Device not charging

Since yesterday my Fenix 5X Plus won't charge. I've tried everything I can think of: soft reset, hard reset, cleaning the charging contacts, multiple charging cables, different USB ports on the same computer, multiple computers, different wall chargers... There's no way to make the battery percentage go up, even though the watch changes to the charging interface when plugged. When connected to either a USB port or a wall charger the "Charge status" on the test mode changes from "Off" to "Constl", but I don't really know what that means.

Anyone has any idea how to resolve the issue, other than sending the watch back to Garmin?
  • Could it be a bug in reporting? If you plug it in for an hour, will it report the higher charge level after a reboot? If not it sounds like a hardware issue.
  • Could it be a bug in reporting? If you plug it in for an hour, will it report the higher charge level after a reboot? If not it sounds like a hardware issue.


    It's been plugged into a wall charger for a while now, with the battery indicator showing 36% charge and the lightning bolt. On disconnect and reboot it went down to 35%. Seems like the watch can identify when it's plugged in, but the battery isn't taking any charge.
  • Maybe the cable is defective? I would ask Garmin for help.
  • 99.99% chance it is hardware, specifically the battery. Probably lost a connection or went bad. Sorry. Good luck with replacement.
  • Well, after a while it seems it went back up to 36%, and is staying there for the moment.
  • One thing I have noticed is that the battery calculation changes depending on the firmware. As a last ditch effort, I would grab the v4.64 beta and downgrade to v4.20 and see what happens. You've already done a hard reset, so it's not like you're going to lose any more data. It might purge out a something that might be stuck.

    Worst case, you connect to express and upgrade to v5.10 again.

    Just an FYI, if you grab your settings, totals, records, sports, locations, courses, and workouts you should be pretty whole again. The only other thing is VO2Max, which will actually sync from another device (like 920XT) if you turn on TrueUp in connect.
  • One thing I have noticed is that the battery calculation changes depending on the firmware. As a last ditch effort, I would grab the v4.64 beta and downgrade to v4.20 and see what happens. You've already done a hard reset, so it's not like you're going to lose any more data. It might purge out a something that might be stuck.

    Worst case, you connect to express and upgrade to v5.10 again.

    Just an FYI, if you grab your settings, totals, records, sports, locations, courses, and workouts you should be pretty whole again. The only other thing is VO2Max, which will actually sync from another device (like 920XT) if you turn on TrueUp in connect.


    That's one of the first things I tried since the charging stopped after the upgrade to 5.10 (not that I could know when it actually broke, as I charge the device once every week/week and a half), but it didn't work either.
  • Duebrithil If you are continuing to have issues with your device, please reach out to us at Garmin through our Product Support channels (phone, email, or chat) so that we can work with you directly.
  • AS USUAL Garmin Support are ABSOLUTELY USELESS.

    **However I may have the fix you need**

    I live in Singapore - where it is extremely hot and humid all year around. "So what?" you might ask.

    Well, the male connectors for the Garmin charger (those on the charger dock itself not on the actually device) are made of Copper. Copper obviously tarnishes over time, and I believe that it is this tarnishing that prevents the watch from Tarnishing, as it prevents a clean connection between the connectors on the watch and the connectors on the charging cable.

    You can remove the tarnish by gently using a very sharp knife across the connectors on the device - this should remove the tarnish and give you a clean connection. The only issue being, you will have to repeat this from time to time. It is the only solution I have been able to come up with.....it's annoying to have to keep doing this but its better than buying a new charger.....

    I am also going to try this: https://www.thespruce.com/copper-and-brass-tarnish-remover-1387940

    Hopefully someone in the Garmin Product Management team will recognise this design flaw and use a different type of metal less susceptible to tarnishing.....one can only hope!!
  • My 5X device started doing this on the 19th. It will charge from a pc but not a wall charger. Unfortunately when I do connect it to my pc I get a message When I contacted Garmin I was 10 days outside of my warranty window and was quoted around $200 for a repair.