# My Eco-Drive has stopped.. completely. Any ideas?



## some.idiot (Dec 24, 2012)

I will admit that I don't wear my Citizen BL5250-53L very often, but I always keep it where the face is getting light. I've had this watch since 2006, and it has always run like a champ. I went to wear it about a month ago and noticed that the time said 7:15:21 and that the second hand wasn't moving. I figured this might have been a low-power setting, but usually when that happens the second hand is at :00 and will wake up as soon as it gets adequate light.

Thinking I had really run the battery down, I left it outside in the sun for 8+ hours, but the time still hadn't moved. I changed the feature to chrono, L-time, alarm, etc and none of the hands on the watch ever moved. Even attempting to manually change the time by pulling and rotating the bezel doesn't cause any of the hands to move. The watch has now been in adequate light for at least a month and still says 7:15:21 and won't move. The :21 mark is where the watch says "stop" on the face (refer to picture below -- not a current picture of the watch)










Any ideas why my watch has completely stop running and won't start up again? Or any ideas how to get it to start back up? My dad also has an Eco-Drive that he says is doing something similar, so if we could get them both running that would be great.


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## Clavius (Feb 26, 2013)

Do you have the manual still? I had an old Eco-Drive Blue Angels Skyhawk model that I left in a drawer for years cause the bracelet broke. It took awhile in sunlight to get it going again but I may have done some sort of "All-Reset" function on it to get it working. But I don't remember for sure. 

Good luck.


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## some.idiot (Dec 24, 2012)

Clavius said:


> Do you have the manual still? I had an old Eco-Drive Blue Angels Skyhawk model that I left in a drawer for years cause the bracelet broke. It took awhile in sunlight to get it going again but I may have done some sort of "All-Reset" function on it to get it working. But I don't remember for sure.
> 
> Good luck.


I did download the manual and read it. It actually says if the "all reset" is performed when the watch isn't fully charged, it will completely stop. Thing is, I've never tried the "all reset" before, so I'm not sure why it has completely stopped. And I don't see anything about how to undo it once it has stopped.. I'm sure I'd just need to send it in to Citizen.

http://c04.coacdn.com/calibersWPC/E820_ebook.pdf


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## Clavius (Feb 26, 2013)

some.idiot said:


> I did download the manual and read it. It actually says if the "all reset" is performed when the watch isn't fully charged, it will completely stop. Thing is, I've never tried the "all reset" before, so I'm not sure why it has completely stopped. And I don't see anything about how to undo it once it has stopped.. I'm sure I'd just need to send it in to Citizen.
> 
> http://c04.coacdn.com/calibersWPC/E820_ebook.pdf


Hmm, not sure man. Maybe others will chime in with a solution.


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## LBisevac (Dec 2, 2006)

My guess would be that battery needs to be replaced.


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## ViperGuy (Sep 28, 2012)

Put it in a safe place outside where it will get direct sunlight for about two days straight. Somewhere in your backyard hidden from human eyes, yet somewhere that gets a good amount of direct sunlight for 75% or more of the day. See if that works.


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## never_keeps_time (Nov 12, 2009)

Also, pull out the stem as if your setting the time. That's recommended for citizen watch to jump start. I have seen it happen to many customers watches that we're left in the dark for a long period of time.


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## mike120 (Aug 1, 2010)

ViperGuy said:


> Put it in a safe place outside where it will get direct sunlight for about two days straight. Somewhere in your backyard hidden from human eyes, yet somewhere that gets a good amount of direct sunlight for 75% or more of the day. See if that works.


I seem to remember Eco-Drives needing an obscene amount of time in the sunlight to get going again after a while off.... A whole lot more than 8 hours IIRC.


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## LBisevac (Dec 2, 2006)

I only had 2 eco-drive watches. And both of them stopped working after about 8-9 years. In both cases the battery was the problem.


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## doomguy10011 (Nov 2, 2012)

I have the same problem. Haven't worn my Skyhawk in a while because the bracelet has become too loose. I left in the sun for days and it hasn't started up yet. I'm thinking the battery needs to be replaced.


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## Cobia (Nov 24, 2013)

Could have just been a poor or defect batch of batteries and they have stopped charging after 8 years, i think if you had a new battery in there it will be sweet.
cheers


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## sticky (Apr 5, 2013)

Put it in bright light for a couple of days and if none of the other solutions seem to work carry out an "all reset" on the watch even though the manual tells you not too. If it's dead what's to loose?


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## jalcon (Sep 8, 2014)

I think eco-drive's have something like a capacitor rather than a battery.


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## jkchua (Jul 19, 2008)

never_keeps_time said:


> Also, pull out the stem as if your setting the time. That's recommended for citizen watch to jump start. I have seen it happen to many customers watches that we're left in the dark for a long period of time.


This worked for me when my ecozilla stopped. I have been charging it for days with direct sunlight and i kept wondering why it still skipped or jumped a few seconds. I set the time and it finally ran normally.

John


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## lovebandit (Oct 11, 2010)

jalcon said:


> I think eco-drive's have something like a capacitor rather than a battery.


Looks like you are correct: Citizen Eco Drive Repair FAQ | Stewart Time


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## LBisevac (Dec 2, 2006)

jalcon said:


> I think eco-drive's have something like a capacitor rather than a battery.


As far as I know, both Seiko and Citizen replaced capacitors with Li-ion rechargeable batteries quite some time ago.


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## ViperGuy (Sep 28, 2012)

mike120 said:


> I seem to remember Eco-Drives needing an obscene amount of time in the sunlight to get going again after a while off.... A whole lot more than 8 hours IIRC.


Two days is more that 8 hours.


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## vladg (Mar 8, 2015)

jkchua said:


> This worked for me when my ecozilla stopped. I have been charging it for days with direct sunlight and i kept wondering why it still skipped or jumped a few seconds. I set the time and it finally ran normally.
> 
> John


Same with my 15+ old citizen eco-drive. Recently I get back to wrist watches and found old Citizen titanium from my father. Charged on open sun but it keep jump every neext second. Once I set time and date its begin to work properly.


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## Kris The Swede (Oct 9, 2014)

At least in one of my eco drive manuals this is stated as a feature. The second hand moves in two second increments until time has been set to indicate the time may not be accurate until set.


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## Citizen Junkie (Apr 30, 2021)

Kris The Swede said:


> At least in one of my eco drive manuals this is stated as a feature. The second hand moves in two second increments until time has been set to indicate the time may not be accurate until set.


The 2 second jump is an indication of low energy. It has nothing to do with the time.


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