JBL Go Blinking Red Light, How to Fix

The JBL Go speaker on the charge.

Many JBL speakers, including the Go 1 very small model, have a blinking red light on the front grill, near the top, when the battery is almost out of power. Sometimes though, this red LED lamp flashes for long periods as you play the speaker. E.g. It begins pulsating during play and does not stop, even when you connect a charger. Thus in this post, we offer reasons that this red light blinking occurs on the Go. Then we give possible fixes for this common problem.

JBL Go Red Light Blinking, Reasons and Fixes

It’s normal that the status light blinks red when the battery in this speaker is very low. But this lamp should begin glowing steady red when you connect the speaker to a working charger, and battery recharging begins.

The red light glowing on the JBL Go speaker.

Normally though, this lamp glows or flashes blue as follows.

The blue glowing status light on the front of the JBL Go speaker.

But if the speaker is OFF when charging starts, and you don’t turn it ON during charging, then once recharging finishes, this status light goes dark. See this in the next picture.

The front of the JBL Go speaker, showing the dark status lamp.

However if the blinking red does not change to steady red or purple when you plug the charger into the speaker, then several things might cause this. We list these below thus.

1.The AC Outlet May Not Be Online

The Problem

The AC or car adapter for the JBL Go may not deliver any power because it is not receiving any to begin with. This can happen due to a faulty circuit wiring, tripped circuit breaker, blown fuse, faulty wiring, power failure, and the like.

The Fix

Check that your outlet has electricity by testing it by plugging in a lamp or other device. Reset circuit breakers if tripped, replace burnt fuses, and if the outlet has a light switch that controls it, then be certain that that switch is in the ON position.

2. Your Power Supply is Not Working Well

The Problem

The JBL Go red light continues blinking perhaps because the AC or car adapter you’re using provides SOME but not ENOUGH charging current, even though its getting the correct power input. Its output energy can fall over time. So it might not deliver the correct amount presently. Please note that this speaker requires 500 milliamps of charging current at 5 volts (2.5 watts) from the supply to fully recharge in the specified time.

The Fix

The solution is to replace the adapter, preferably one that delivers a little extra power, 5 volts at 1 amp (5 watts), for maximum charging speed and reliability.

3. The Speaker’s Battery is Defective

The Problem

As lithium ion batteries age, they lose their ability to fully recharge, and the characteristics of the charging current they draw changes as they get older. Normally, as a battery recharges, it draws less and less current as it charges. But in the case of failure, it may draw too much or too little amperage, thus confusing the charging circuits into behaving 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 Go speaker. Indeed, changing the battery means that you must tear down the speaker.

But note that doing this likely breaks the water resistant seal. Thus the speaker will no longer be safe to use, if you get it wet.

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.

JBL Go 2 Bluetooth speaker, connected via its AUX input to an iPod Touch portable media player.

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

The Problem

Even if you have the correct power supply, with a working battery, the charging current that actually reaches the battery may be too low or too high. This can happen when the power management circuits inside the speaker break. Note that when functioning correctly, 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, or know someone who will do it for you, just buy another speaker to save a boat load of aggravation.