Picture of the front right of the Sony SRS XG500 Boombox Bluetooth speaker

How to Check Sony SRS XG500 Battery Life

Covers how to check  battery life on the Sony boombox speaker model  SRS XG500 for proper operation, and also, how to know if the battery charge holding capacity is diminishing over time, and thus, when to replace the battery.

How to Check Sony SRS XG500 Battery Life, Current Charge

1. First, Turn ON the XG500

You won’t be able to read battery charge status unless the speaker is ON.

Picture of the -Power- button on the Sony SRS XG500 speaker.
The -Power- button on the Sony SRS XG500 speaker.

To turn on the speaker, press and release the Power button, pointed at by the green arrow in the last picture.

The Power lamp on the top of the unit should then light up green, as we see next, and the speaker may make a two-beep sound and a voice announcement if it pairs to a nearby device.  If it does not boot, then the battery could be completely dead.

Picture of the -Power- lamp.
The -Power- lamp.

But as long as there’s some energy in the battery, the speaker should power up.  When it does, move on to the next step.

2. Have the Speaker Tell You the Percent of Battery Life Remaining Per Charge

When the speaker is running, you can press the Battery button on the back button panel, and the 500 then announces the percentage of battery charge left.

Picture of the Battery button on the Sony SRS XG500 boombox speaker.
The Battery button on the Sony SRS XG500 boombox speaker.

Doing this, makes the speaker announce the following in a female voice depending on just how full the battery is…

    • 91% – 100%: “Battery Fully Charged”
    • 81% – 90%: “Battery about 90%”
    • 81% – 90% (Battery Care mode): “Battery Care Mode, Fully Charged, Battery about 90%”
    • 71% – 80%: “Battery about 80%”
    • 61% – 70%: “Battery about 70%”
    • 51% – 60%: “Battery about 60%”
    • 41% – 50%: “Battery about 50%”
    • 31% – 40%: “Battery about 40%”
    • 21% – 30%: “Battery about 30%”
    • 11% – 20%: “Battery about 20%”
    • 1% – 10%: “Please Charge”

3. Look at the CHARGE Light

Or, if you don’t want to screw around with opening the back panel door, or you do not need to know exact percentages, you can tell at a glance if the battery is on the verge of completely running out of power by way of the CHARGE lamp. When the battery is not critically low, this lamp is dark. But when the speaker has very little charge left, the CHARGE lamp flashes orange.

E,g, The next picture shows the lamp location.  It’s the closest light to the left edge of the top buttons panel.

Picture of the glowing orange -CHARGE- light on the top of the speaker.
The glowing orange -CHARGE- light on the top of the speaker.

How to Check Sony SRS XG500 Battery Life, Overall Battery Condition

When the speaker is new, and using the included 20 volt charger, the battery charge time is about three (3.0) hours to reach a full charge. And, the full battery should last for around thirty (30) hours of play time (when not using Battery Care mode) before going dead. You get this time when playing the speaker at low to medium volume levels and with surrounding temperatures in the 70s or 80s.

But a sign of a bad battery, is that it goes dead too fast, or takes too little or too much time to fully charge. So if you fully charge your speaker, but it only plays for under twenty hours before dying, its battery may be bad, and unable to hold a full charge anymore.  Or if the CHARGE light goes out in under two hours after you start charging from completely dead state, then the battery may also be on the verge of failing.





Also, if the SRS XG500 battery takes longer than four hours to completely recharge, this could also mean a failing battery and time to replace it.

It might mean too, that the charger you have is not robust enough to recharge the speaker in the specified charging time. So be sure to use the (20 volts, 4 amps, 80 watts) AC adapter that comes with this speaker (or equivalent) for fastest results.

Other Posts About the Sony SRS XG500

    1. How to Start Pairing Mode on the Sony SRS XG500 Speaker
    2. How to Pair Sony SRS XG500 BT Speaker
    3. Recharging the Sony Boombox Speaker SRS XG500
    4. How to Start Discovery Mode on the Sony SRS XG500 Speaker
    5. Sony SRS XG500 Charge Time for Full Recharge

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References for How to Check Sony SRS XG500 Battery Life

    1. Sony SRS XG500 Speakers Product Page at Sony.com

Change History

    • 2022-08-19: First published.