How to tell if Sony SRS XB23 wireless BT speaker is charging? This column speaker has an orange LED light on its side panel, just beneath the Power button, as shown in the following picture. This light that Sony labels as the CHARGE lamp flashes orange when the battery is nearly dead. So it tells battery level (to a degree). When the speaker is not on the charge and this lamp blinks, it means to CHARGE the speaker because the battery will soon run out of energy. But also, to see if the XB23 is charging, check out this LED as well. We explain how to read it next.
How to Tell if Sony SRS XB23 is Charging, Step by Step
Connect your XB23 to USB Power
Of course, you can rest assured that the speaker is NOT charging with no power cable making contact with the speaker.
Check that the CHARGE LED is Glowing Solid Orange
When the speaker is OFF, you can tell if the Sony SRS XB23 is charging if this light glows steady orange. This continuous glow occurs while charging, when the speaker is either ON, paired, or, OFF. When no charger is present, this light blinks when the battery has about run completely out of power.
If the SRS XB23 CHARGE lamp flashes when the power cord is connected, then the speaker is likely NOT charging. So you should check that your USB cable, adapter charger, and power source are in working order. Try a new adapter or a known good cord. You want this light glowing without blinks to know for sure that the XB23 is charging.

Check XB23 Temperature
Additionally, the button panel on the XB23 may warm a little as the speaker charges. Moreover, most charger adapters you run it with will also heat as well. This warming is a great sign of speaker charging going on.
As speaker charging advances, the CHARGE LED continues glowing. But unlike some of the higher grade wireless speakers, the XB23 gives no visual reading of just how far along its recharging is, just that the recharging is still in progress.
Ask the XB23 Tell you Battery Full Percentage While it Charges
But you can hear how charging is progressing by pressing the BATT button, also found on the side button panel. Pressing in the center of the word BATT commands the XB23 to speak the current percentage of charge in the battery, in a female voice.

When the CHARGE LED Goes Out, Charging is Done
The battery charge cycle is finished when the CHARGE LED goes dark.

Even with the charger cord still juicing the unit, and when the speaker is OFF or ON, the CHARGE lamp stops glowing when the battery hits the full mark. We see this in the last picture above. The speaker indeed no longer recharges when the battery reaches full charge condition and this light shuts off.
Finally, Unplug the Sony SRS XB23 and Power it Up
With the USB-C cable disconnected, we cannot know just by reading the CHARGE or Status LEDs, just how much the SRS XB23 actually recharged, only that it did charge some. It probably did recharge to full though, as long as we waited until the CHARGE lamp stopped glowing before unplugging the charger. Note that if the CHARGE lamp does not flash when you next turn on the speaker, then the battery likely did charge.
Again though, we can press the BATT button when the speaker is running, and if charging completed properly, it will say, “Battery fully charged,” to us in the lady’s voice.
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Revision History
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- 2021-09-26: First posted.