JBL Charge 3 Not Charging

JBL Charge 3 portable waterproof speaker, top view, showing its control panel buttons.

Most Bluetooth speakers, including the JBL Charge 3, offer off-grid operation via an internal battery. And when that portable power goes dead, you can recharge it via an AC or car adapter. To facilitate recharging this speaker, you can use a USB 2 charger that delivers 5 volts at 2.3 amps. Sometimes though, the JBL Charge 3 is not charging though a charger is present.

How to Tell that the JBL Charge 3 is Not Charging

You can tell that this JBL Charge 3 is not charging, by reading the battery status gauge. Find this on the front lower portion of the unit. Now this meter starts blinking red during play to signal that the battery is running low. And the flashing dot may not stop, even when you attach the charger. But the light should change at this point to blinking white. When things are working correctly, this indicates that the speaker is getting some power. But if it continues red, then recharging is not happening.

You can also feel the power adapter’s surfaces ten or fifteen minutes into the charge cycle. The Charge 3 itself warms slightly as well during correct charging. But if you sense no warmth, then again, the JBL Charge 3 is not charging.

Also, the battery gauge normally shows battery recharging progress. I.e. as the Charge 3 recharges, more and more of the lamps light up white. Now you may not see more lights come on after a couple hours of recharging. If not, then chances are, charging is not going well.

Thus when the Charge 3 is not recharging, find out what’s wrong and how to solve the problem. So in this post, we help you to do just that. So we offer reasons why the speaker may not recharge. Then we give possible fixes for this typical difficulty.

JBL Charge 3 Not Charging: Reasons and Fixes

As we said above, it’s normal that the battery status meter flashes red when the speaker is about dead. But this meter should turn to a blinking white when you connect the charger.

A red light glowing in the battery status gauge on the JBL Charge 3.

Normally though, this meter only displays white lights. The number of these lamps glowing tells you how full the battery is. It can appear as follows.

The battery status gauge showing eighty percent of full charge.

Or, all lights in this gauge go dark when charging completes.

All dark battery gauge lamps.

But if the gauge does not change to white when you connect the charger, then several things might cause this. We list these below thus.

1.The Power Outlet May Not Be Live

The Problem

The adapter may not output any power because it is not receiving any to begin with. This can happen due to a defective AC or car circuit or tripped breaker. A blown fuse, faulty wiring, or general power failure might cause this too.

The Fix

Check that your receptacle has power by plugging in a lamp or other device. Reset circuit breakers if tripped. Furthermore, if the outlet has a light switch that controls it, then flip that switch ON.

2. The JBL Charge 3 Adapter is Faulty

The Problem

The JBL Charge 3 not charging can also occur because the adapter is providing SOME but not ENOUGH ccurrent. Now as the unit ages, its output energy can fall over time. So the adapter might not deliver the correct amount presently. When this happens, the gauge may turn to a flashing white light. But it does not gradually advance toward full charge. Of it it does advance, it does so more slowly than usual. Note that this speaker needs 2.3 amps at 5 volts to recharge in the 4.5 hours of spec time. But charging may not work, and likely be slower, if the charger does not meet these requirements.

The power adapter box open. Shows adapter power supply and USB cable inside.

The Fix

The solution is to replace the power adapter. Preferably get a USB supply that can deliver 5 volts at 2.3 amps.

3. The Battery in the JBL Charge 3 is Faulty

The Problem

As lithium ion batteries like the one in this speaker age, they lose their ability to fully charge. Furthermore, the characteristics of the charging current they draw changes. Normally, as this type of battery recharges, it draws less current as it fills. But in the case of cell failure, it may draw too many or too few amps. So this might confuse the charging circuits. So they might behave like no charging is occurring. Thus the gauge shows that charging is not happening.

The Fix

To address this, replace the battery. But keep in mind that you can’t easily get the old one out of the Charge 3. Indeed, changing the battery means that you must take the speaker apart. But this is delicate and potentially time consuming work.

Also note that doing this breaks the water resistant seal. So the speaker may no longer be safe to use, should you expose it to water.

Breaking this seal may well change the sound quality also. So get someone to replace the battery who knows how to pick the right replacement. They should also be able to restore the seal to as it was, as they reassemble the speaker. A good battery should fit well inside and provide 22 watt-hours. But we suggest using only JBL certified batteries for this speaker.

4. The Speaker Might be Defective when the JBL Charge 3 is Not Charging

The Problem

Even if you have the proper power supply, the amperage that reaches the battery may be low or high. This can happen when the battery management circuits inside the speaker develop defects. Note that these charging systems read the battery status. And they shut off the current when they deem the battery to be full.

But when they break, the battery might not get any power at all. Thus, it never recharges. Again, in this case, the battery gauge might never stop flashing, even with the charger connected. The speaker may also not play as long before going dead. In fact, it may not play at all, until you connect the charger.

The Fix

The best answer here, is simply to get a new JBL Charge 3. Why? Because the electronic parts in this model are quite small. So unless you can swap the system board(s) yourself, just get another speaker.