Zip battery not lasting

[Pgville]

Battery about every 4 days. Quit using it

Moderator edit: subject for clarity

[LucyAP]

Thanks for the update @RildUp! I'm sure Support will help you to get back on track in no time. Please let me know the outcome of this or if you have more questions. I'd love to help you to get back on track. 

Keep me posted with the outcome! 😉 

[zeldakravitz]

I don't blame you.  I've had 4 Zip's and all they do is stop working after using batteries like crazy.  Fitbit can't do anything but apologize and tell you that they're aware of the problem and are working on it.  I was changing batteries every 4 days, practically----sometimes one would last for a whole week.  My latest answer from Fitbit was to say that obviously I had a short circuit that wasn't allowing it to work properly and they'd give me a 25% off discount on another one.  Are you kidding me?  They think I want something else that won't work?  I will never buy another one.  My husband and I have to wear them to track our steps for our employer, and they've given us so much grief that it's not worth it.  We've both had issues.  The last one was that the IOS app was draining the battery, and they were sure that syncing it using the Fitbit app on my computer would solve it, but nope, it did nothing.  Battery lasted a whole 2 weeks.  I wish I could get back all the time I've spent on the phone having them tell me that the battery prong inside has probably been moved and there's nothing they can do......I can walk away, however.  Finished!  Don't sell junk and expect us to line up for more.

[RildUp]

Sorry the Zip wasn't working for you, Zelda.  I've tried to document the troubleshooting I've done to let others figure out their own device's problems.  My current status is good.  Tech support contacted me Thursday 3/22 with the classic advice:

Spoiler

Have you tried rebooting your machine?  They suggested removing the battery for 10 seconds.

I laughed, but it worked.  I haven't had battery issues or lost steps (enough to notice) since then.  That got me to thinking.  To really drain the battery, the Zip is either short circuiting (bent prong) or consistently performing a high energy task.  Just counting steps or displaying data shouldn't require lots of energy, otherwise no one could have the 4-6 month battery life some users report.  That leaves the bluetooth syncing as the main suspect.  Personally, I don't have the Zip in order to get a real-time data stream of my activity.  This means I turn off the Zip's auto sync, turn off bluetooth on my phone (also not a problem for me personally - I don't have any bluetooth accessories), and keep the USB dongle out of the machine I sit by all day.  So if that doesn't prevent the Zip from constantly using Bluetooth, there is nothing I can do.

Assuming that prevents wasteful behavior on the Zip's part, the next possibility is the Zip is confused about battery status.  The reset seemed to "fix" this.  If I get a battery low indicator soon, I will retry the 10 second reboot again.  I never did test the batteries I threw away to see if they were really drained.  If the 10 second reboot doesn't work and battery life seems short, I will test the battery before disposal.

[RildUp]

Zip is working fine.  Battery showed high on dashboard on website every sync.  One transient low battery indicator on zip over the weekend.

[LucyAP]

Thanks for sharing your experience @RildUp! This can be beneficial for other users experiencing the same or a similar issue. 

Welcome to the Community @zeldakravitz! At the moment this is a known issue by our engineering team and they are working to find a fix for this. You can join or follow this discussion for more information. We are really sorry for the inconvenience, and we hope to get you back on track soon.

At the moment, if you are using an iOS device the best option is to follow the suggestions on this post. Or, to use an alternative compatible Android device or computer to sync. 

If you are using an Android or Windows device, and you followed the suggested workaround here with no avail please let me know so I can be of help. 

Catch you later! 🙂 

[RildUp]

Low battery indicator appeared on zip and dashboard during sync this morning, 4/10.  After completing the sync, I removed the battery for 10 seconds and reinserted the same battery.  Reboot looks successful; today's steps were retained and battery indicator on zip went away.

**Update 4/11: Reboot seems to do the trick.  No low battery indicator on zip after reboot, step totals seem good.  First sync (this morning) after reboot was successful, no steps lost, battery on dashboard high.  Next post if/when I need another reboot.

Moderator edit: format

[LucyAP]

Thanks for the update @RildUp! I really appreciate that you are sharing all this information. This can be beneficial for other experiencing a similar situation. 

In the future, I suggest editing your original post to add information that you may have forgotten. To edit your original post, click the title of the post, then click the Options drop down menu at the top right of your post. Select "Edit post" then make the necessary changes and click "Post" to publish the updated version.

Catch you later! 😉 

[zeldakravitz]

My battery is now lasting longer since I have removed the app from my iphone, and I keep the dongle out of the USB port all day on my laptop unless I'm going to download steps, but this is my latest problem:  I don't change the battery until it has the little cross mark against it, showing it's got low life, but when I do I always lose all the steps I've taken that day.  Or since I last synced.  This never used to happen, and now it's a foregone conclusion that of course my 20,000 steps will disappear.  This is very frustrating.  What am I supposed to do?  Change my battery early, even though it says it's still half full?  Just swap them out every week to avoid losing steps?  In the old days the steps that had been taken carried over and were able to be downloaded successfully, not now......GONE!  What am I doing wrong?

[LucyAP]

Hey there @zeldakravitz! Thanks for sharing your experience with your Zip and for letting me know the troubleshooting you have preformed before posting. 

In this case, since you stopped using the iOS App I would recommend verifying that there is proper contact between the battery and the battery contacts inside your Zip. You can do this by opening the battery door of your Zip, removing your battery, and ensuring that the silver battery tab located in the lower right half of your tracker is flush with the white box outline in the tracker housing. The process can be followed here.

Keep me posted! 🙂