chuwi hi13 not working

[Jon M]

The return shipping is not covered by the retailer as per their policies. I knew the risks of buying from China and the high return costs. Just dissapointed with the dead-on-arrival tablet and frustrated at the lack of response from Chuwi.

If I had high confidence that opening the tablet and disconnecting the battery would reset the charging controller, then I would do that. Otherwise, I can recover about 3/4ths of my costs by returning it unopened.

Jon

 

[Jon M]

I did get a response from Chuwi service. At their suggestion I flashed the BIOS and reinstalled Windows.

No change. Tablet still is not charging.

I tested the charging/running current with a meter. Seems to be pulling 0.04 amps from the power adapter when the tablet is powered off, 0.75-1.0 amps when running widows with the display at 75%.  I’ve let if plugged in for about 4 days straight now, and the Windows battery level has gone up from 1% to 8%.

Attached is screen capture of powercfg battery report.

 

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[james]

well i have been to a repair shop . good guys . they have said the main board is fried and the battery has leaked out 🙁  , they suspect the charger is the problem . they closed it immediatly and put it in a metal box outside till i returned . bit anxious on the way home

[Jon M]

I didn’t open my HI13, but since it worked when plugged in, seems unlikely that mine had such a catastrophic battery failure.

Mine is going back. The retailer will refund the purchase price and cover return shipping for DOA. They also have a US return address.  We will see how long the refund process takes.

As another data point, this USB 3.1 Type-C Charging Bridge didn’t work with my Chuwi HI13/charger. The red charging indicator on the tablet did not light with this in the USB-C port. The bridge worked on my Nexus 5x phone with its OEM charger, but did not pass-through/enable rapid charging.

Again, this may not be true for correctly charging HI13s. But it seems consistent with the prior assessment that the Chuwi OEM charging adapter may not implement the PD negotiation for charging.

Jon

[Steven Welton]

Tell you what guys, this thread has hardly filled me with confidence about buying one of these!  I have been dabbling in Chinese tech for about 3 years… out of the 4 phones I bought from there, 1 was shockingly bad (Ulefone) but managed to sell that at a loss after a couple of months, a THL phone decided to reboot itself randomly about 3 times a day until it got chucked in a drawer, but I’m now on my second Xiaomi phone (Remi Note 3) and it’s my daily driver, works great!  So I am not opposed to buying something from China and after using this site and watching Chris’ videos I had 90% settled on a Hi13… but after reading this thread I feel like I’d rather buy something from a bigger company where I can return it if it packs up…

The shipping returns alone are crippling and then it makes you wonder if it may have been worth just spending another $80 on a device and getting something from Lenovo or Google or something…

Think I’ll give the Hi13 a miss, but the Surbook… wonder how that will shape up?

[Jon M]

 

A correctly functioning HI13 has a lot going for it in terms of price for features.

Not sure it is fair to judge the HI13 reliability based just on the few problem reports here… I think  original poster and I were unlucky to get a defective tablets. I have no idea how many have been shipped and how many have issues. Chuwi never responded to my inquiries through the “contact” form on their website. But once I emailed the service address on the box, they did offer some suggestions.

I’m reconsidering my options for a 2-in-1 computer, but might consider another HI13 if and when Amazon starts selling them.

Jon

 

[james]

it is the risk we take when buying from china . i have had a hi 12  for 6 months with no problems .  repair shop has tested the charger today (waited for parts) the battery problem was caused by the charger not regulating the voltage properly . chuwi do not produce the charger .

 

I got the seller to agree for me to get a repair shop to open the tablet (and keep the warranty intact) to see if it is repairable . today i asked if they would open again to remove the battery so i could return it .  but as it has “leaked” they wont due to risk of chemical inhalation and at worst explosion . extreme i know but i respect their decision .

so the language barrier battle will continue

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