Sense won't charge anymore

[TheDJ85]

Hi! I have a fitbit sense and it's been struggling to charge. Now it won't charge at all and my fitbit is dead. Taking a look at my charger, one of the pins is recessed. I have gone a whole day now without my fitbit because it won't charge. I have now had it past the warranty. Anyone have any luck getting a pin to come out of the shell? 

Moderator Edit: Clarified subject

[Guy_]

Hi @rzablan  - replacing the broken charge cable should be sufficient.

Placing objects in the contact hole on the watch can cause a short and break the charge cable or worse.

[rzablan]

Fitbit is making hundreds of thousands of dollars off of users who continually buy their faulty chargers. Enabling a company that poorly designed this product and unwilling to fix it is shameful. And from the countless number of victims on this portal, Google, and Youtube, I would say many folks at some point will buy another exercise device. Me included, until then, I'll take my chances with this hack. After my 5th purchase, Fitbit won't be getting any more of my money.

[LudoT]

Hi have literally had my new Sense for 4 weeks and the same thing has happened. This is not the workmanship that I expect for an item that was so costly!

[Clove6060]

@rzablan 

Thats some MacGyver stuff right there. 😂

[jdgRunner]

I have had the problem of one of the pins, I think that it is always the bottom left one; it pin is recessed some.  What seems to work much of the time is to 'decelerate' the head, which can help the pin come out more. I do this by very carefully hitting the outside edge of the charging head on the table being very careful not to have the pins hit the table.  This seems to help the pin be out more so that it can make better contact with the metal (I suspect that it does not need to be in contact with the very back because to the side of the opening there is also probably some of the contact surface.  All this fits with the fact that I often get a warning about slow charging (from lack of full contact).  I have taken to having the head 'hanging' over the edge of a desk or table so that the pins do not get pushed in. I have bought two replacement cables and all of them seem to have this problem.  One is the original and that other two are after-market suppliers.  I am about to try buying a two-pack set of about $10. 

[Johannacorter]

My fitbit sense was a Christmas gift, my 3rd (maybe 4th) charger just did this. All of them have, this last one wasn't even a month old 🙄  its a terrible design and I wish fitbit would just come up with a more permanent solution. However, everytime I've contacted customer service they send me a new one at no charge. Make sure you have the charger on you when you start the chat because they will ask for a picture next to a handwritten code they will give you. 

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

Smart!  Going to try this!  3rd or 4th charger in less than 8 months!

[MrMoJoe]

I had a stuck pin too. I ended up taking the charger out of the case and rubber-banding it to the back of the Fitbit when I wanted to charge. More of a pain than using the magnets, but at least it's a limp-along solution when you don't have another charger handy. It was pretty simple to pop the charger board out from the case - see photos below.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/hrsJzVh8q261FYBe6

[Guy_]

Hi @MrMoJoe - thanks for the photos which shows one pin has melted it would seem?

[Rich_Laue]

I snapped mine apart, but still could not release the pin.

Personally. I went to Amazon. 

I think what is happening. Is that when attaching the tracker to the cable. The magnets, if let, the magnets snap the two together. Any misalignment will jam a pin. 

Now I'm very careful when connecting. 

[jdgRunner]

I will try this on my ones that I could not get to at lest temporarily get the pin moved out.  I wonder if it would be possible to put glue so that the pin would stay out and put it back together.  A design change would be to make the hole larger at the opening and then tapper it down some. 

[AuntBamm]

I was looking at the reviews and each one is the same. They ask how old the Sense is and say its damaged or elude to the consumer being at fault. The age of the charger is what should be covered under the 12/24 month warranty. If you have received a charger and it's less than a year old shouldn't it be covered? Pay attention to what your Chatbot says and call them out. 

[Rich_Laue]

Fitbit doesn't run any chatbots on this community. If you suspect any, please flag them so a moderator can remove. 

@AuntBamm many users have reported that they have received replacement chargers under warranty.. 

[AuntBamm]

I have received a replacement 6 months after my initial purchase. 8 1/2 months later this charger is doing the same thing. A pin has rescessed. I have emaild, chatterd and even called Fitbit and was told the same thing, the replacement is not covered by any warranty. (Plus they keep saying it's damaged, it isn't damaged, it's defective.)

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[LudoT]

Thanks for sharing!

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[ChoosenTimmy99]

I have experienced the same issue. I'm on my 2nd charger and it has began to fail due to pin failure.

I don't believe it has to due with dirt/ sweat/ etc... entering the charger/pins as I tore down the charger (see pictures)and I found no sign of foreign material.

As many others said, this seems to be a result of repeated physical contact with the watch & the pins are simply too fragile to hold up. 

Very sad that this is a problem and that Fitbit hasn't come to any solution other than "Purchase another charger for $19.95". (I have very strong doubts that this tiny charger costs that to manufacture)

I'd recommend another smartwatch brand until Fitbit shows some compassion to their customers & ownership of their products & defects (as all companies has defects of some sort). 

If you need to charge it immediately, I'd recommend what VladimirN said previously:

" - tap on the connector face down so that the broken pin sticks out a bit;

- place the watch face down on the table, before connecting the charger.

- maybe tap a bit on the charger after connecting as well, still keeping the watch face down, so that gravity helps the pin go down and connect, since the spring can't do that anymore.".

Picture 

[Guy_]

Hi @ChoosenTimmy99  - thanks for the teardown photos.

It might not be a good idea to use a charge cable with a sunken pin as the spring that holds the pin against the watch contact may not have enough pressure to avoid sparking which could cause  contact damage and even overheat the watch .

They can be bought for about $3 online with longer cables too and possibly more robust than the Fitbit one.

[ClaraBWA]

So frustrating that Fitbit hasn't fixed this issue. I've gone through three cords in the past year... always because of that one pin (it seems to be the same one in all of the photos I've seen). I love my watch, but I don't want to end up paying hundreds of dollars for mulitple new cords in order to keep it running. Fitbit, PLEASE come up with a better solution. A charging pad perhaps? It works for my phone, my ear buds, and for my hubby's Galaxy watch (which will likely be my next fitness watch if I can't find a Fitbit that doesn't use pins to charge).

[Rich_Laue]

Amazon has 3rd party chargers that seem to work. 

[AuntBamm]

I just tried the tinfoil hack and it worked! I'll look for chargers when I go to the flea market. Hopefully I'll find something there.

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[AuntBamm]

I'm looking into some of the new options that will be out soon. Google is getting onboard with the new technology!

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