JBL Charge 5 Flashing Red

Top front view of the JBL Charge 5 Bluetooth speaker.

Many JBL speakers, including the Charge 5 model, have a flashing red LED when the battery runs low. In this case, we find this lamp in the battery gauge on the speaker’s front grill. Sometimes though, this red light blinks for long periods as you play the speaker. E.g. It begins pulsating red during play and does not stop, even when you connect a charger. Thus in this post, we offer reasons that red flashing happens on the Charge 5. Then we give possible fixes for this common problem.

JBL Charge 5 Flashing Red: Reasons and Fixes

It’s normal that the battery gauge does a flashing red when the battery is very low. But this lamp should turn white when you connect the speaker to a charger, and battery recharging begins.

The flashing red LED on the JBL Charge 5.

Normally though, this gauge only shows white lights. The amount of the bar that glows tells you how full the battery is. It can appear as follows.

The battery meter showing a full charge.

Or, if the speaker is OFF when charging starts, then once recharging finishes, all lights in this gauge go out. See this in the next picture.

The dark battery gauge.

Now the blinking red lamp might not change to white when you connect the charger. If that’s the case, then several things might cause this. We list these below thus.

1.The Power Outlet May Not Be Live

The Problem

The AC or car adapter for the JBL Charge 5 may not deliver any power. Why not? Because it might not be getting any to begin with. This can happen due to a defective AC or car circuit, tripped circuit breaker, or a blown fuse. Faulty wiring or power failure might also cause this.

The Fix

Check that your outlet has electricity by testing it by plugging in a lamp or other device. Reset circuit breakers if tripped. Also, if the outlet has a light switch that controls it, then check that that switch is ON.

2. Power Supply is Not Working Well

The Problem

The JBL Charge 5 red light continues blinking perhaps because your adapter provides SOME but not ENOUGH current. Its output energy can fall over time. So it might not deliver the correct amount presently. Please note that this speaker requires 3 amps at 5 volts to fully recharge in the specified time.

The Fix

The solution is to replace the adapter. Preferably, find one that delivers at least that 5 volts at 3 amps (15 watts).

3. The Battery in the Charge 5 is Defective

The Problem

As lithium ion batteries age, they lose their ability to fully recharge. Also, the characteristics of the charging current they draw changes too. Normally, as a battery recharges, it draws less and less current during charging. But in battery failure, it may draw too much or too little amperage. This can confuse the charging circuits. They might behave like no charging is occurring. So, the red lamp keeps blinking.

The Fix

To fix this, replace the battery. But keep in mind that you can’t easily get to it in the Charge 5. Indeed, changing the battery means that you must teardown the speaker.

But note that doing this likely breaks the moisture resistant seal. Thus the speaker is unsafe to use, if you get water in it.

Breaking this seal may also change the sound quality too. 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.

5. The Speaker Might be Defective when the JBL Charge 5 Red Light is Blinking

The Problem

Even if you have the correct power supply, the charging current may be too low or too high. This can happen when the battery management circuits inside the Charge 5 JBL speaker fail. Note that these systems read the battery status, and shut off the charging current when they deem the battery full.

But when they fail, the battery might get no power at all. Thus, it never recharges. Again, in this case, the red light might never stop blinking, even with the charger attached. You may also see that the speaker doesn’t play as long before going dead. Or it might not play at all, except when you’re charging it.

The Fix

The best solution here, is simply to get a new speaker. Why? Because the circuits in this model are quite small. So unless you can replace the system board(s) yourself, just buy another speaker to save some aggravation.