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When my Pi-top is charged I'd unplug it from the wall but immediately the pi top would turn off. For a while all i'd have to do is try to remember to shut down when its charged then unplug it. However, perhaps i forgot to do that one to many times now I get no indication of battery charge, nor does the pi top power up without being plugged into the wall. Its become highly inconvenient and Im not sure whats damaged or how to fix it, what can be done?Thank you very much

Many people have this problem.  Pi-Top has had several customers report that their battery will not charge.

When you open a terminal window and type the command battery, what do you see?

On my defective pi-top I see:

$battery

State: Charging

Remaining time: Error

If you see the same things then you have the defect that others are reporting.  So far I have heard of NO ONE that has received REPLACEMENT PARTS for the defective parts.  If pi-top does not start respecting their customers and replacing the DEFECTIVE PARTS they will get a BAD REPUTATION and will lose there status as a DARLING INNOVATOR in the public eye.  Time will tell how they respond.

So far they have completely ignored my ticket requesting that they replace my DEFECTIVE BATTERY or HUB.  The keep telling me that they will have someone look into the matter and get back to me.

The Pi-Top team did agree to allow me to return my pi-top for a refund.  I don't know if they have replaced any defective HUB's or BATTERY's, but at least they are beginning to respond to these complaints.

In the upper right hand corner of the forum page is a selection called "New Support Ticket"  This is how you request formal support.

My pi-top stopped working after two months - unable to charge and hence unable to function as an independent laptop. I received nothing from pi-top in the way of a meaningful response to this issue and my support ticket was closed by them recently. I've not received any new hardware, but there was talk of some new firmware a while ago, although nothing has happened to move this matter forward at all. I'm very disappointed at the failure of the pi-top team to engage with this issue. I'll be asking for a full refund soon if there's no movement on this problem.

Just received my unit.  I can feel the bottom of the base get warm, but battery info always shows nothing in pi-top OS.  And I cannot turn on the unit if there is no AC.  Unplugging AC while on causes system to power off.  In other words, battery isn't working.

Looks like I'm in the same boat. I upgraded my pi-top to rpi3 (from them!!) and now battery doesn't work...

Has anyone successfully recovered from this without new hardware?

I had the same issue but the Support team at Pi-Top were very helpful. Firstly, they sent instructions for a patch and when this didn't work they asked me to fill in a form - takes only a minute or two - to get a replacement, which should be with me soon. I have to say that after some initial concerns that Support was not responding timeously, I now have a great working relationship with them and find them responsive and helpful.

I hope other users get their Pi-Top issues and challenges fixed and enjoy their hardware.

Regards,

Stuart

@Stuart Crouch - I'm interested to hear your experience with pi-top support - my pi-top unit stopped charging months ago, and all I've received from the pi-top crew is empty promises of a fix at some point in the future - I've filed multiple support tickets over the months but with no resolution in sight. I'd be interested in knowing more about this patch you were sent instructions for. 

Hi Liam,

Thanks for your message. Attached as an image is the set of instructions I received. It was also mentioned that at the end of the process to reboot and then leave the battery charging for at least two hours. It didn't work for me, unfortunately, but might work for other users whose batteries are not totally dead. I hope so. Good luck.

Regards,

Stuart