How Long to Fully Charge Citizen Eco-Drive Solar-Powered Watch

How long does it take to fully recharge your Citizen Eco-Drive solar-powered watch? With adequate bright light exposure, expect a full power cell refill within 2 days . The actual charging duration depends on light intensity, power cell capacity, current charge level, and more. Direct sunlight provides the fastest sub-1 hour charge times, while faint indoor lighting can take weeks to fully recharge an emptied Eco Drive watch. With medium brightness light, plan on 1 to 7 days for a complete solar cell refill. This guide covers charging times broken down across various lighting conditions. We’ll discuss the factors impacting charging speeds and provide tips to keep your Citizen watch perpetually powered through consistent light exposure. Discover how long it takes your Eco Drive timepiece to reach a full power cell refresh!

What Influences How Quickly A Citizen Eco-Drive is Fully Charged

Several key factors impact how fast your Citizen Eco-Drive watch charges from low to full power:

Light Intensity

The brightness or intensity of the light source is critical. Bright sunlight will charge your watch significantly faster than dim indoor lighting. Strong outdoor light could fully charge some Eco-Drive watches in less than an hour, while faint indoor light may take weeks or months to reach full capacity.

Type of Light Source

Natural sunlight is the best and most efficient light source for charging your eco drive watch. But any light, including fluorescent, incandescent, and LED lights, can charge the watch – just at different rates. Generally, warmer color temperature lights near the spectrum of sunlight work faster.

Capacity of Energy Cell

Eco-Drive watches have built-in energy storage cells, like small rechargeable batteries. The storage capacity varies across watch models from a few hours to over 12 months when fully charged. Naturally, watches with larger energy cells and reserves will take longer to charge completely.

Current Charge Level

If your Citizen watch still has some reserve charge left, it will charge up faster than when the energy cell is fully depleted and empty. So the lower current charge level plays a role in determining how long it takes to reach full capacity.

Typical Time for Citizen Eco Drive to Reach Full Charge

More specifically, here are estimates for how long to expect a fully depleted Citizen Eco-Drive watch to recharge under some exact light conditions examples:

Outdoors on a Sunny Day (100,000 lux)

• 2 minutes of sunny light provides enough charge for 1 day of operation
• 11 hours of direct sunlight fully charges the Eco Drive’s energy cell from empty to full capacity

Outdoors on a Cloudy Day (10,000 lux)

• 12 minutes of cloudy daylight gives enough charge for the watch to run for 1 day before needing a recharge
• It takes 40 hours of overcast outdoor light exposure to fully charge the power cell from depleted

Under a 30W Fluorescent Light (3,000 lux)

• If sitting 8 inches from a bright 30-watt fluorescent light bulb, 40 minutes provides adequate solar energy to power the watch for 1 day
• Fully charging a drained Eco-Drive with this indoor light source would take about 130 hours or roughly 5 and a half days

So in summary, the brighter the light intensity, the less charging time is needed for both daily operating power and to fully refill the solar energy cell. Getting the watch outdoors on sunny days makes a big difference compared to dim indoor lighting.

How Long It Will Take to Charge a Fully Discharged Eco Drive Watch?

Let’s look at some exact estimates for how long a drained Citizen Eco-Drive watch needs to charge from completely dead to restarting normal operation, plus the time to fully recharge the power cell from zero capacity:

Sunny Day

• 3.5 hours of good sunlight exposure to charge enough for the dead watch to start working again
• 13 hours of bright sun is required for a full recharge of the empty energy cell

Cloudy Day

• 6.5 hours of overcast light to accumulate enough solar energy to restart the watch
• 30 hours total on a cloudy day to fill the discharged power cell

Artificial Light Source

• A 30W fluorescent light bulb (1000 lux):
  • 15 hours to charge the required amount for the watch to resume functioning
  • 90 hours total under this artificial light to fully charge from dead empty
• A weaker 500 lux indoor light:
  • It takes 80 hours to gather enough energy for the watch to turn on again
  • 600 hours in this dim indoor light would mean 25 days to completely recharge the Eco-Drive power cell

So in essence, stronger daylight can revive a dead Citizen Eco Drive in just a few hours, while very dim artificial lighting may require weeks before the watch even initially springs back to life after a full power down. But once restarted, it will continue charging up to full in any light.

How Frequent You Will Need to Charge Your Citizen Eco Drive Watch?

One major advantage of solar-powered Citizen Eco-Drive watches is that they don’t strictly need manual regular charging in the sense of remembering to actively charge it up like you might a smartphone. As long as your watch receives adequate ambient or direct light exposure through normal wear, its built-in solar cell passively charges automatically.

The eco-drive technology of the Analog version allows you to have power cell backup for up to 7 months once it is fully charged without any light source. However, there are a few models such as W760, that allow the watch to run up to 17 months without any charging! If you check out the Power reserve level, you will get to know about the charging period and backup properly. 

However, occasional supplemental charging is recommended for optimal performance and to prevent deep power reserve discharge:

• During a normal week, make sure to set your Citizen eco drive watch by a bright window once a day for at least 8 to 12 hours
• If you wear long sleeves often or work in dark environments, consider supplemental light charging 2 to 3 times per week
• At a minimum, schedule monthly supplemental light charging sessions to top off the power capacity if you don’t receive daily solar exposure through normal wear.

NOTE – if you are not charging the watch for 6 months in a row then you may have issues with your watch. So, if you are not charging for 6 months in a row, then you will need to charge it immediately!

Following these solar charging guidelines will keep your Citizen watch humming for years and prevent problems brought on by deep power depletion for extended dark periods.

How Long Does the Citizen Eco Drive Watch Provide Support While Connected to a Smartphone?

One handy feature Citizen has developed allows their Eco-Drive watches to connect to a smartphone via Bluetooth. This allows features like automatic time setting and synchronization and accessing an online manual.

However, this Bluetooth connectivity and synchronization gradually drain the watch’s stored power capacity over time. Standard Eco-Drive models can generally maintain a Bluetooth connection with a coupled smartphone for approximately 4 weeks on a full charge before needing supplemental solar charging.

Let’s assume that, you are using your watch with your iPhone for 6 hours a day daily, then In Phase 3, it will provide backup for about 10 days, in Phase 2, 15 days, and in Phase 1, it will go up to 5 days! So, in total, you will get around a month of using the watch with your phone without charging it. 

How to Check the Charging Level of Your Citizen Eco Drive Watch?

Most Citizen Eco-Drive watches have a power reserve indicator that shows the current charge level. Common ways to access it include:

• Pressing the lower right button on the watch case repeatedly to cycle through displays to show the power meter
• Quickly rotating the watch crown counter-clockwise to enter power reserve mode for a charge percentage readout
• Connecting the watch to the Citizen smartphone app which reports real-time power level

Get familiar with your specific model’s procedure to check its charging status. Try not to let your Citizen watch’s charge level fall below 20%, or sporadic operation may start to occur. Instead, top it off with supplemental light at the first signs of low power drawdown.

What Do the Different Power Reserve Phases Mean?

Citizen Eco-Drive watches with power reserve indicators don’t just show a percentage. They display varying phases as the charge level decreases for an at-a-glance view:

Phase 3

When the indicator displays Phase 3, it means your Eco-Drive watch has a full charge, typically at least 70-100% power reserve. All features should operate and maximum runtime is available before needing recharge.

Phase 2

Phase 2 signifies your Citizen watch has a partial charge remaining, in the 30-70% range. It’s OK for daily wear but should soon get supplemental light exposure. All functionality still works as expected.

Phase 1

The Phase 1 level indicates your solar watch power cell has low reserve energy left, under 30% capacity. Many features may have shut off and exposed to darkness, it will soon stop entirely so needs quick recharging.

Phase 0

You never want your Eco Drive to reach Phase 0 where it has empty reserves. At this stage, it has fully discharged and shut down, entering darkness hibernation and suspending all features needing revival via a strong light source for charging restoration before normal operation.

So generally, make sure your Citizen Eco Drive doesn’t drop below Phase 1, getting it into bright lighting whenever the meter falls to Phase 2 for at least a partial recharge. Never let it fully deplete to Phase 0!

Tips for Charging Citizen Eco Drive Watch

Follow these tips for smooth solar-powered performance from your Citizen Eco-Drive watch:

• To perform a full recharge on your watch, pull the crown out 2 clicks and leave it to charge in direct light for 4-5 days. Both natural sunlight and indoor artificial light work to thoroughly replenish the energy cell.
• We advise doing this deep recharge procedure every 8-12 months to keep your watch power cell topped off at peak capacity.
• Avoid charging in extremely hot conditions over 60°C/140°F as heat can degrade the storage cell over time when exposed for extended periods.
• When not wearing the watch, place it next to a bright window during the daytime so the face absorbs ample sunlight.
• If you wear long sleeves often or work in dark environments, consider supplemental charging 2-3 times per week.
• At a minimum, do schedule monthly supplemental light charging sessions to prevent low power capacity.
• Check the Eco Drive’s power meter at least monthly and give it light exposure whenever the reserve falls below 25%

Proper solar charging maintenance will ensure your Citizen watch runs reliably for years without needing traditional power cell replacement. Just a little supplemental lighting keeps your Eco Drive perpetually powered! Let us know if you have any other charging questions.

End Notes

And there you have it – a detailed breakdown of the key factors that determine how long it takes Citizen Eco-Drive watches to charge from zero up to full power. With a little supplemental light exposure, your solar Citizen watch can run maintenance-free almost indefinitely. Let us know in the comments if you have any other Citizen Eco-Drive charging questions! Thanks for reading.