How to tell if Sony XB 20 wireless Bluetooth speaker is charging? This desktop speaker has an orange LED light just above the Power-Pairing button, as shown in the next photo. This light, labeled as the CHARGE lamp, flashes orange when the battery is about dead. So it does tell battery level (to a degree). When the speaker is not on the charge and this lamp pulses ON and OFF in slow flashes it’s telling you to CHARGE the speaker. This means that the speaker will soon shut down. But also, to see if the XB 20 is in fact charging, check out this LED for this as well. We explain how to interpret it next.
How to Tell If Sony XB 20 is Charging: Summary
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- Connected and working power cable.
- The CHARGE lamp glows steadily.
- The speaker and charger typically heat slightly.
- Battery percentage increases gradually.
- The CHARGE light eventually goes out.
- The XB 20 reports that battery is fully charged after charging. After charging evidence that charging was indeed occurring.
How to Tell if Sony XB 20 is Charging: Detailed Explanation
Connect the Unit to USB Power
Of course, you can rest assured that the speaker is NOT charging with no power cable feeding the speaker.
Check that the CHARGE LED is Glowing Solid Orange
When the speaker is OFF, you can tell if the Sony XB 20 is charging if this light glows a constant orange. This steady glow happens while charging, when the speaker is OFF only. The lamp does not glow steadily any time the speaker is ON. But when no charger is powering the unit, this light blinks when the battery has about run all the way out of power.
If the XB 20 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 power supply or a known good cable. You want this light glowing without blinking to know for sure that the XB 20 is charging.
Check XB 20 Temperature
The button panel on the XB 20, or the area in and around the rear port compartment may warm a little as well as charging. Plus, most adapters for car and home with will also heat as well. This warmth is a good sign that speaker charging is happening, so long as there’s neither too much heating, nor none at all.
As speaker recharging advances, the CHARGE LED persists with its glowing. But unlike some of the more expensive wireless speakers, the XB 20 gives no visual reading of just how far along the charging is, just that it is still in progress.
Ask the XB 20 to Tell you Battery Full Percentage While it Charges
But you can hear how charging is progressing by pressing and holding in the PHONE-BATT button, also found on the top button panel. Pressing this pushbutton gets the XB 20 to speak the current percentage of charge in the battery, in a female voice. But the speaker must be powered up for this to work.
When the CHARGE LED Darkens, Charging is Over
The battery charge cycle is finished when the CHARGE LED goes dark.
Even with the charger cord still powering the unit, the CHARGE lamp stops glowing and / or flashing when the battery hits the full mark. We see this in the last picture above. The speaker indeed no longer recharges when the light goes out.
Finally, Unplug the XB 20 and Power it ON
With the micro USB cable disconnected, we cannot know just by reading the CHARGE or Status LEDs, just how much the XB 20 actually recharged, only that it did charge some. It typically does charge to full though, as long as we wait until the CHARGE lamp goes out before unplugging the external power supply. Note that if this lamp does not flash when you next boot the speaker, then the battery likely did charge.
Again though, we can press the PHONE-BATT button when the speaker is running, and if charging completed properly, it will say, “Fully charged,” to us in the lady’s voice.
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References
Revision History
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- 2023-04-14: First published.