Surge battery

[carlriley8]

I've had my surge a year and a half now and everything has been great, but in the passed week or so I've had to charge it every night as the battery is only lasting just over a day, any help??

[wmchapman]

The Fitbit has a lithium-ion polymer battery.  To prolong battery life, try not to let it go dead.  Complete discharge shortens Li-ion battery life.  Also, Li-ion batteries tend to have a certain number of discharge cycles before they lose full charge capacity.  A deep dicharge doesn't damage; but shortens the number of times (total cycle life) a Li-ion battery can be recharged.

Also, Li-ion batteries don't last as long if exposed to high temperatures.  So don't leave your Fitbit in a hot car, or charge over the recommended 2hrs.   You can charge a Fitbit anytime, just charge before it is dimming or, for the Surge, turn it off until you can charge.

You can read more about batteries here:

http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/how_to_prolong_lithium_based_batteries

Try turning you Surge off or resetting if you are comfortable with that, give it a good 2 hour charge, turn on and use without notifications and see if you can go a couple of days before it dims again or the tracker (not emails) shows the "I'm hungry, charge me symbol"  If less than a day and a half, time for a replacement bud.

[carlriley8]

Cheers for that! I've been pondering wether to get a blaze for a while. I'm going to Kuala Lumpur in January, they get sold there and able to work here?? I'm sure they must be cheaper out there than here

Sent from my iPhone

[ClintG-AU]

I have the same problem over the past week.

My Surge was fine with charges lasting days then all of a sudden it is running out of battery within 24 hours.

Unfortunately fitbit don't include firmware release dates but the page "updated date" on the fireware information page https://help.fitbit.com/articles/en_US/Help_article/1372 says the 19th September so I'm wondering if a firmware update has stuffed this up

[keruvagner]

Just a word of caution---- my Surge started acting up about a month ago, where it went from completely normal to suddenly needing a charge every day or two, same as you. A full charge lasted less than 48 hours. After about 3 weeks of the slow battery drain, it shut down forever and refused to turn on, no matter how much it charged. I got mine about a year and a half ago also (12/2015) so it may be a battery flaw. I ended up having to replace it. I hope you don't have to, but keep in mind that this may be the end of the battery's life. 😞

[tonybreuer]

Same here. I have a Surge that I bought about 15 months ago and have been happy with it until the last few weeks.  It used to hold a charge for a few days but now I have to charge it twice a day, more if I use the gps.  I've tried resetting and doing multiple charges but nothing works.  I'm assuming I need a new battery.  How can I do that? 

[ClintG-AU]

For anyone that's interested...

Fitbit contacted me directly and replaced by FitBit surge. I'm now back to enjoying days and days without recharging!

Very happy with the service I received.

Cheers

Clint.

[carlriley8]

How did you manage that?? I was getting tired of recharging it all the time that I purchased a Fitbit charge 2, not ideal to pay out again

Sent from my iPhone

[HelenaFitbit]

Thank you for your participation in the forums @carlriley8 @wmchapman @ClintG-AU @keruvagner @tonybreuer ! I'll be glad to help.

@carlriley8 @ClintG-AU @keruvagner @tonybreuer First of all; please know that @wmchapman's information is really helpful, restarting your tracker and testing out the battery's progress througout the day is certainly the way to proceed before reaching out to our Customer Support team. 

Also, Fitbit trackers are sold through these retailers in Malaysia.

Let me know if you have any questions. Thanks for stopping by! 

[jnksgb]

I'm struggling with my battery as well. Had my Surge less than a year I think, need to look out the receipt but it goes down to half charge after 1 day (by that I mean 8am to 8pm) I have reset it so i'll see if that makes a difference.

I am considering a new tracker as well. I want the charge 2 i think as the surge can sometimes get in the way while I am at the gym and it is bigger than i'd like it to be, but I still love it of course 🙂

[shipo]

---

@jnksgb wrote:

I'm struggling with my battery as well. Had my Surge less than a year I think, need to look out the receipt but it goes down to half charge after 1 day (by that I mean 8am to 8pm) I have reset it so i'll see if that makes a difference.

I am considering a new tracker as well. I want the charge 2 i think as the surge can sometimes get in the way while I am at the gym and it is bigger than i'd like it to be, but I still love it of course 🙂

---

Yeah, try the restart; mine got to the point where it wouldn't last much longer than a single run, once restarted I could get in three or more days including two long 1.5 to 2.0 hour runs (the GPS battery burn rate is pretty high on the Surge).

[tonybreuer]

My Surge wound up in the trash can.  I am disappointed int the Fitbit handling of this issue.  I asked tech support in emails and chats about getting the battery replaced because it only held a charge of a few hours.  Granted the warranty had run out a few months before the problem started, but they could have at least told me if they were capable of replacing the battery for a service charge.  Instead I had to trash the Surge and they gave me a "discount" on a new Blaze. I would never buy another Surge because I thought they were deemed disposible even though they are in the $300 range. They never even responded to my questions about replacing the battery and told them I expected a service fee. When people ask how I like the Fitbit I tell them that story and remind them that it is a "buyer Beware" situation.  

Now I'm waithing for the next iteration of the Apple watch to have features like sleep monitoring. I won't but another Fitbit.

[RobertoME]

Good to see you around @tonybreuer and welcome aboard to our Community @jnksgb.

@shipo is right a bout the restart @jnksgb, sometimes is an error in the internal software of the tracker than a restart can resolved. If you need the steps for a restart you can review this post. Additionally you can review the following tips to increase the durability of your tracker:

• You can shut down your Surge when not in use.
• If you use the Fitbit app, make sure All-Day Sync is turned off. All-Day Sync increases battery drain on both your tracker and mobile device. To find the setting, open the app and tap Account. At the top of the screen tap Surge to see your settings, then scroll down. 
• If you have Android, turn off the Always Connected setting. Similar to All-Day Sync, it can reduce battery life.
• The use of music control frequently can also reduce the battery charge.
• If you have many silent alarms set, remove some. Each alarm you add up to the maximum of 8 reduces battery life by a small percentage. 
• Quick View can also be a caused of battery drain. Since it causes the screen to light up when you turn your wrist towards you, turning this setting off may prolong battery life. To find the setting, open the app and tap Account. At the top of the screen tap Surge and scroll down.​

@tonybreuer please accept an apology for not receiving a reply regarding your battery question. In this  case I'm afraid is  not possible what you have suggested, since the battery is integrated to the body of the Surge. I'm sorry you have experienced this issue with the Surge and I can understand your disappointment.

For more questions let me know, I'll be around.