The Sony SRS XB33 battery indicator LED lamp on the top button panel, just below the Power pushbutton. This tells battery status. E.g. Whether it’s draining or charging, or whether it’s very low. But it does not show charging progress, or exactly how full the battery is. But it does blink orange in short but widely spaced pulses, when the battery hits close-to-dead status. So in this post, we discuss how to read this battery indicator LED on the XB 33 speaker.
Note that for a more exact reading of battery percentage, see below.
Sony SRS XB33 Battery Indicator: How to Read This Light
1. The Lamp is Dark
The battery indicator lamp (Sony labels this as the CHARGE lamp) is dark in the following scenarios:
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- When you shut down the XB33, and you have no charger connected.
- When the charger IS present but the battery is full.
- And finally, this light is OFF when the speaker itself is running. But the battery is not low. Indeed the battery indicator is dark as long as the speaker does not yet need charging.
2. The Sony SRS XB33 Battery Indicator Flashes Orange
With the charger unplugged, the XB33 running, and the battery very low, this LED begins blinking orange. This means that the speaker will shorty cut off due to a dying battery. So you should put it on the charge soon to avoid play interruption.
3. This LED Also Works as a Charging Status Lamp
This orange LED also lights steadily (no blinking) as the 33 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.
Also note that this light should never flash on and off during recharging the speaker. If you see this, then either your adapter is not working, or your USB cord is faulty. Or the speaker itself may be defective.
4. When the Light Goes Dark While Charging, Then Recharging is Complete
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 as well, if you disconnect the charger before the charge cycle completes.
5. The Sony SRS XB33 Battery Indicator Is Not a Charge Remaining Meter
When unplugged from the charger, this light becomes the battery charge left indicator. Well something like that. So if it is dark when the speaker is ON, then the battery has some play time remaining. But you cannot tell exactly how much. If it flashes though, then you can deduce that the speaker is about to run dead.
Reading Battery Percentage
However, on the XB33, you can also get a more accurate reading on the percentage. So you don’t have to rely on just battery indicator lamp for battery status.
For that, just press and release the LIGHT-BATT button in the rear button and port compartment. Find it just above and to the right of the USB-C input port. This makes the speaker announce the power remaining as a percentage value. And it speaks this in a female voice.