Charge2 recording way too many floors

[LJBoni]

For the past month my charge 2 has been quadrupling, at the minimum, the number of floors I climb each day. I have restarted the unit several times hoping that this would help resolve the problem, no such luck. On Monday of this week it had me at 236 floors in one day, every day this week it has been at over 100 a day. Usually, I'm in the 20 to 40 range and consider my stair climbing to be a valuable part of my activity. It's at the point now that I can't trust any thing it records with regard to flights climbed. I'm also concerned that all these extra added flights scew my step count as well. Any suggestions of how to fix this problem would be appreciated.

[HeydyF · Accepted solution]

Hi @LJBoni, let me give you a warm welcome to the Community! Wow! Your Charge 2 is counting too many floors. By any chance, have you left the tracker close to a fan? The reason I'm asking this is because the altimeter that the trackers that count floors have, is a sensor that calculates altitude based on atmospheric pressure. Though your tracker is designed to look for pressure changes based on elevation gains, pressure changes due to other causes—such as a gust of wind, a weather change, or opening a door—can occasionally cause your tracker to register extra floors. Another factor is floor height. However if none of these causes is affecting the floors, and you already tried to restart your Charge 2, I suggest you to set it up as a new device. 

Let me know how it goes! 

[LJBoni]

Thank you for your response and suggestions. My tracker is on my arm almost all the time, only take it off to charge or shower so it's not near a fan - we don't have fans in our home - use central air but don't stand in front of or on top of vents. I set it up as a new device yesterday evening and so far today I am not getting any "crazy" flight counts, I am crossing my fingers that this did the trick! If it starts getting wacky on me again, I'm going to assume there is something wrong with the altimeter, especially since it worked fine for several months previously. Thanks again for your help.

Sent from my iPhone

[HeydyF]

Hey @LJBoni, thanks for your response! I appreciate you have taken the time to set up your Fitbit as a new device. I'm pretty sure that this will fix the settings on the altimeter of your Charge 2. However if the issue persists, please let me know so I can help you out. 😉 

Keep me updated! 

[Charley3719]

I am having the same problem. Today my charge 2 registered 54 floors. I climbed no floors. Discouraging. Started with the last update. My recommendation: don't buy a Fitbit.

[HeydyF]

Hey @Charley3719, it is great to see new members around!   Is your Charge 2 also counting too many steps, or just floors? If it is counting both in huge amounts, let me suggest you to follow the steps in this post in order to delete or negate that extra data. In addition, to avoid this from happening again, perform a restart by following the instructions in this post. 

Let me know how it goes! 

[Charley3719]

Apparently i climbed 63 floors today, even though I only climbed one. I'm very disappointed as I have tried every recommendation and none has fixed this. Originally my Charge 2 counted my floors climbed accurately. Can Fitbit just replace it? 

[LJBoni]

My only other suggestion would be to make sure the back of your watch is clean. You don't want to submerse it or run it under water but using a moist towelette or swab gently clean it to remove any residues that might be adhering to the back of the watch. Along with "rebooting" it as a new device, this seemed to do the trick for me and I haven't had a problem since. I do not know what Fitbit's replacement policy is. Hope this solves the problem.

Sent from my iPhone

[Rich_Laue]

What was the weather like @Charley3719?

It is a none problem with using barometric pressure to read alritude. The weather conditions can easily throw off measurments 

Wind or just a falling barometric pressure can easily throw the measurements off, since it is air pressure being monitored.

[HeydyF]

Hey @Charley3719! I'd like to know if you have tried the tips that @LJBoni posted, 'cause one of the reasons why the altimeter isn't working could be because it is dirty, so I suggest you to keep your Charge 2 clean so it can track your information accurately and then restart it. Also, I would like you to take into consideration what @Rich_Laue mentioned about the weather, since on windy days, the Fitbit might track extra floors. So review that information and let me know how it goes! 

Have a nice day! 

[Warzone]

I had this same issue today, I ran up and down some stairs just to hit my 10 floor goal. Now I am at 50 and there is no way I did 50 floors. I saw the reply on the fan and think that's it for me... I am in Afghanistan on a Military base and we have what we call the "100 days of wind" I've done 25,000 steps today and about 2/3 of that was in some fierce winds 🙂

[HeydyF]

Hey hey hey @Warzone, it is great to see new members around! I appreciate that information. As I mentioned, the altimeter may track that wind pressure as floors, so if this is the case, and you don't want that extra data, you can negate those steps and floors by following the instructions in this post. 

Let me know how it goes! 

[a_j_b]

I have had my charge 2 since 12/16 and wear it faithfully. On September 12 it began to count way too many floors. I've gone from an avg of 10 to as high as 157.  My routine has not changed. It is not next to a fan. I've rebooted and cleaned it. Any ideas?

[LJBoni]

Have you made sure that the tiny hole on the back of your charger is not clogged with dust, lotion, dead skin, etc? I have read that if this tiny opening, where the altimeter is located, gets clogged it can totally mess up your floor count. I not only reloaded my watch as a new device but also cleaned that opening out, after that it started working normally again. Let me know if this works.

Sent from my iPhone

[a_j_b]

I thought I had done this, but after researching I found the altimeter is
behind the band, not on the back where I had cleaned. I took the band off,
cleaned everything, including the little altimeter hole, and it seems to
have worked. Thanks for the advice!

[LJBoni]

Great, glad it's working again!

Sent from my iPhone

[HeydyF]

@a_j_b, sounds pretty cool that your Charge 2 is counting your floors again. Thanks to @LJBoni for that tip, it works most of the times, so I appreciate you have shared it in the Community so other users who are experiencing the same issue can try this out and solve it. 🙂 

Have a nice day guys! 

[a_j_b]

Unfortunately, it worked for 4 days, and has now started counting too many
floors again.

[Mpod]

Just got my charge 2. I've had a charge for a year. I never had a problem with the charge and my floor count. Always accurate. Just got my new charge 2 and the floors are WAY off by hundreds. I normally get around 20-40 floors/day. All of the suddden, my new Fitbit thinks I'm climbing sky scrapers every day. 212 floors, 181 floors. Really? I don't think so. Disappointed!

[HeydyF]

Hey @a_j_b, I hope you are doin' fine! 🙂 Let me suggest you something, please try to set it up your Charge 2 as a new device by following these instructions for Android devices. Then use your tracker for a few days and let me know how it goes. 😉 

@Mpod, it is cool to see new faces around! Have you tried to restart your Charge 2? If you haven't, please give it a try and also, please take into consideration that windy weather can contribute that your Charge 2 counts extra floors that you actually didn't climb.