Sense battery is draining quickly

[IanVH]

Hi,

We have 2 Sense devices we use.

I have all bell & whistles disabled, my wife has them enabled (alerts, alarm, tracker, always on screen, calls, etc).

BOTH our devices last 2 days instead of the advertised 6 to 6+ days.

We have the latest firmware, all up to date.

I've seen it now several times where an hour after a full charge the battery drops to 80%

From what I see in the other threads there are several people facing this issue.

This can't be a coincidence, Is Fitbit aware of this situation?

Regards

[Mad_Davey]

Last night at 11 pm it went from 70% to 41% this morning at 7 am.  I guess it must be activating in my sleep.

[eezeepee]

@Mad_Davey Yes I average 20-25% per day if I do no workouts. What are your settings? I can get 4 whole days with these settings:
Brightness dim, screen wake motion and button, always-on display off, snore & noise detection off, SpO2 on.

The biggest battery drainers, especially overnight, are the snore & noise detection and SpO2, but more so the snore & noise. With it on, I lose around 20% over 7 hours of sleep. With that option off, I only lose around 6-8% over 7 hours of sleep. I had it on for over a week and I don't snore and noise is minimal so it wasn't worth the drain. If I turned off SpO2 I would definitely get 5-6 days. I keep that on because it's part of the health metrics.

GPS is only active for workout tracking. You can tell which ones use GPS by looking at the top of the screen before starting the workout, it'll say GPS connecting or GPS connected.

For the button, you do need to cover the whole indentation and then give it a squeeze. It's not a capacitive touch button. I just did it with a thick pill corner and still works just fine. 

As for your 29% overnight in 8 hours, are you sure you don't have snore and noise detection on? Because that looks to be the amount it would use overnight. Turning the screen on while sleeping wouldn't use so much.

[Mad_Davey]

I'll try to figure out how to turn off the snore and noise detection.  It would be nice to have it work but not at the expense of charging much more frequently.  Last night I went from 31% to 8%, so it seems now after turning off the SP02 face, my sleeping is killing the watch much faster than other times but at least the battery drain slowed down during the day.  I'd also like to note my wife is able to leave her sleep monitoring on while getting 4 days of battery on her Versa 2.  The Versa 2 features an easier to use button, the ability to leave SP02 and sleep monitoring on without huge battery life hits, remind me again why I purchased the Sense?

--------------

It sounds on par with how things went with a defective scale I purchased that they have been trying to pass off on people.  Thanks for reminding me to point this out eezeepee. If you still choose to buy Fitbit, NEVER BUY YOUR FITBIT PRODUCTS DIRECTLY FROM FITBIT, they simply do not accept returns at all.  I had to fight hard to be able to return a defective scale only days after receiving it in the mail, after getting them to accept it, I had to fight harder to get them to pay for return shipping!  Maybe Fitbit should consider charging another $10 so they can provide actual customer support.

[Jmoore2021]

I’m having the same issue! 

[LifeonSmithLake]

I do not use SpO2 app, turned off. I use a very simple face “Minimal Style” by Lee Doel. I have watch set at 10 sec. off after I view time. I sync manually.  I never get more than 60 hours in a full charge. I don’t sync everyday. Trying to figure out if I need to sell this and go to Apple iWatch.

[Mad_Davey]

Fitbit support had me send them a video of me trying to use the haptic button, since between that and the battery it was too much.  It turns out my haptic button was defective, and they sent me a new to me used watch (yay fitbit), and just the face part.  I am able to reliably press the haptic button now (still would prefer a real button since it would work better) the battery still dies about 25% while I sleep for 6-7 hours.  I have to charge every 2-3 days.  In the meantime I purchased a Versa 2, a new return on ebay for $50, it works much better, the battery lasts me nearly 5 days, the button works easily.

[Guy_]

Hi @LifeonSmithLake -  did you remove the SpO2 tracker app, have you turned off Snore detection - see How to resolve the Major issues causing short battery life. 

Likewise @Mad_Davey it would seem you were using Snore detection, hogs the battery overnight.

[Coffmcr]

They just can’t accept that something can be wrong with their devices..

Get Outlook for iOS<>

[Mad_Davey]

Trying now with snore detection off.  It's a little frustrating that I need to turn off features to get the anticipated battery life.  Regardless thanks for the pointer, this seems very plausible.  I have not turned on anything, I have not installed or changed any software, I have left everything as default since I received the refurbished replacement.  It seems odd to me a company can send out refurbs to buyers of NEW watches that were defective from the start. It feels odd since I've never recieved what I paid for, to be specific that is a NEW and and fully functional watch.

[LifeonSmithLake]

It’s a strange situation for a company so we’ll known and used. Definitely seems to be a programming issue to me. I’ve got nothing but steps and heartbeat on and still charging every 48 hours. 

[Coffmcr]

I agree a programming issue… But a lot of money to have to deal with their issues… Should be able to use all the features advertised without having to recharge every couple days… In the information on the Sense it doesn’t indicate it needs recharging that soon… Makes me not want to buy another Fitbit..

-----------

Totally agree… It is not living up to it’s advertised features… We are thinking of switching to Apple Watch when we need a new one..

[LifeonSmithLake]

I've never had snore detection on that I know of. Screen at normal level, low activity screen now, some of the busy screens takes it from Full battery to 25% in 8 - 10 hours.

------------

Yes all of this. Actually never had snore detection on. I don’t even know where that is or where to read results on app.

[Coffmcr]

We don’t either… My husband wears a Cpap anyway..

Get Outlook for iOS<>

[Guy_]

Here is the link How to setup and use Fitbit snoring detection features 

[Mad_Davey]

I noticed my snore detection was on by default.  I turned it off today on my used replacement they sent me.  They let me keep my old one though, does anyone need a sense that only responds to button presses one in five tries and dies in less than two days?

[Mad_Davey]

To be fair, the replacement Fitbit they sent me seems to have made the button work better, I'm still not getting every press but it's usable.  Turning off snore detection which was on by default has made the battery last much longer, I'm currently dropping 15% or less per 24 hours.  I'm much happier now.

[Mad_Davey]

Since turning my snore detection off, I am now on at least 7 days without charging, I think this is the 8th day and I need to charge.  This is why I purchased this watch over others and am very happy now.  Thanks for the help.  Snore detection was the problem, it was on by default and it kills the battery FAST!

[Felicia_6516]

Me too. This is a recent issue. I've had my sense since 2020, but this last update messed up all my presets and now I get 1-2 days of battery life. 

[Mad_Davey]

Turn off snore detection.

[Brian411]

After the recent update my Sense battery is lasting about 20 hours, what did you do?