Condensation in Charge 3 sensor, won’t switch on

[Melinda100]

I’ve had my charge 3 since July 2019. Swim with it reasonably regularly (in warmer months), always wipe it down afterwards, and have had no issues until now. Yesterday after hopping out of the water, it showed a dead screen, after a short while it started vibrating and then the screen came on. But within 30 mins it went black again and I can’t press the button at all. Later I noticed condensation in the sensors and no lights. I came on here today and saw some posts about rice but not much more information. So I have placed in some rice but does anyone have any advice on this issue? Is it pretty much a loss now? Or salvageable? Thanks

Moderator Edit: Clarified subject

[AlvaroFitbit]

@Melinda100 Welcome to the Fitbit Community! It's great to have you here!

Let me help you with this and thank you for troubleshooting this issue. I suggest you try restarting your tracker by doing the following:

1. Plug the charging cable into the USB port on your computer or any UL-certified USB wall charger.
2. Clip the other end of the charging cable to the port on the back of the tracker. The pins on the charging cable must lock securely with the port.
3. Make sure the button on your tracker is aligned with the button opening on the charging cable. You’ll know the connection is secure when the tracker vibrates and you see a battery icon on your tracker’s display.
4. Press and hold the button on your tracker for 8 seconds. Release the button. When you see a smile icon and the tracker vibrates, the tracker restarted.
5. Disconnect your tracker from the charging cable.

Let me know how it goes.

[Melinda100]

Hi thank you for the troubleshooting. I have connected the fitbit to the
charger after it was in the rice overnight. No battery symbol. The screen
remains black even after holding the button down for 8 seconds.
Interestingly, it is vibrating. It did some long vibrations and then after
I took it out of the charger a string of quick and intermittent
vibrations... but still a black screen. I've put it back into the rice
again for now.

Let me know if there is something else worth trying.

Cheers,
Melinda

[Melinda100]

Hi again, my fit bit turned on briefly and re-started (I saw the smiley face) battery said 1% and went to 90% reasons manly fast. I didn’t put it on but left it aside overnight and it is dead again. It actually looks like there still might be condensation in the back. Was rice the correct thing to do? You never really mentioned anything about the underlying issue? How did water even get in there? 

[AlvaroFitbit]

@Melinda100 thank you for your reply.

This is not expected for your device so there aren't too many suggestions. Since the issue persists the next step is reaching to our Support team. The best way to get help for this problem is to chat with us online or give us a call. Click here to get connected.

Keep me posted.