Charge 2 completely dead and not charging

[HelenWardle]

Hi

is there a shelf life for a Charge 2? I’ve had mine for 2.5 years. It is getting harder and harder to charge it now. I charge the charge2 when the battery indicator flashes to say it’s low. Now it won’t charge and runs out of battery completely. Last week I had on charge all day before a bit of battery life appeared. I then reset the charge2 and this then charged the charge2. 5 days on I am in the same situation. Only now my app is showing I have a full battery when the charge2 is completely dead. My app cannot find my charge2 as it is dead. I always charge via sockets as I have no laptop. 

Can you advise? Has my charge2 reached its end of life or is there a way of charging without it completely going dead and taking a day to get some battery life and resetting? 

[Izzysnook]

So this may mean a “culture “ of leaving customers on the hook is already present. I hope not. So step up fitbit, do the right thing and replace fitbits. Or Garmin it will be. 

[Davidcra]

Hey Alvaro.  Here is a solution. Release an update of the OLD operating software and I guarantee all these complaints will disappear.  I know that’s not the company party line. Instead you suggest people chase useless solutions all day like buying chargers and reading other remedies. When a piece of technology ceases functioning as before after and update its COMMON. SENSE ago adress the update. Don’t insult customer intelligence by wasting their time

[Davidcra]

Don’t waste your money. They trashed the Charge. 2 with this upgrade to get you to buy a newer unit. Find another option. Garmin. Plus they are waterproof !

[Izzysnook]

Update 22.58 dated aug 18th did not fix my charging issue. It still only maintains a charge for 5 mins or so. What now fitbit? 

[Izzysnook]

update was aug 14th. Still dead.

[Davidcra]

Fitbit does not care.  Last one I ever buy.  Same thing happens to my wife’s charge 2 as happened to mine. 

Clearly Fitbit knew this would turn the units into a brick and hoped to generate some sales.  If you go to the Fitbit website they don’t even list the charge 2 on the first product page. I have a Garmin fenix 3 coming tomorrow. Their stuff is top notch.  Yes more expensive but once you figure out the cost of buying a few Fitbit it’s not so bad plus you get a better app and a company with a history of tech design and build for aviation and nautical uses. 

[Jeanne3264]

I know my solution won't work for all, but the suggestions did work for me.  I let my Charge 2 battery go completely dead for the first time, back in early August, BEFORE the firmware update.  (Not a firmware problem because there hadn't been an update yet.)  (Not an ending to the Charge 2's lifespan, battery, or it's charger.... Since all were working perfectly before I took it off and let it lay dead for 3 weeks.)

When I did try to charge it, The device did initially vibrate but never showed that it was charging, even after many hours.  Of course my phone's App couldn't find it or sync with it -- because the battery was dead.  No other display would show on the Fitbit screen.

I had tried to reset the Charge 2 by holding in the button, but got zip.  Then after following the FITBIT HELP section's advice of doing this RESET WHILE it was charging, the Fitbit RESET and showed full battery!   Then I knew that it would be a very good idea to help clear out all of these confused electronic data bits -- by also resetting my phone and App, so I restarted my phone.  

At this point my phone found the Fitbit, they synced, and the App read FULL battery as well as the Fitbit display!  The Fitbit also showed all of its display screens correctly.

I began to try the firmware update.  Several times, it worked and worked at it, only to come back as FAILED.  At that point I realized that it was being interrupted by something and so I turned off my phone's Battery Saver.  (On some phones, the battery saver is inacted by default, or through some other App like a junk file cleaning took kit).  The firmware THEN updated quickly and all is working perfectly. 

If my Fitbit begins to not display my text messages or counting floors, or showing a dead battery after just bring charged -- I will RESET both the Fitbit & my Phone AGAIN.

Obviously the Charge 2 is still being supported or they would not have offered an update to it's firmware.

(I use a variety of old and new wall sockets, usually in a busy receptical or a power strip.)

Jeanne

[uhlisa888]

Same boat.  I've had mine 2.5 years, the lights on the back were flashing and it totally died on me shortly after.  I did all the things the troubleshooting suggested (cleaning, different USB port, restart) and nothing. Talked to customer service and all they did was offer me a discount on a new fitbit.  That won't be happening.  I'm incredibly disappointed.

[Pathan]

What do we do if none of the advice works. Mine stopped working - completely dead and won't charge. What is the warranty on these? 1 year?  I've had a couple of Fitbits. The original Charge I got years ago still works great, but my Charge 2 broke after 2 years or less. I got it because I wanted the HR feature, but less than 2 years is definitely not what I expected. It's been sitting in a drawer now and I occasionally take it out and attempt to revive it, going on forums to see if anyone has a better solution to try. If the newer Fitbit models don't last that long, I'm not sure I'll go with Fitbit again when my original Fitbit Charge dies. 

[0_o]

The same thing happened to me apparently Fitbit doesn't care about this segment of Charge 2 customers.