Charge will not hold a charge

[Jburnett712]

I recieved my Charge for Christmas, but that one would not charge at all so I sent it back a got a replacement. The replacement has worked great until this past weekend. The charge usually lasted 4-5 days on a full battery, and this past weekend it completely died. Since then, whenever I charge it, on a full battery it only lasts a day and a half. If I charge it Wednesday night, it will be dead by 11 a.m. on Friday.  I understand some people have a battery that doesn't even last that long not even a day, and I would like to try and solve this problem before it gets worse. 

[TraciF]

I also charged mine completely on Wednesday night and this morning (before 7 am), it was completely dead. I have no idea what happened. I can normally go 6 or 7 days without having to re-charge.

[CindiS]

Mine is only 1 week old (hr charge) and it only stays charged 12 hours. I reset it once and tonight Imy doing a 2nd reset charge. If it does it again back it goes. I've been reading about this happening a lot. Not a good product if many are going through the same thing.

[MeylinP]

It's nice to see you around more often my friends @Jburnett712 @TraciF @CindiS! I'd like you to know that there are a number of variables that may factor into battery life, as your tracker's battery life will be determined by your settings and interaction with it. Variables to consider include: 

- The number of silent alarms you have set
- How many call notifications you receive
- How often you tap the device or press the button to check your daily stats
- All-day or frequent syncing

To maximize the battery life on your device, you can disable these more power hungry features from time-to-time. In addition to taking note of the above, please try these troubleshooting tips to help determine the source of the charging issue. Finally, please try charging your tracker full, and then letting it die before charging again. This troubleshoot takes a few days before you see any effect on battery life.

I really hope this helps, let me know the outcome! 

[TraciF]

@MeylinP - Thanks for your reply. I do not have any silent alarms set, Call notifications are turned off (that is really pointless considering the phone has to be close to me for it to work), All-day syncing is turned off. Like I said, the battery normally lasts 6 - 7 days. I don't know what happened to it last week.

[Majinbuu · Accepted solution]

My 2 week old Charge was working fine the first week, full charge lasted 8 days.  During the second week, I noticed condensation under the screen while running and since then full charge only last between 6 to 8 hours.  I have already contacted the Customer Service and replacement is on the way, but unless Fitbit has identified and resolved the problem, I am afraid I will have to call them again in near future.  I would like to continue using the Fitbit products, but the product quality control is lacking, and even their good customer service can only go so far to keep me using their product.  Fingers crossed on the new replacement.

[Rpignato]

Had my Charge since November 2015 and for the last two weeks my charge is not holding the charge for more than a day. Will be contacting Fitbit tomorrow.

[CindiS]

I ended up trading it in for Samsung upgrade. It never would hold a charge. Sad the product is like this. 


Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone

[bgkage]

I purchased my first Charge  1.5 months ago. The first two wouldn't hold a charge more than two days.

This is NOT about how much stuff is turned on or not. There is a DEFECT in either the hardware or the firmware.

My third one has now lasted 9 days on the initial battery charge. So hopefully I got a good one this time.

[Jburnett712]

I contacted Fitbit on Thursday after the battery continued to get shorter and shorter. They are processing my replacement now and it will ship soon. Fitbit's customer service is amazing and was very helpful, so I encourage anyone with this same problem to contact them too! If it wasn't for them, I might be switching to a different product but they were very helpful so I am not... at least for now. 

[Rpignato]

I had the same experience with Fitbit. They were very responsive and replaced my Fitbit ASAP.

[Alison1987]

Hi, I see this is a serious problem with the Charge. If I knew earlier, I think I may have looked around, but now I'm fitbit addicted. My Charge is getting worse. Intially it was great, battery lasted days and was really happy. Now I'm doing more walking, I seem to be charging it daily (charge it up in the morning and then need to charge it back up the next morning). I thought it maybe me keep tapping the Charge to see my steps, or I'm doing too many long GPS walks??, but yesterday I only did about 6000 steps, not much considering I've been doing 10km walks/ about 20000 steps, and I'm still charging it daily. Any suggestions??

[Jburnett712]

Hi Alison! My only suggestion for you is to follow the troubleshooting instructions for your Charge, found on the FitBit website, and clean your Charge. If that does not work, someone else in this blog suggested letting it die completely, fully charging it, and letting it die again. If nothing helps, I would contact FitBit!

[Alison1987]

Hi, just to update. I have tried everything on the troubleshooting pages on fitbit website, as well as `how to extend your battery life'. Even done a complete reset (putting it in a USB port and pressing the button on the side for 10 seconds), and still it loses battery life. I have contacted Fitbit and they are sending me a replacement.

The amount of people I have seen on here and on other blogs, Fitbit must be replacing loads of Charges weekly (I would say daily, but I think that maybe an overexaggeration). I think they need to look into this problem fully, as there is only going to be so long before people lose confidence in the Charge and go with another company's activity tracker. I have seen this problem was first brought to Fitbit's attention back in June 2015 in one thread on the Fitbit community, and I know that there has been firmware updates since then, which may have no significance, but the same problem keeps recurring. Maybe change the battery for one that does not fail after a few months could help???

[Davidg216]

My Fit Bit only keeps a charge for about 3 hours when it used to keep for more than 5 days.  How do I get this fixed?

[Alison1987]

Hi Davidg216, I think if you have done all the troubleshooting, ie. charged in different USB ports (computer, from the wall, etc), no silent alarms, no quick view, no all day sync or always connected, and cleaned the Charge with rubbing alcohol on the contacts with the charger, then I would suggest getting in contact with Fitbit and see what they can do. I contacted them yesterday and they went onto my account, and saw mine was not lasting one day, let alone a few hours in your case, and they are sending me a replacement.

[conhig61]

I've had 4 Charge failures since May of 2015. Bands breaking, leaking and batteries failing. Whenever you guys stop replacing them, I will have to find another tracker solution. What a piece of junk!

[MikeS1636]

Read on another post that the Charge is being discontinued....is it because of a new device or due to the fact the is does not work properly. It is a "activity monitor", yea right. I have had two since December 2015. The first would only hold a charge for about 30 hours, well should have stayed with that one. The "new" one which is about 2 months old only holds a charge for about 13 hours. So, looks like I will be looking at other devices. Yes, fitbit has other models, but if the Charge is any indication of their quality, looks like I will be looking at a different manufacturer.  Anyone have any suggestions, Garmin or Samsung?

Very disappointed.......

[conhig61]

I understand Garmin Vivofit and Polar are supposed to be good products. Once my 5th Charge dies, I will move from Fitbit...  sorry it didn't work out.

[Rpignato]

Feeing the same way. On my second Fitbit and it was doing well. Noticed this week that it went from holding the charge 4 to 5 days to now 2 days. Will be calling Fitbit again. Sad that this is not working out.