This post is for everyone who has had issues with their charging contacts becoming pitted to the point of charging not being able to work anymore. I have found it very frustrating that I spend $800 on a watch and after a couple years, I can no longer use it because it won’t charge anymore. If you ask me, a watch that expensive should last much longer. In my case, both times it has been a Tactix Charlie, but there’s no forum for that wearable and the Fenix 5 series has the same charging contacts, so that’s why I’m posting here. After my first Charlie stopped working after about 2 years and had the very pitted charging contacts, I paid Garmin $200 for a refurbished replacement. I was hoping the issue was just a one-time thing. But sure enough, after another 2 years with the replacement, it’s happening again. Take note that I religiously followed Garmin’s cleaning and charging instructions (cleaning contacts with Isopropanol after any sweating sessions, before charging, and ensuring the contacts were completely dry before beginning to charge). I believe the issue lies with the charger’s pins wearing the wearable’s contacts off over time. This is a huge design flaw (and perhaps on purpose); I would much rather the charging cable’s contacts be designed with much less wear resistant contacts since the charging cable is much cheaper to replace of course. I refuse to pay Garmin for another replacement, so I found a quick easy fix that hopefully a ton of people can find useful so that your Garmin wearables can last years longer, rather than having to buy a new one every couple years as Garmin would like.
This fix does require some skill with a soldering iron, but once the pitting in the charging contacts begin, you can fill the pits with a solder bead and then they’ll be as good as new. I found it easiest to cut a tiny piece of solder off the roll of solder and place the tiny piece on the pit. Then use a very fine point soldering iron to melt the solder into the pit.
