If you wake up in the morning to find that your Phillips Sonicare toothbrush is running on its own, ready to greet you, you don’t have a ghost. It’s actually a pretty well-known issue with Phillips Sonicare toothbrushes so you don’t need to call in the local exorcist.
The Sonicare toothbrush is also known for turning itself off as well, so the issue runs both ways. It’s not a common occurrence. If it happened all of the time to every variation of the Sonicare toothbrush, they probably wouldn’t be as popular as they are.
Why Does My Sonicare Toothbrush Turn on By Itself?
In order to turn it on, the circuit has to be completed, which is the only way that power can run from your battery to operate the toothbrush. This means that you probably have a faulty connection between the handle and the toothbrush or your toothbrush is contacting metal at the moment.
It’s possible that it’s a malfunction that can be fixed by simply turning off the Sonicare and it’s also possible that the batteries are faulty as well, so you shouldn’t avoid considering other possibilities. However, the majority of the instances involve water completing the circuit between the “on” button.
This also means that there is probably a faulty seal because the water has to find a way inside of the Sonicare to create issues with the internal, electronic components.
Why Does My Sonicare Toothbrush Turn off By Itself?
Turning it off by itself is far less likely to be a problem with water interference or a faulty gasket and more a matter of the settings on the toothbrush. The Phillips Sonicare toothbrush comes with a set of cleaning mode features, one of which is a timed “off-switch.”
The cleaning modes of the toothbrush mostly revolve around how long the toothbrush runs before it shuts down on its own. So if you are right in the middle of brushing your teeth and the thing shuts off, you either accidentally triggered the setting or you are just getting familiar with the brush.
There are also features in the Sonicare toothbrush that changes vibrations and speeds while also warning you if you are pressing down too hard. This might fool you into thinking that it turned off when it really hasn’t.
Of course, it will also turn off on its own if your battery runs out, so you need to make sure that you are properly charging it when you are supposed to.
How Do I Turn Off Easy Start on My Phillips Sonicare Toothbrush?
Easy Start is Phillips’ way of easing you into the transition from a regular toothbrush to an electronic toothbrush, especially a smart one like the Sonicare. Easy Start lasts for 14 brushing sessions and is basically a prolonged increase in brushing intensity as the sessions go by.
If you want to turn it off, it’s not difficult to do but may not be obvious if you are using a Sonicare for the first time or you don’t know where the manual is. The manual will tell you how to do it but no one keeps their manuals anymore, so that’s why we’re here.
- Plug your Phillips Sonicare into the outlet
- Locate the “Mode/Intensity” button
- Hold down the Mode/Intensity button and press the power button
- If your Sonicare is plugged in, holding down the Mode/Intensity button and pressing the power button will turn Easy-Start off
According to Phillips, you need to have your toothbrush powered on for at least a minute before you can bother with altering the Easy-Start configuration, which includes turning it off, turning it on, or otherwise altering it.
How to Stop the Phillips Sonicare from Turning on By Itself
If the gasket is damaged, there is no way to fix it, at least not permanently. You will just have to be very careful in how you brush your teeth, attempting to always keep the water away from the faulty gasket and drying your Sonicare before you set it down for the day or night.
If there is no visual sign or any other indication of damage to the gasket, it’s possible that it’s just a battery problem and you need to replace them. Depending on your model, it may take one or two of the 2.4V Ni-MH rechargeable batteries or the 3.7V Li-Ion rechargeable batteries.
It could also be a matter of your Sonicare toothbrush reaching the end of its lifecycle. After all, it doesn’t matter what type of rechargeable battery it is, they all have finite cycles (number of times they can be recharged before losing their efficacy).
You can also try switching out your brush heads, depending on what side of the gasket or the connection is damaged and so long as you don’t mind brushing with a different brush head from here on out.
Reset Your Sonicare Toothbrush
Last but not least, you can do a hard reset on your Phillips Sonicare Toothbrush. While there is only a small chance that this is the issue, it’s still a chance so you should eliminate it by doing a reset.
To reset the Sonicare, press and hold the power button for five seconds, release, and press and hold one of the top two or bottom two buttons until you hear a beep.
What is the Life Expectancy of a Philips Sonicare Toothbrush?
Phillips Sonicare Toothbrushes come with two-year warranties on every one of them. According to customers, the general life expectancy of a Sonicare is between 2 and 5 years, which means that if it goes out on the low end, you might catch it inside of that two-year warranty.
The internal, rechargeable batteries are supposed to last two weeks between charges and the odds are, the batteries will fail long before the brush, which means you only have to replace the batteries.
Final Thoughts
If your Sonicare toothbrush is turning on all by itself, the odds are that it’s a gasket problem and water is getting inside. The circuit has to be completed after all and this is the most common issue.
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