Sony XB 12 Orange Light Stays On

A charging Sony SRS XB12 BT speaker, with its CHG light glowing orange.

Many Sony speakers, including the XB 12, have a charging status light that glows orange while recharging them. Sometimes though, this light stays on. E.g. It does not switch off after way more than the specified charge time once you connect the charger. So in this post, we offer reasons that this might occur, and recommend possible fixes for this typical problem.

Sony XB 12 Orange Light Stays On: Reasons and Solutions

It’s normal that this lamp glows orange while the charger cable is supplying power to the XB 12 for up to a few hours, until the battery completes charging. Then, under expected circumstances, this light should go dark, whether the speaker is running or not.

A charging Sony XB 12 BT speaker, with its CHG light glowing orange.

But if the orange lamp does not go OFF, a couple things might cause this, and we detail those below.

Sony XB 12 with its CHG lamp OFF.

1. Your AC or Car Outlet May Not Have Electricity

The Problem

The auto or home adapter you’re using may not deliver any power because it is not receiving any in the first place. This can happen due to a broken AC or car circuit, tripped circuit breaker, blown fuse, faulty wiring, power failure, and the like.

The Fix

Check that your outlet has power by testing it by plugging in a lamp or other device to it, to see if it works. Reset circuit breakers if tripped, and if the outlet has a light switch that controls it, then be sure that that switch is in the ON position.

2. Your Power Adapter is Too Weak or is Defective

The Sony XB 12 orange light stays on, perhaps, because the charger adapter you have provides SOME, but not ENOUGH, recharging energy. Or, its output power output has weakened over time. The speaker requires at least 0.5 amps of charging current at 5 volts (2.5 watts) from the supply to fully recharge in the specified time of 4.5 hours.

The fix in this case is to replace the adapter. Note that many USB adapters can deliver this amount of current. So you needn’t be overly picky about which adapter to buy… at least not in terms of its power delivery specs. Nonetheless though, get a brand with a good reputation for continued reliability.

3. The USB Charging Wire is Too Long, Too Thin, or is Defective

The USB cable can reduce the charging current even if your power supply is working properly. This might happen with very long or very thin cables.

To address this, use as short a cord as is practical. Or, switch to a thicker, higher current handling lead. We suggest keeping cord lengths to under six feet, and to choose a wire certified to carry at least 1 amp.

4. The Speaker’s Battery Might Be Faulty

As lithium ion batteries get older, they can gradually go bad. That is, they lose their ability to fully recharge over time, and the characteristics of the charging current they draw changes as well. Normally, as a battery recharges, it draws less and less charge current. The Sony SR2 XB 12 seems to monitor this. Then when the charge current falls to a value that it interprets as the battery being fully charged, then it shuts off the orange CHG light. But defective battery cells may not behave this way, and instead, continue drawing higher than usual current. Therefore, the amperage never falls to the fully charged value, and so the orange lamp never turns off.

To fix this, replace the battery, although you can’t easily get to it in the XB 12. Note that replacing the battery means disassembly of the speaker. Furthermore, taking the speaker apart will likely break the waterproof seal, so that the speaker no longer resists damage if you get it wet. Plus, breaking this seal may also change the sound of the speaker. Therefore, battery replacement should be done only by someone who can get the right battery, and can restore the seal as they reassemble the speaker.

5. The Speaker Might be Defective when the Sony XB 12 Orange Light Stays On

Even if you have a sufficiently big enough power supply and cable. along with a working battery, the charging current that actually reaches the battery may be too high or too low. The can happen when the battery management electronics inside the 12 fail. These circuits monitor the battery and shut off the charging current when they deem the battery as fully charged. But when they malfunction, the battery might get no charging current at all. So it never recharges. Again, in this case, the orange light might never turn off while charging the speaker. And you would also notice that the speaker doesn’t play as long before going dead. Or it might not play at all except when you have the adapter connected.

The best solution here, given the relatively low cost of the XB 12, is just 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 yourself the aggravation of having to work with very small and delicate components.