Hello! I just got hands on a pi-top [1] a few days ago. The pi-top [1] was working properly for a few days and I could start it without the power supply until yesterday.
Now it seems that the battery is not working anymore. It starts only when the power supply is connected and it seems that there is no connection between the battery pack and the rest of the pi-top [1].
The charging symbol on the desktop shows 0% and when I check the pi-hub status, the battery does not seem to be active. The rest of the functions is working though. Also the green LED is hovering.
I disassembled everything and checked the connections, but they seem all fine. I see that the connector to the battery pack receives the 18-19 V from the power supply, and the battery pack has about 12+V when I check it. Any hints what went wrong or how this can be fixed?
Thanks!
We’ve heard of this happening with the original pi-top. We can’t diagnose the exact reason it’s happened to your pi-top without taking it apart, though if you get in contact with the Support Team either by email (support@pi-top.com) or filling out a Support form then they can get you a replacement battery!
For the quickest replacement service, remember to attach your receipt, shipping address, contact email and contact telephone number and if your pi-top is under warranty then our team can send you the part free of charge!
Hope this helps!
pi-top Team
My pi-top was stuck at 0% problem for long time. Recently I found a fix.
Ask Google for “pi-top battery firmware” or “pt-battery-fw-update”
Work with my pi-top[1]
I need to re-try over 15 times for it to work. I don’t understand why.
My pt-top is more complicated to fix.
As the battery management board cannot charge for long long time, the battery was below 12V and cell voltage among 4 cells are not balance.
It is not a perfect fix. I don’t expect 8 hours battery life. I am happy with degraded battery, far more than enough for me to unplug the AC adapter and move the pi-top from dinner table to bedroom without shutting down.
Did you manage to get pt-battery-fw-update to work on bulseye by any chance?
@MVDM I installed WiringPi from an alternative repo, I now get Error No: 121 in a loop instead or the expected Error No: 5 or no error at all.
$ gpio -v
$ sudo apt-get purge wiringpi
$ hash -r
$ sudo apt-get install git-core
$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get upgrade
$ git clone https://github.com/WiringPi/WiringPi
$ cd WiringPi
$ ./build
$ gpio -v
Is there any permanent fix for the not charging problem? it always drains the battery in about a week and if left it unattended for about 2, it doesn’t want to charge anymore and has to run the update again and again, since is a flag the problem, way is not fix in the supposed firmware update? or more interesting, why is it using some stored data instead of measuring it in real time?