Sense charging too slowly

[daddybrubeck]

I have had problems charging my Fitbit Sense, even with the purchase of 65w charger it sometimes took 4 hours.

I read that all the contacts need to be clean so I gave them all a good clean with a tissue, but there was no great improvement.

I then saw somewhere to clean the contacts with an alcohol based cleaner, the only one of those I had was the hand gel we are all using at the moment in the fight against Covid, so I put a small blob of gel on a tissue & rubbed it around the contacts on both the watch & the 65w charger, I have done this for the last 2 chargers of my Fitbit over the last couple of weeks, the watch was fully charged on both occasions in an hour, starting %'s at the start of the charge were around 13%.

Try it & see if it works for you.

Moderator edit: subject for clarity

[Rich_Laue]

Hi @daddybrubeck it is hard to mark a post that is not a response as the best answer. 

Glad you got it to work. 

Both skin oils and lotions can put a film on the tracker. 

BTW it is isopropyl alccohol that is suggested. 

And a soap free cleanser for the band. 

Your sense has a quick charger and should be able to add a days charge within 15 minutes. 

[WilsonFitbit]

Hello @daddybrubeck Welcome to the Community Forums! @Rich_Laue Thanks for your input! 

@daddybrubeck I was informed by the Support Team that you contacted them regarding this difficulty. Since you have received assistance from them, I suggest you to update your case or get in contact with them one more time if you require further assistance or if you have any additional questions. Make sure to make reference to your case number. 

Have a great day! 

[daddybrubeck]

Hi Wilson

I cannot recall actually contacting the support team on this issue so I am not sure who you are asking me to contact or why?.

Suffice it to say that as the slow charging of the Fitbit Sense appears to be a common problem amongst many of the people who have purchased a Sense Fitbitt then doesnt the slow charging issue warrant a more definitive response from Fitbits boffins with some explanation as to why it slow chargers followed by a permanent fix to the problem in whatever form that fix takes?

I may be wrong & I may have missed it but I am not aware of ANY response &/or resolution from Fitbit boffins on this matter, my humblest apologies if there has been though.

[WilsonFitbit]

@daddybrubeck It's great to see you around and thank you for taking the time to share information and your feedback! 

I'm very sorry for the experience you've had. I got in contact with our Support Team and they confirmed that you contacted them a few days ago but it seems that your conversation with them was interrupted. Due to the inconvenience experienced, the best way to get help for this, is to chat online with them or you can give a call. Click here to get connected. I hope this inconvenience can be resolved soon. 

Have a wonderful day! 

[10sGuy]

Worked like a charm. Thanks for the tip!!!

[Rich_Laue]

As for slow charging, I've seen this complaint from users who are using the 500MA supply on their PC. 

Both the Sense and Versa 3 have a high speed charging circuit and I find the Sense can pull 900 - 1200 MA. The Versa 3 and Sense needs to be plugged into a high speed Phone charger for this type of current 

[CBV2]

Rich_Laue recommends using a high speed phone charger to charge the Sense. I fully endorse this. The PC USB connection (desktop, laptop, whatever) provides enough current for a USB memory stick but not much else. I have a collection of phone chargers and have found the original 5W iPhone charger to be inadequate as well, but the 10W charger seems to work fine. A short time ago I charged the Sense from 35% to 95% while I was having a shower. Charging is not a problem.

[Rich_Laue]

You should be able to add a days charge in 18 minutes. 

A 5 watt phone charger will give 1000 MA or 1 amp 

[KuuWolf]

Thank you for this! I was wondering why it was slow charging no matter what charger I used. Plugged it into my only fast charger, and it worked... after I had waited all night just to get to 80%. 🙄

[daddybrubeck]

Thank you for your reply KuuWolf (Jogger).

What is really disappointing about this issue is that it is a well known & talked about subject on this (& presumably) other forums & yet Fitbit, as far as I am aware, have not fixed or even addressed the matter, so much so that the Fitbit Sense I paid well over £200 for just over a year or so ago now lives in the back of the drawer in my house where all the unwanted & rarely used stuff lives.

I now have a Chinese made smartwatch that does everything (& a good deal more) than the Fitbit Sense does (including charging in an hour) & for less than half the price of the Fitbit Sense & Fitbit have now also lost me forever as a customer, & I can tell you that Sense was the fourth (& last) model of one of their Smartwatches I have had over the years.


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