How to Check Sony XB 12 Battery

Top front view of the Sony SRS XB12 Extra Bass Bluetooth speaker.

Covers how to check battery life and level on the Sony Extra Bass XB 12 Bluetooth speaker, and also, how to know if the battery life is shortening over time.

How to Check Sony XB 12 Battery, Current Charge

1. First, Turn ON the XB 12

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

Sony XB 12 portable speaker powered OFF, showing the -Power- button.

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

The little lamp on the front of the speaker should then start glowing, as we see next. Also, the speaker may make a two-beep sound if it pairs to a nearby device. If it does not turn on, then the battery could be completely dead, and you will have to charge the speaker first.

Sony XB 12 Extra Bass speaker, powered ON, showing the Status lamp lit.

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. Look at the CHG Lamp on the XB 12

Note that this speaker has no battery gauge to let you know exactly how much charge is left. But you can at least, tell if the battery is on the verge of going dead by way of the CHG lamp. When the battery is not critically low, this lamp is dark. But when the speaker has very little charge left, the CHG lamp flashes orange. The next picture shows the lamp location. It’s the closest light to the charging port door.

The charging speaker, with its CHG light glowing orange.

How to Check Sony XB 12 Battery, Overall Capacity

When the speaker is new, and using a full power USB charger, the battery charge time is about four and a half (4.5) hours to reach a full charge.

And, the fully recharged battery should last for around sixteen (16) hours of play time before going dead, when you play this mini speaker at moderate volume levels. At max sound output though, you might see just five hours of play time.

A sign of a bad battery, is that it goes dead too fast. Or it takes too little or too much time to fully charge. So if you completely charge your speaker, but it only plays for under twelve hours before dying, its battery may be bad, and unable to hold a full charge anymore.

If the XB 12 battery takes longer than six hours to completely recharge, this could also mean that the battery is reaching end-of-life. It might mean also, that the charger you’re using is not strong enough to recharge the speaker in the specified charge time of 4.5 hours.

Also, slow charging can happen because your charge cord is too thin. So for best results, we suggest you get a full-current USB cable (one that easily carries 2.1 amps).

Finally, the XB 12 may play for the specified time in its specs sheet. But it may sound distorted and weak. Moreover, it may in fact, turn itself off when you play the unit too loudly. Again, this is a sign of a battery reaching the end of its service life, and you should consider either replacing the battery, or getting a new speaker.