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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 in reply to 3633373

    sigh.. same problem.. it is getting worse and the watch heats up but nothing is charged.. very unpredictable and unreliable :(

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to 5256714

    Hi - many thanks for this. after a bit of digging around with a toothpick and some wd 40 it's worked a treat. Happily charging again.

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to 5256714

    Hey 

    Thanks.  Very helpful!

  • 0 over 3 years ago

    Bought an inexpensive charging cord for my VA3.  Worked fine for about 6 weeks, then wouldn't charge at all.  Thought it was a failed cable.  Bought the "flat" disk type chargers (2-pack); the first worked fine for a few weeks, then wouldn't charge - same symptoms.  Used a toothpick, cotton swab and rubbing alcohol to clean  the contacts on both the charging cable ports and the watch and "cycled" the spring-loaded pins in the charging cable with the toothpick, all cables returned to operational.  Noticed a good bit of discoloration on the cotton swab after wiping the watch contacts; thinking the film that was removed might be the source of the problem.  Installed the little rubber cover that came with the flat chargers onto the watch charging port - maybe that will help prevent the problem.

  • 0 over 3 years ago

    I'm having the same problem with charging my Vivoactive 3 Music. It's frustrating!   I guess I will try the WD40 and see if it works.  Glad I found this forum.  Hopefully Garmin takes note of the issue because I'm sure there are others unreported with the problem

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to 6401436

    I'm having the same problem with my Vivoactive3  It's so frustrating.  It's hard to get it to charge and the battery drains quickly.  I have 2 different cords-both Garmin and having problems with them both.  I've wiped them with alcohol but am afraid of spraying WD40.  do you spray it on the ports of the watch?

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to 6401436

    Did the WD40 work and what did you spray in on-the ports of the watch?

  • 0 over 3 years ago

    Somewhere in this thread i left a contribution saying that mine had stopped accepting a charge completley just out of the warranty period. I cursed the Garmin name and shook a fist at the sky.  Just last week I took a cotton bud dipped in hand sanitiser alcohol and dabbed at the contacts on the watch and on the Garmin plug. No grime or dirt came off but to my surprise it's now started taking a charge again.

    So it might not seem worth it but give the contacts a clean with wd40 or alcohol or something before you condemn the VivoActive 3 for it's poor design and you might be surprised.

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to 3633373

    Had the same problem. WD40 fixed the problem!

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to 3633373

    ...adding to that. Garmin does need to look at improving the “fool proofness” of their charging ports in the future.