stripping the Fitbit back from what I brought it for and was using it for until a few days ago and turning it into a watch and step counter. My phone can do that but I wanted more which is why I got the Fitbit. 

Very disappointed in poor response from customer services. 

[kiphallman]

I just noticed that my Charge 2 heart monitor has also stopped working.  All this happened after the iOS 11.4 update.  Seems like more than coincidental.

[Loulappin]

Yea I am the same. My heart rate and sleep has not been tracked since the battery issues started a few days ago. Also think this was around the time of my IOS update

[PennyBright]

My tracker has just started doing the same thing.  I just charged it and the battery is already down to 85%.

If we turn off all the features as suggested it is no longer a fitbit, it is just a bracelet.

Does this have something to do with the recent update?

How can this be fixed?

[Liz86]

I have exactly the same problem. The way in which I use the tracker did not change. Maybe it is the update fault or maybe batteries in newer fitbit tracers are just designe to broke after the guarantee overdues to make people buying new ones😉 According to the moderator's response it seems like that - either turn your fitbit into useless bracelet or get a new one. It might be just about the time to get some interest in other companies.

[Jonas72]

I'm also experience battery drain problem with my Fitbit Charge 2 the last couple of weeks. Before I got about 4 days between charges. Now I get max 24 h. 

If I remember right the battery drain started just around the time I updated to the iOS 12 public beta 6. I haven't changed any setting in the Fitbit app after updating to iOS 12.  I'm now on public beta 8.

I have now tried to turn off all day sync. There is no difference. How can I conclude if the Fitbit battery is worn out?

[Currah]

There are some businesses that offer to change the battery, but I also read that Fitbit claims the battery cannot be changed.  Is this a 2-3 year life device by design?  Does Fitbit offer a battery change service to assure it is done right?

[Elwood60613]

It seems Fitbit jas designed these to fail after 18 months, with no recourse for repair or replacement.  I am beyond disappointed by Fitbit's response to my issue which sounds similar.  In the span of a week the battery of my Charge 2 has deteriorated to the point that a full charge only lasts a couple hours.  My device is out of warranty so even though I would be glad to pay for a repair or purchase a replacement part and install it myself, this is not an option.  the only response I have gotten from Fitbit is to purchase a new device at a discount.  I don't want a new device, I like my Charge 2.  Even offering me the value equivalent of a Charge 2 off the price of an Ionic, I could easily purchase the Ionic and then go return it somewhere for store credit, and then get the fitbit I want--but but the point is Fitbit should support its customers better than this.  I have been a customer since 2013, this is the 5th device we have had in our household.  Why is the support infrastructure so poor?  Did this happen deliberately or by accident/oversight?  For the first time ever this year, my health plan is allowing any step tracking device (in the past they only permitted Fitbits).  As a result of that change, and this massively disappointing customer experience, I am likely done with the Fitbit.  Posting on this message board at the suggestion of the cusomer service rep who was unable to help me.

[Currah]

Yes, I spent some time with a rep today and learned that they have no response to the very real dilemma other then to try and redirect.  I'm not sure that they intentionally design tje batteries to fail but rather there is no battery designed that lasts forever.  It does seem it is intentional 1) that they don't design a way to replace, and 2) they don't disclose the limited life (which does make it a disposable product).  If neither of these are addressed with the new Charge 3 that certainly would confirm intention with this very known issue.  Watches have had replaceable batteries for 100 years.  I wonder if Garmin or other competitors have a different view on how long their customers can opt to use their devices.

[Jonas72]

Last night I restarted my Charge 2. https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Charge-2/Quick-view-doesn-t-always-work/m-p/1583093#M2497

I haven't tried that before, honestly, I didn't know how to do it. 🙂

What I noticed after the reboot was that the battery level jumped down and the device prompted for recharge.  I charged the device and it took longer than before. I now experience that the battery isn't draining as fast as before. 

I just find it strange that a battery could get bad overnight. Maybe it's aproblem connected to the software. Even if the charge 2 tells you that it fully charged. It's not. 

Anyone else that tried to restart? Did you experience any difference?

[bowtieted]

I did clean the contacts as recommended. That seems to have corrected the problem.....still holding charge. th

[bowtieted]

Hi I cleaned the contacts as suggested which seemed to correct the charging situation....

[Currah]

That is awesome. That means your issue didn't have to do with a failing battery. It buys you time until your battery does fail, which it will. Then you'll be in the same boat as me. Glad you have more time.

rc

[Jonas72]

I think it was wishful thinking from my side. There was actual no difference. The battery is still draining. 😞

[francheska]

Very dissapointed with customer service my fitbit charge 2 died i have it only for 2 years they cant help at all i think it was made for only 2 years so u have to buy their product again and try to give 25% off so ridiculous i will just get different tracker this worthless 

[Currah]

These are not advertised, or priced, as disposable.

Sent from my Windows 10 device

[Magesh]

I totally agree with every word in this. I too am suffering from the same issue.