Can I adjust low battery notification on Sense 2?

[Joardar73]

I would like to be able to adjust when I get an alert when the battery gets low. I would also like to set multiple alerts.

Currently the app notifies you at 35% which seems high. I would like to be able to customize the levels, for example; first alert would occur at 15% with a yellow flag then again at 10% or 5% with a red flag.

Moderator Edit: Clarified subject

[Guy_]

Hi @Joardar73 - you may want to create a topic Fitbit Community feature suggestions 

[LZeeW]

@Joardar73   Based on what I know about rechargeable lithium based batteries, it's good that your notification comes at 35% charge.  A lithium polymer battery is described as having a certain number of charge cycles in its lifetime.  It's a range, because not all charge cycles are created equal.  Letting your battery go below 20-25% charge is called a deep discharge.  Repeated deep discharges shorten battery life.  Please follow the current notification.  It's good advice.

[Joardar73]

Thank you for your opinion.

[Joardar73]

Thank you. There was an existing request that I voted for.

[t.parker]

@LZeeW this is very battery specific. Older batteries lose capacity at quicker rate but modern are lot more resistant to getting very low on charge. There are different advices coming from different sources. For example, Garmin says theit batteries work best with charge 20%-80% (yes, it's not recommended to charge it to 100%) but if charge drops below 20 or go over 80 it doesn't mean the battery will reach end of life on next day. Another thing is how many charging cycles it can last and recharging it sooner will boost reaching that limit. For example, if I recharge when Fitbit notifies me, I would need to charge it every 2-3 days (which is normal battery life of Sense 2 considering my usage of the watch, GPS costs a lot). That will also affect battery life. Yet, on that note, I never really experienced any issues with any Fitbit battery life (and it happened a watch fully died during longer activities). I'm not sure why the warning comes at 35% but result of that is that I tend to ignore and more likely let the watch die out of forgetfulness 🤣 If I see warning at 20% I might have plugged it right away but 35%?... oh... it will last 🤣

[Guy_]

@LZeeW @Joardar73 - normally the low battery popup comes at 25% to indicate a need for charging, which is fine if you are using, or are intending to use, all the features.

My Sense battery can last 6 days so it gets charged at the next occasion when below 17% and gets fully charged - there has been no sign of degradation after over 2 years.

Batteries may have there own control, so the 0-100% the users sees may not be the full 0-100% but just a part of it, to protect the battery.

As @t.parker says frequency is more an issue than charge level. For instance my watch has only been charged under 200 times in over 2 years whereas people who charge daily it would be over 700 times. Which is a big difference.

The actual charge level is of lesser importance and the batteries can withstand being fully charged and completely run down, and will shutdown when necessary. The only problem with the latter is you can't use your watch if it comes at an inappropriate moment.

In any case the batteries are reasonably reliable and any with short battery life, it isn't normally the battery that is at fault [though that's what everyone sees or assumes] but the watch has an internal fault causing rapid drain. Very often this is water damage that is at the root of the issue.

@Joardar73- the best solution is to choose a clock face that shows the battery level and that changes colour as it gets lower, to draw your attention, that way you will be well informed of this critical piece of information.

[t.parker]

@Guy_ totally agree. Manufacturers take into account most usual charging pattern for their devices. For example, knowing that Apple Watch has to be charged frequently the battery is (probably) designed to last a lot more charging cycles. Fitbit's usage pattern is charging every several days (5-6?). Charging more frequently may not be what the battery was designed for. Apple claims that latest watch will stand 1000 cycles after which will still retain 80% of full capacity. Assuming charging every day it's almost 3 years after which users have still 80% of original capacity. It would be interesting to find similar claims from Fitbit to know how battery capacity depends on charging cycles.

[rbartlett]

I agree. 35% is ridiculous. So got a low battery notification and when I look at the dashboard it shows battery level is Medium. I usually let it get down to 10% before recharging. Let us set the notification level.

[DramaQueenDiva]

I already created the suggestion here .