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Issues with Charging/Charger?

toastayy
over 5 years ago
My vivoactive 3 music has been working flawless since I've had it. Over the weekend I left it to charge and realized that the battery full drained and did not charge.

After more inspection, it seems the charger was "woobly" in connection with the battery connection, which means it wasn't making proper connection. When I pressed down on the charger, the contact seems to be more secure and the watch proceeded to charge. When I released pressure, it stopped charging.

It seems that there might be something wrong with either the charger itself (easy fix) or the connection on the watch (not sure about fix?). I went ahead and ordered a different charger from amazon, but was wondering if anyone had any experience with this kind of issue, and can pinpoint where exact the problem is? I've already inspected both contacts on the watch and the charger, and have cleaned them. There was no lint or dirt or anything preventing the charging. It seems the charger is not making a tight enough connection with the watch.

Thanks
  • 0 over 3 years ago

    I have a VA3music and had the same "doesn't charge anymore" issue. I also tried a new charger cord/disk which didn't solve the problem...so I looked at the contacts on the watch with a powerful magnifying glass and noticed the contacts are dome shaped (when new) and had some wear marks and deformed domes. I could actually see where the charger spring probes contacted the dome...there were 2 domes (the 2 on each end of the 4 contact row) that I could see the wear was on the side of the dome. I suspect the spring probe was sliding off of the dome and thus not making electrical contact.  To fix (I'm long pass warranty expiration) this I used a small tip soldering iron to put a tiny amount of solder on the dome which essentially made the contact dome shaped again.  I plugged into the charge cord and BINGO! the lighting bolt icon appeared.  Hope this helps.  

  • 0 over 2 years ago

    I’m having the same charging issue with my vivoactive3. I have to fiddle with it for several minutes to get it into the exact right position for it to charge at all. It’s very annoying and frustrating to the point that it makes me what to try a different brand for my next device. Garmin did a sh*t job designing this charging mechanism. 

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to 3823419

    HI there! Have you reached out to Support just yet? Are you located in the US or CAD? Have you tried cleaning the contacts with rubbing alcohol?

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to Garmin-AmberD

    I thought this was a form of reaching out to support. I'm in the US. I do not own rubbing alcohol. Are you going to buy me some and ship it here to fix your shoddy work? 

  • 0 over 2 years ago

    I contacted Garmin Europe HQ (luckily for me it's only 5 miles from my house) and they sent me a new cable which works - however I still get intermittent disconnection of charging. I have tried using rubbing alcohol as I do keep a supply in my cupboard in case of emergencies (such as buying dodgy watches).

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to Garmin-AmberD

    I bought toothpicks and rubbing alcohol, and I used those to clean it out. This did nothing at all to help. I've got about 60% battery life left. After that, it'll be dead for good. 

  • 0 over 2 years ago

    Iʻm having charging issues. Cleaned with alcohol, swapped out for new cords. No luck. If I can't get it to charge, it'll be dead in a few hours.  I'm a few months out of warranty.   Any fixes?

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to 3823419

    Good luck with that my friend. This is a Garmin no man's land of lost souls and ex-customers. My Vivoactive 3 was just out of warranty and went in the bin because of this. This lack of support also puts Garmin at the bottom of the pile in all my future choices, I might as well buy the cheap Chinese stuff from Amazon.

    My FitBit works perfectly btw...