Making your own (DIY) FitBit One charger

Worked like a charm! My fitbit is happily charging away.
Your Illustrator drawing made it all clear. I couldn't figure out the polarity from other descriptions on the net.

Thanks!
(and good suggestion that people use a charger rather than their computer usb port) 

This is a boy from China who picked up a FITBIT ONE and don't know  how to charge it . Thanks for your intelligence and the Internet which connect the knowledge of the human.
                                                                                                       Xi an, China 

Sweet! Glad I could help! 

That is so cool, got to love the internet! Best of luck and thank you for taking the time to write! 

worked great thanks 

Yay! 

Worked great! Thanks for the tip!! 

Awesome! 

I followed your instructions and much to my chagrin. It worked.  Your instructions were good but my charger is ugly and I had doubts but my steps are being counted thanks to you. 

Great it works!!!

Thanks! It's simple, clear, and easy to complete. 

Wow this was awesome. From a 19 year old girl and someone who has never done anything electrical in my life this was so easy to follow and only took me 10 minutes to figure out and complete. Great instructions, thank you so much! 

Thanks for saving me! I couldn't find my charger and was almost out of power. I went for the your original option since I am hoping to find the charger and needed to get it hooked up quickly. 

Needed a charge on my for bit one at work. Works like a charm!!! 

Sweet :D 

cool and creative ! 
fitbit one offcial  charger is too expensive, we now have third party replacement charger for fitbit one at half price of that
for  the first 100 customers order this charger, we offer buy one and send another one as free gift, so , you get 1/4 price of official 
http://www.nice-also-cheap.com/replacement-usb-charger-cable-for-fitbit-one-free-shipping.html 

I followed the instructions and secured it with transparent tape to make sure the contacts were not touching and it is working. Note that I used a smaller cable that only had the red and black cables. Thanks. 

Great idea. I have the Flex model and it has three pickups on the charging end of it. How do you determine what the three pickups/charging contacts are for? How did you determine the power side and ground side? How can I figure out my three contacts?
Thanks! 

Polarity was the key. Also tape. Tape is good. Like others,  my Fitbit One happily charging now. 

Good idea works fine thanks! 

Thank you so much for sharing this bit of "jerry-rig'n".  I'm misplaced my charger, after a travel trip and feel I'll come across it somewhere, but needed the charge now.  Your clear, concise instructions are wonderful.   I made it in about 20 mins before bedtime and voila, it's a.m. and I'm charged for the day.  Ever thought of writing a DYI Techno manual for us lay-folks...I'll buy one for sure!  Have a great one. =^,,^= 

LOl I also made it right before bedtime. Maybe that is when we have the best (AKA crazy) ideas? 

Woho, another person saved from forking out for a new charger, or missing steps :) 

A little tip in regards to the charging, if you have the charger but it wont charge, use some vinegar on a cloth to wipe the metal connector bits on both the FitBit and the charger (while unplugged) 

Have a read on the Flex FitBit teardown, comments on step 4 https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Fitbit+Flex+Teardown/16050 "To answer for charging purposes. The center pin is positive. And while looking at the led side of the flex and the pins towards you, the right pin is ground." Use information at own risk :)) 

If it works,- it works :) Sucks missing steps when you are on a good roll! 

Why should home made charger not be connected to PC ? Are the amp too high ? 

Frankly I would be worried the hub might fry, at worst affecting other parts of the system. Maybe it's not possible, but I would rather not try :) 

Works great. I used crocodile clips to connect to my fitbit. I just needed to know the polarity. Thanks 

Thanks for this info.
Great help and stopped me having to pay £20 (as near makes no difference, approx  $32) for a charger. 

thank you so much for this - look great instructions. I was just about to start doing this having lost my charger after a house move, when I looked in another pocket and found the original. Can't believe how expensive they are - the other fitbit chargers are only a few pounds. 

did same with fitbit charge hr

http://postimg.org/image/5lcymanln/

http://postimg.org/image/azrq6o8hx/ 

Thanks so much, Iris. I took your idea one step further and used a plastic mouse trap I had lying around. The wiring sits underneath and connects to 2 small screws set the appropriate distance apart that come up through the top surface. I slightly reshaped the bar of death to hold the fitbit securely while charging. Works a treat as a semi-permanent item. Two minutes in total to make. You got me thinking about a host of other ideas. 

I am not sure what I am doing wrong, I followed your steps to the letter, but it is not charging. 

Works nicely on the Fitbit HR too.  For anyone with the HR, the black goes to the side where the button is located.  Easy to recall, button = black  or BB.   See post #20 @bojan for a picture.    Thanks Iris! 

Hey thanks for the tutorial they really should mark the polarity on these darn things XD. Do you know why mine doesnt show the little battery thingy? i tried holding the button for like 10 seconds but still no indicator 
:( thanks for the help 

Worked with my Fitbit HR as well.  Great pictures, explanations and illustration.  Thanks! 

I wish the Charge HR had a slightly different configuration. On your model, the contact points are clearly separated but on mine, it's incredibly difficult to find the right spot and I was unable to achieve success like others seemed to have with their Fitbit One.
Bojan posted some pictures but I cannot for the life of me imagine what's underneath his/her little padding.
The contacts are so close, I'm nervous to fry my brand new toy! :-/ 

Can you please show me how to make a day fitbit flex charger? Desperately needing it. 

Great article. I'm charging my Fitbit Charge HR. 

Thanks for the tips. This will work until the $2.50 charging cable I got off eBay ships from China. 

Great hack! However, your dentist would say... "Never use your teeth as a tool."
Thanks!!!! 

Hi)Can you make a manual for the charger fitbit ultra? 

Thank you for this!!!  I didnt want to shell out all this $$ for a new fibit charger so I made this to last me until my Ebay purchase comes in.  It works!  I have a FitBit Flex. 

You are so genius.  Thank you so much for the post.  It works.  I finally can use my fitbit again.  

Thank you! Thank you! 

Thanks for the article! I tried it with mine, and my FitBit got hot, so I unplugged it and switched the wires. (I figured that either if it was already dead, switching the wires wouldn't change anything!) Now it charges! I don't have a voltmeter with me on vacation, but it's working and I'm happy! 

Awesome! Worked like a charm :) 

Woot Woot!! Thanks a bunch that worked!! 

Thanks for the info, I just want to add that the fitbit one has an internal 3 volt rechargeable battery, and a regular USB port provides 5 volts. The original charger supplies the correct voltage, and other Chinese made chargers available at ebay e.g., have a 3.5 volt zenner diode as a simple voltage regulator in line with the positive wiring so as to not provide over voltage and shorten the internal battery's life due to excessive voltage during charging. A zenner diode also provides protection against cross wiring, that is if you get the wiring the other way round. As long as you do not let it charge for too long, i.e. no longer than say 4 hours, then this will somewhat help prevent damaging the internal rechargeable battery. 

Thanks for creating and sharing this life hack. 

I found a fitbit one at work and turned it in, after 1 month we are able to keep what  we find so now i have it. I didn't want to buy a charger in case someone eventually did come in and claim it so i want to make one. I found your DIY and it is great. It all works perfectly. I feel bad for the person that lost this, i know it isn't cheap to buy. Thank you for your ingenuity and sharing it with us. 

Do you know if this will work for "restarting" the Fitbit one? First, thanks for this great explanation (i.e., understandable for the tech illiterate) and great photos!! 

I need to "restart" my Fitbit one, which is described as plugging the One into the charging cable and holding down the button.  I believe it says to connect via PC/computer but it doesn't say that it needs to be linked to any computer based program or the online dashboard at the time. 

Just checking to see if anyone has been able to restart theirs this way. 

Thanks bojan and Iris, I was able to use this for a Charge HR charger! 

Thank you so much! I made one today for my fitbit hr and it is at full charge now. Your instructions were excellent! I am 52 and have never attempted any electrical work. 

Can this also be used on the fitbit ionic?? 

Could I use this for a fit bit Alta? 

I haven't tried :/