How to Check Sony XB41 Battery

An iPhone with a Sony SRS XB41 speaker.

Covers how to check the battery inside the Sony Extra Bass SRS XB41 portable Bluetooth speaker, and also, how to see if the battery life is decreasing over time.

How to Check Sony XB41 Battery, Current Charge

1. First, Turn ON the XB41

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

The Sony XB41 -Power- button.

To turn on the speaker, press and release the Power button, pointed at by the aqua arrow in the last picture. It’s on the speaker top, and the right most button in the button panel as you face the front of the unit.

The Power lamp, also on the top of the speaker, should then light up. E.g. See this in the next picture. Then the speaker may make a two-beep sound if it connects to a close-by device. If it does not turn on, then the battery could be completely dead.

The -Power- light glowing white.

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 CHARGE Lamp

You can tell at a glance if the battery is on the verge of going dead 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, this light flashes orange.

E,g, The next picture shows the CHARGE lamp location. It’s in the port compartment in the rear of the speaker.

The -CHARGE- lamp glowing orange.

How to Check Sony XB41 Battery, Overall Battery Condition

When the speaker is new, and using charger that Sony supplies with this speaker, the battery charge time is about four and a half (4.5) hours to reach a full charge. And, the full battery should last for around twenty-four (24) hours of play time before going dead, when played at low to medium volume levels and with surrounding temperatures in the 70s or 80s. At maximum volume, you may only see four (4) hours of play time.

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 consistently plays for under twenty hours at low volumes before dying, its battery may be bad, and unable to hold a full charge anymore. This is typical of aging lithium ion batteries.

The dark -CHARGE- light.

Or if the CHARGE light goes out in under four hours after you start charging the battery from completely dead state, then the battery may also be on the verge of failing.

Also, if the SRS XB41 battery takes longer than six hours to completely recharge, this could also mean a failing battery. It might mean too, that the charger you’re using is not robust enough to recharge the speaker in the specified charge time of 4.5 hours. To rule out this possibility, try another charger.

Finally, slow charging can happen because your USB charging cable is too thin. So for best results, we suggest using a thick USB-C cable (one that easily carries 3 amps). Or better yet, just use the charger that comes with the speaker.