The orange glowing -CHARGE- light on the Sony SRS XB31 speaker.

Sony SRS XB31 Battery Indicator

The Sony SRS XB31 Bluetooth speaker has a simple battery level indicator LED in the rear button panel, just beneath the power input port, as shown in the pictures that follow.  This tells battery status. E.g. Whether it’s draining or charging, or whether it’s critically low or not when discharging.  But it neither shows charging progress, nor precisely how full the battery is at a given time. But it does pulsate orange when the battery hits close-to-dead status. So in this post, we explain how to read this battery indicator LED on the XB 31 speaker.

Note that to obtain a more precise reading of battery percentage, see below.

Sony SRS XB31 Battery  Indicator: How to Read the Light

1. The Lamp is Dark 

The battery indicator lamp is OFF in the following scenarios:

  1. When you power down the XB31 with no charger connected.
  2. When the charger IS connected but the battery finished charging to full, as shown next.
  3. And finally, this light is OFF when the speaker itself is powered ON, but the battery has more charge left than a critically low amount. This light is dark as long as the battery does not yet need charging.
Picture of the dark -CHARGE- light on the Sony SRS XB31 speaker.
Sony SRS XB31 speaker -CHARGE- lamp dark.

2. The Sony SRS XB31 Battery Indicator Flashes Orange

With the charger unplugged, the XB31 powered ON, and the battery having very low power left, this LED starts flashing orange.  The meaning here is that the speaker will shorty switch off due to a dying battery, and so, you should put it on the charge soon to avoid play interruption.





3. This Lamp Also Works as a Charging Indicator

This orange LED also lights steadily (no blinking) as the 31 recharges, as we see in the next picture.  On this unit, the light glowing is the only visual means of knowing that charging is happening.  But it does not show how far along the recharging is, until the light actually turns OFF.

Picture of the orange glowing battery light.
the orange glowing battery lamp.

Also note that this light should never flash on and off during recharging the speaker.  If you see this, then either your power adapter is not delivering enough (or any) juice, your USB cord is defective, or you have some failing inside the speaker itself.

4. When the Light Goes Dark While Charging, Then Recharging is Done

As speaker charging advances, the light stays steadily lit.  no blinking. But after a few hours, battery charging finishes, and the lamp goes OFF to show this.  It goes dark in this case whether the speaker itself is ON or OFF. Note that the light turns OFF too, if you disconnect the charger before the charge cycle completes.

5. The Sony SRS XB31 Battery Indicator Is Not a Charge Remaining Meter

When unplugged from the charger, this light becomes the battery charge left indicator.  Well kind of.  I.e. If it is dark when the speaker is ON, then the battery has some play time left, although you cannot tell how much. If it flashes though, then you can deduce that the battery is just about to go dead.

Reading Battery Percentage

However, on this speaker, you can also get a more precise reading on the percentage of battery charge left, besides just by reading the battery indicator lamp.

The -BATT- button on the Sony SRS XB31 speaker.
Sony SRS XB31 speaker -BATT- button.

For that, just press and release the BATT button in the rear button panel, just above and to the right of the USB-A output port. This makes the speaker announce the power left in the battery as a percentage value, and it announces this in a female voice.

That’s all.

Related Posts to Sony SRS XB31 Battery Indicator

    1. Sony SRS XB23 Battery Indicator Explained
    2. The Battery Indicator on the Sony SRS XB22 Speaker Discussed
    3. Sony SRS XB21 Battery Indicator Discussed
    4. Sony SRS XB20 Battery Indicator and How to Read It
    5. The SRS XB01 Sony Speaker Battery Indicator Light Explained

Other Posts About the Sony SRS XB31

    1. Sony SRS XB31 Hard Reset Instructions
    2. How to Connect Sony SRS XB31 to iPhone
    3. Sony SRS XB31 Button Functions Explained
    4. How to Check XB31 Battery Life
    5. How to Make the XB31 Discoverable

References for Sony SRS XB31 Battery Indicator

    1. Sony SRS XB 31 Official Product Page at Sony.com

Revision History

    • 2021-10-14: First published.