The JBL Charge 5 has a group of LEDs behind a translucent white bar in its front lower area. This displays battery level, as well as showing whether it’s draining or charging. Specifically, the JBL Charge 5 battery level gauge displays charging progress when draining. Or it shows how full the battery is while charging. In this piece we discuss what the various patterns this meter displays mean.
JBL Charge 5 Battery Level: Understanding the Light Patterns on the Meter
1. The Battery Meter is Entirely Dark
When you power down the speaker with no charger, all lamps go dark. This bar also shows dark with a charger present but the battery is full. The battery gauge is on the front lower portion of the speaker in the center.
2. JBL Charge 5 Battery Level Gauge Shows Recharging Progress
There are five tiny LED lamps inside the speaker, that illuminate the battery meter bar. These light in succession as the speaker charging fills the battery. The Charge 5 is recharging when you see part of the bar pulsing white. When the battery is near empty, the bottom edge of the bar blinks white while charging. Then as charging continues, more of the bar lights up, and flashing end of the bar moves up.
Note though, that you may see the bottom most part of the meter flash red. This does not mean that charging is proceeding. Instead, it means that the speaker battery is critically low and that you should recharge the speaker immediately.
It only flashes red like this when the battery is nearly dead and AC power is not present. But when you do that, this red flashing light begins blinking white. Remember though, that this light never pulses red while charging is happening.
3. When The Whole Battery Level Gauge Lights Solid White, Charging is Complete
As speaker charging progresses, more of the lamps on the battery meter light solid. So the flashing LED moves further up, until that blinking reaches the topmost area of the bar.
Battery charging is complete when all but the very last little segment of the indicator lights solid. But that last part continues to blink for several minutes. Again, you know that charging is occurring if one of the battery charge level lamps is flashing white.
Note that during the charge cycle, part of the gauge is dark (top most portion). This lets you know about how much more the battery must charge before full.
The recharge cycle finishes when the entire meter goes dark. Thus, the battery is no longer charging when all lamps are OFF. Even with the AC charger still active, no part of the indicator glows when the battery is full.
4. The JBL Charge 5 Battery Level Gauge Also a Charge Remaining Meter
When you unplug the adapter, what was the battery charge level meter becomes the battery charge left meter. The more lights lit, the fuller the battery. The fewer lamps glowing, the less run time left. These lamps show battery status for a brief time after you power up the Charge 5. They also display it whenever you press any of the buttons. To save power, this meter goes dark after some seconds. So to see the battery level once more, just press either the Volume UP or Volume DOWN buttons .
JBL Charge 5 Battery Level: How to See It in the JBL Portable App
Now in the JBL Portable app, you can see the speaker’s battery level of charge there as well. Just pair the 5 with your source device. Then bring up the app.
Then, once the app detects the speaker, it displays the speaker’s Home page.
The level item we point out with the dark blue arrow. It shows how full the battery in the speaker is. The more of that bar that is green, the fuller the battery.