Heavy battery loss - watch keeps searching for belt and pod

Hi

This sounds like the drain after activities with music / external sensors problems many of us have noticed and discussed here: https://forums.garmin.com/outdoor-recreation/outdoor-recreation/f/fenix-5-plus-series/226657/fenix-5-power-drain

I think a downgrade to ANT/BT/BLE 5.04 and to 12.00 firmware will solve your problem. As a workaround you can reset your watch with a long light button press and this will temporarily solve the drain, but only until the next activity. 

Also be sure to report the issue to Garmin as we are just working around a problem that has crept in with recent software updates.

Thanks for the link. Come to think of it, it has become a lot easier to connect my bluetooth earphones to the watch lately. Maybe the price has been battery drain due to some design change in the software that shouldn't have been made.

- I noticed it by surfing around in my watches settings as I do from time to time. Under Settings->Sensors & Accessories I saw, that under the pulse belt and under the RD Pod it said 'Searching'. I don't know if it has done that all the time. Anyway under belt and RD, respectively, I clicked on Status and set the 'Searching' changed to 'off'. And after that it would seem like the power consumption is back to normal.

- Not sure what you mean about 'connect messages'. I haven't noticed anything out of the ordinary. The sensors work fine, when I put them on.

- The sensors normally say 'Connected' in the Sensors-menu when I am using the sensors, yes.

- The belt is - as always - thrown casually in a box. Not wet. As far as I can tell the watch says 'Searching' whether I'm close to the belt and RD Pod or a thousand miles away.

As I wrote in the follow-up post above, I have noticed, that the watch lately has become way more responsive, when it comes to connecting my bluetooth earphones. Earlier I would have to wait for the earphones to say 'searching for device' and then I would have to start playing something on the watch before they connected. Now the earphones just connects to the watch as soon as I change them from phone to watch. It would seem, the watch is scanning more aggressively for accessories. Maybe that could explain the increased power consumption.

Jakob78

hi, thank you for the feedback

-settings/sensor accessoires

• enterung this menu will trigger for sensor searching
• otherwise you could not pair them
• every paired and turned on sensor is searched and connected with when selected
• leaving this menu will also stop the search after a "while"

 -'connect messages'

• a pop up icon while in activity will show

-As far as I can tell the watch says 'Searching' whether I'm close to the belt and RD Pod or a thousand miles away.

• at this point where and when in the watch are you seeing this ?

-Earlier I would have to wait for the earphones to say 'searching for device' and then I would have to start playing something on the watch before they connected.

• at this point where and when in the watch are you seeing this ?

-Now the earphones just connects to the watch as soon as I change them from phone to watch.

• care to explain how you do that ?

-Maybe that could explain the increased power consumption.

• maybe indeed

happy & safe sporting

Hi. Thank you very much for taking your time to get back to me.

- Aaah so it only says 'Searching' when I'm in the menu :) Well that explains that. I guess. I would still seem though, that if I set the status to 'Off' the battery lasts longer.

- I get an HR and POD icon when I prime my watch for running activity.

- My present earphones - I've had them for a while - is Bose Soundsport Free. One of the earpieces have a button, so I can switch the device, which they are trying to connect to. When they say 'Watch' (in a somber voice) I would normally have to wait for the earphones to timeout and say 'searching for your music device' and then I would have to start playing something on the watch in order for the earphones to connect.

  Now it seems like when the earphones say 'Watch' they almost connect instantly to the watch, and before I've started to play something. That is a different behavior.

  And as far as I know, nothing have changed on the earphone-side of things.  

Jakob78

thank you for the earphone explanation, I learned something today 

-Now it seems like when the earphones say 'Watch' they almost connect instantly to the watch, and before I've started to play something. That is a different behavior.

• guess bluetooth BLE was previous also always scanning
• most likely when your experience is better Garmin made some adaptations on this level

Garmin issued a notice once to set playlist to local. Can not remember the reason....could be battery related

• or I could be completely wrong here

happy & safe sporting (in a somber voice)

Jakob78 said:

I've noticed that my watch keeps searching for my pulse belt and my RD Pod when the running is over and neither of the devices are in use.

Where are you seeing this? If you're looking in Sensors and Accessories then that is exactly what you will see. As soon as you enter Sensors and Accessories the watch will look for any connected sensors or accessories.

if this is not the case, how are you checking to see the search status for connected sensors and accessories?