The Sony SRS XB41 battery indicator LED lamp in the back button panel, just above the USB power input port. This shows battery status in a coarse way. Specifically, whether the battery is draining or charging, or whether it’s low or not. But it does not show exact charging progress, or precisely how full the battery is. Yet it does blink orange in short but widely spaced bursts when the battery hits close-to-dead status. Also, these pulses speed up when the battery gets critically low. So in this piece, we describe how to read this battery indicator light.
Note that for a closer-to-exact reading of battery percentage, see below.
Sony SRS XB41 Battery Indicator: How to Read the 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 XB41, 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. This light is dark as long as the speaker does not yet need charging.
2. The Sony SRS XB41 Battery Indicator Flashes Orange
With the charger unplugged, the XB41 running, and the battery very low, this LED starts blinking orange. The means that the speaker will shorty cut off when the speaker dies. So, you should put it on the charge soon to avoid play interruption.
3. This LED Also Works as a Charging Indicator
This orange LED also lights steadily (no blinking) as the 41 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 power adapter is faulty, or your USB cord has damage. 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 flashing. But after some hours, the charging finishes and the lamp goes out to show this. It goes dark here 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 XB41 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 speaker some play time remains. However you cannot know exactly how much just by reading this light. If it flashes though, then you can figure that the XB41 is just about to run dead.
Reading Battery Percentage
However, on the XB41, you can get a more accurate reading on the percentage of battery charge. So you don’t need the battery indicator lamp for this.
For that, just press and release the LIGHT-BATT button in the rear button and port compartment. Find that just above the DC input port. This makes the speaker announce the power remaining as a percentage value. Furthermore, it speaks this in a lady’s voice.