sense charger power pin recessed and not working

[SunsetRunner]

This has come up ever since mid 2021.  One of the pins, and always the same pin, bottom left as facing the watch gets recessed and will not contact the back of the watch, and as such you can't charge the phone.  Moderator "LizzyFitbit" shut down a chain of comments about this in Nov 2021.  I have had it happen to me twice now in about 6 months.  They have replaced them on warrantee with no hassle at all - kudos - but when I asked the chat fellow if they have fixed this common problem, he came back with "it is not a common problem"  REALLY??  there are multiple comments on the forum about it going back around two years now.  I'm not planning on buying new cables in bulk once the warrantee is over.  Let me know if you have the same problem.

[JohnnyRow]

As you know, this is a long-standing, oft-complained about problem that some, not all, observe. My viewpoint: you can:

1. Keep complaining and make yourself miserable with a chance in a zillion that Fitbit is going to see that you are complaining, so will suddenly decide to retool their charger for a model that already has a replacement Sense 2.
2. Accept that there is an issue, get warranty replacements while you can, buy third-party chargers from Amazon for a fraction of the price and keep a few on hand for future failures, and save yourself an ulcer (though I know ulcers are actually caused by bacteria).  Life isn't perfect and sometimes it makes "sense" to accept some battles you're not going to win, especially when it's not even clear what a "win" would look like.

[SunsetRunner]

It is true that there is a replacement in the Sense 2, however I believe it uses the same charger (?). Interestingly since I am getting a new charger and the old one had the one pin stuck in the down position, I used my mechanical engineering instinct and tried slapping against the edge of the table where I was setting. After a couple good whacks it looked like the pin was back out. I plugged it in, and it charged my watch. It may be that in some cases the pin gets dirty or corroded and with close tolerance in the fit just get stuck down, but electrically damaged. It might be the only thing they need to do is increase the clearance a tad and it won't get stuck. I didn't try spraying some WD-40 ish stuff on or, and maybe in the future trying to keep the pin clean and/or lubed with Vaseline or silicone might help. It is also possible that this "fix" was a total fluke, but if you have a dead charger it won't hurt to try - it's already broke, right?

[SunsetRunner]

Made a typo in the above post " ....just get(s) stuck down, but electrically damaged"  should have read ....electrically UNdamaged."  

[Guy_]

Hi @SunsetRunner - interesting using the old workman's approach of giving it a kick to get it working again!

You may be right that it gets physically stuck (spring gets too weak or damaged to push it out, due to gunge possibly).

People may need to give the pins more thorough cleaning than has been previously thought and to the back of the watch.

One other possible solution that could be envisaged is to charge the watch face down so any creams or oils on the back of the watch wouldn't affect the pin movement and use a sync with the app to check charging.

My watch is still on the original charge cable after 27 months, but then I only charge about once a week (so less charges) and ALWAYS connect/disconnect the watch when the USB is NOT plugged in, so avoiding any possibility of a short circuit.