What to do if your Garmin wearable is not charging
Charging issues sometimes occur with electronic devices and your Garmin fitness tracker or smartwatch is no exception.
Essential reading:Â Top fitness trackers and health gadgets
Here’s what to do if you are faced with this problem.
1) To start off, Garmin suggests to leave your device charging for at least an hour, even if the screen is blank. Of course, you should make sure that the charging clip or cradle is making a good connection with your wearable. Thoroughly clean the contacts on the watch and charging accessory with, for example, rubbing alcohol, eye glass cleaner, electronic screen wipes or a pencil eraser.
If after an hour or so there is no sign of life it is safe to assume the battery is no longer functioning as intended.
2) The next thing to do is to perform a soft reset. Don’t worry as this will not delete any data from your device. The reset is best done when the device is connected to a computer. For devices without a power button, simply plugging them into a USB port using the charging cable is as close to a restart as you will get.
3) If a reset has not worked, there’s an outside chance a firmware update may help. Check to see if there’s a new version available. It’s worth noting, sometimes the battery life calculation changes depending on the firmware.
If you have tried these solutions and are still having a problem, it might be a hardware issue. Your watch may be defective, there may be a battery fault or a problem with the charging cable. Best to contact Garmin Customer support in this case.
Did you have charging issues with your Garmin fitness tracker or smartwatch? Â If so, what has worked to bring your device back to life?
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How can you tell if a golf garmin gps watch is charging or not? There’s no indicator of this at all on the watch and mine gave up the ghost midway through my round today. It was ( presumably) fully charged before use? Thank you
The cleaning of the connectors by scratching off the tarnished worked for me when all other cleaning had not worked. Thank you! Was worried the battery had died….
Glad it worked! 🙂
Just using a pencil eraser worked for me! Many thanks.
Cleaning the connectors by scratching the copper connectors with the tip of a pair of scissors worked for me. Thank you!
Glad it resolved the problem!
I can’t believe it, but brushing off the copper connectors with a wire brush worked perfectly! I thought my second generation vivosmart HR+ was a goner! Thanks for the tip
Thnx so much, I already cleaned them but the scratching did the trick!
Help. Garmin Fenix 5 not charging. Blue light shows but no charge. Any ideas?
A brief rub with a pencil rubber and all was well. Can’t believe it. Thank you so much.
Glad it helped!
Thank you SO much. Was just about to replace my 3 year old Vivoactive 3 music but tried the scratching method and it’s burst into life. Wonderful.
I did everythings cleaning as a procedure but not charging yet
Thanks for this – cleaning worked on mine too
Annoyingly though, one of the little brass pins on mine is now stuck in the recessed position. I’ve tried poking it with a pin and things to try and get it to pop out, but no luck! so be careful when cleaning!
Mine will just not charge even after cleaning. Battery also died in 24hrs
I need to physically hold my charger in at just the right angle in order for the forerunner 245 watch to charge. Any slight movement, and it stops charging. I have only had it 6 months. So I sit and wait and watch it charge……
That sounds like a faulty charging cable. Sometimes they cables get worn out.
The cable connection on the device is a major obstacle to charging properly. Suggest dry watch after use then use a hair dryer on the watch connection for 15-20 seconds. Works a treat for me
Woah!
Late to this, but just managed to get my almost dead Garmin to start charging by carefully scratching the connectors.
Looks like I don’t need a new watch after all – thanks for the tip!
Thank you so much! just scratched the connectors and it’s charging! very grateful
Glad it helped! 🙂