Sony XB 20 Battery Life

The Sony SRS XB20 speaker buttons panel.

Covers checking Sony XB 20 battery life, and also, how to know if the battery is degrading over time.

Sony XB 20 Battery Life: Testing the Current Charge

1. First, Turn ON the XB 20

You won’t be able to read battery charge status unless the 20 is ON.

The Sony XB 20 -Power- button.

To turn on the 20, press and release the Power / Pairing button, pointed at by the green arrow in the last picture.

The lamp in the Power / Pairing button should then light up white, as shown next, and the speaker may make a two-beep ding-dong sound if it pairs to a nearby device. If it does not turn on, then the battery could be completely dead.

The Sony XB 20 Power lamp glowing.

But as long as there’s some energy in the battery, the XB 20 should power up. When it does, move on to the next step.

2. Look at the CHARGE Lamp on the XB 20

Note that the 20 has no battery gauge to let you know exactly how much charge is left. But you can at least, tell if the battery is on the verge of going dead by way of the CHARGE lamp. When the battery is not too low, this lamp is dark. But when the speaker is running but has very little charge left, this lamp flashes orange. The next picture shows the lamp location. It’s just above the Power / Pairing button.

The -CHARGE- lamp glowing.

Sony XB 20 Battery Life: Testing Overall Battery Condition

When the XB 20 is new, and using a USB charger that can supply at least 1.5 amps, the battery charge time is about four (4.0) hours to reach a full charge.

And, the fully charged battery should last for around twelve (12) hours of play time before going dead, when played at low to moderate volume levels with the party lights OFF, and the speaker is neither too hot nor too cold.

A sign of a bad battery, is that it goes dead too fast, or takes too little or too much time to fully charge. So if you fully charge your speaker, but it repeatedly only plays for under ten hours before dying, its battery may be bad, and unable to hold a full charge anymore.

If the XB 20 battery takes longer than six hours to completely recharge, this could also mean a failing battery. It might mean as well, that the charger you’re using is not strong enough to recharge the 20 in the specified recharge time.

Also, slow charging can happen because your charge cord is too thin. So for best results, we recommend a full-current USB cable (one that easily carries at least 2 amps).