Charge HR: terminals corroded off (no charging)

[peacefulkancer]

I have a Fitbit Charge HR that I cycle out with a Blaze. Love them both. However, my CHR won't charge anymore. In looking at the terminals it appears that the contacts are corroded away (black/brown dots in the middle of the copper terminals). I'm guessing that since I use the CHR when I work out that the sweat has eroded the terminals away.

I'm guessing I'm just SOL?

NOTE: Tried taking a picture but it is super hard to see

[SunsetRunner]

Hi

Feel free to check out the Fitbit Help Article:

URL: Click to go to the Fitbit Help Article 'My tracker's battery isn't charging'

How to clean the tracker? YouTube Video (By Craig) (For flex but similiar for other trackers)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezvXy9mKoGQ

When the tracker is under warranty (warranty about to expire)..

Feel free to contact the Fitbit Support Team: India | United Kingdom | United States

Optionally check out Returns & Warranty before contacting support.

Mention what you've already tried to speed things up.

---

Hope it helps

[peacefulkancer]

• The unit is old - maybe 3.5 years old. So I can't do a warranty claim
• Contacts have been cleaned multiple times throughout it's life.
• Charging port cleanly affixes, so no issue with that
• Multiple charging cords have been tried.

It is hard to see in the picture, but where the copper connection terminals are... they aren't there. It looks like plastic. You can still see a bit of the copper connection material on the outside edges but nothing in the middle where the charger physically/electrically touches/connects to the CHR. Over the years the CHR has progressively gotten worse that you had to fiddle with the connection more and more to get it to start. Once you found the sweet spot it would charge. My guess is that this was because you'd be wiggling it until it moved to a spot with the terminal still intact... and now the terminal has receded too far so you can't wiggle it into submission.

I'm just wondering if anyone has had this problem.

I feel like my only fix would b to get a soldering iron and dab a touch or solder on there and "remake" the terminals.

[ACG]

Was thinking, check the prongs with a multimeter. Not sure if you or a friend of yours has one. 

I have an old radio shack meter that I would believe "beep"when I touched those 2 prongs. 

Also in volts DC, you should see a reading on the meter screen. 

Let me know if you want me to try it on my good working HR. 

[peacefulkancer]

I'm not sure if you mean test the charging cable or the CHR. Either way, every cable I have has the same result - it won't charge.

The problem isn't so much that it won't charge but rather that the terminals are eroded. Instead of two round connection terminals on the CHR mine has two ports but they aren't copper anymore... They are black/brown in the center (where the cord terminals would touch) like there is no more conductive metal there. It looks like fitbit makes those terminals by simply coating the plastic chassis with a conductive material. If you look real close in my picture you can see that the terminals look eroded in the middle (sorry for the shoddy picture of the issue as I don't have great macro camera gear at the moment).

I have a DVM so I can test it but I think the issue is less of an electrical issue and more of a physical/mechanical issue due to the conductive charging parts eroding away and thus disallowing a physical connection.

[ACG]

If you have one, touch the 2 prongs while you have the DVM in the continuity setting. 

You said they were worn down and you thought there was no more metal there. This will confirm if there is. 

[peacefulkancer]

Charge cable:

Touch two prongs: Continuity

Charge HR:

Touch two prongs: Discontinuity

Blaze (4 terminals):

Touch any two prongs: Discontinuity.

Girlfriend's Alta (3 prongs):

Touch terminal 1 and 2: Continuity, otherwise discontinuity

So with that said I am not sure if there will be continuity going through the CHR as it doesn't seem to be continuous through my Blaze. If you have a CHR, then I'd be interested to see what you get on your reading between the two terminals. 

Below is a drawing of what the terminals used to look like and below is what mine looks like. If you look closely at the original picture in the original post you might be able to make it out better with the below graphic.

[ACG]

@peacefulkancer

Did you end up putting solder on the 2 terminals. 

[peacefulkancer]

I did not

[AndyProkhorov]

Had exactly the same problem with Blaze. Tried to fill holes with conductive glue, didn't help.

[mishuga]

Have you done this with any of your trackers?  Do you know of a solder that can endure long-term skin contact and is non-toxic?

[peacefulkancer]

Never tried it. Ended up upgrading to another Fitbit and throwing the Charge HR away.

[OrhanA]

I do NOT understand you people. 

Fitbit making their product not to last long and even you experimented it. Still buying a new one.  Just wasting money.

[peacefulkancer]

Thanks for the judgement.

[Coachuk]

I think your assessment was right. They corroded off over repeated exposure to your salt laden sweat. Those salts stay on the surface of the electrodes after the sweat evaporates. That causes corrosion that wore it down over time. Since soldering might cause it work for a short season, eventually it would fail too, and the two different metals would cause galvanic corrosion. One alternative now that’s you have replaced it would be periodically cleaning with a cloth or dabbing with alcohol and wiping off. Good luck!

[DavePhoto]

My Fitbit Inspire HR charging contacts have exactly the same problem (I like your picture!). I currently find that cleaning the contacts on the tracker with a contact wool bud soaked in isopropanol alcohol allows it to charge - but I have to do this every time. Fitbit should give me free supplies or give me a new tracker! I'll be buying a much cheaper Amazon brand next time. Fitbit are over priced and short lived.

[VizardXY]

I have had this exact same problem with my Inspire HR. Support gave me a 35% coupon that I never used and I kept deal with it. DE ided to try to solder it tonight. Couldn't get the solder to drop into the hole nicely. Ended up melting some of the plastic around the hole and now it defintely wont charge.

It drives me crazy that this is a constant problem with aging fitbit, Fitbit knows about it, and it's just expected that people buy a new model when this one is working just fine otherwise. 😠

[VizardXY]

UPDATE:

After thinking that I completely broke my Inspire HR after the above. I decided to one last time take a swing at fixing it. I got an exacto knife with a very fine tip, and I scraped in each small circle. To my amazement, I was able to see more gold contact shining. So I kept going. I then got some isopropyl alchohal and with a q-tip cleaned the contacts. Went back and forth scraping and cleaning and to my amazement my Inspire charges just fine now. I think the gold contacts are deeper than we realize and corrosion and **ahem** makes it look like the plating has worn off. 

[Fitrunner2019]

Hi,

I know this is VERY old post, but I thought I share, and can maybe help other people here.

I have the same probelm on my charge3. Yes, the fitbit is a piece of junk in many ways, both firmware and hardware.

If your contacts are has abrasive holes (but not completely gone), I think this will do the trick.

MY SOLUTION: Use Loctite 3863 (~$15), which is a conductive glue, used to repair electrical stuff.

Make sure to follow the instruction for the glue, but  the supplied applicator brush is way to thick, so I instead used a tooth-pick.

\P

[boricuabeautykk]

I know this is a super old post, but you're awesome for sharing this idea!

I thought my Versa would need to be replaced regardless if it wouldn't charge so figured it wouldn't hurt to try scraping the leads with an Exacto knife. You're right... they are deeper than I thought! I was able to get them cleaned of the gunk and it immediately charged when placed in the base. Thanks so much for the idea!