Covers how to check battery life and level on the Sony Extra Bass XB 33 Bluetooth party speaker, and also, how to know if the battery life is degrading over time.
Sony XB 33 Battery Life, Current Charge
1. First, Turn ON the XB 33
You won’t be able to read battery charge status unless the speaker is ON.
To turn on the unit, press and release the Power button, pointed at by the yellow arrow in the last picture. It’s the round button closest to the left edge of the buttons panel.
The lamp just above this button should then light up green, as we see next, and the speaker may make a two-beep ding-dong sound and say, “Bluetooth connected,” if it pairs to a nearby device. If it does not power up, then the battery could be completely dead.
But as long as there’s some energy in the battery, the speaker should boot. When it does, move on to the next step.
2. Have the XB 33 Speak Battery Percentage Full
The BATT button we find on the back, inside the ports compartment, as we see next. When you punch this, the 33 announces the percentage of battery power left as compared to when the battery has full charge.
The announcements made when you press this button are as follows
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- 70% or greater: The speaker says, “Battery fully charged.”
- 50% or greater: The speaker says, “Battery about 70%.”
- 20% or greater: The speaker says, “Battery about 50%.”
- 10% or greater: The speaker says, “Battery about 20%.”
- Less than 10%: The speaker says, “Please charge.”
3. Look at the CHARGE Lamp
Or, you can at at least tell at a glance 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 when the speaker is running. The next picture shows the lamp location. We find it just below and to the left of the Power button.
Battery Life on the Sony XB 33, Overall Battery Condition
When the speaker is new, and using a USB charger that can supply at least 1.5 amps, the battery charge time is about five (5.0) hours to reach a full charge.
And, the fully charged battery should last for about twenty-four (24) hours of music time before going dead, when you play it at low to moderate volume levels with the party lights OFF, the sound mode is set to STANDARD, and the speaker is neither too hot nor too cold.
A sign of an ailing battery, is that it goes dead too quickly, or takes too little or too much time to fully recharge. So if you fully charge your speaker, but it repeatedly only plays for under twenty hours before dying, its battery may be bad, and unable to hold a full charge anymore.
If the XB 33 battery takes longer than seven (7.0) hours to completely fill up, this could also mean a dying battery. It might mean as well, that the charger you’re using is not strong enough to recharge the speaker in the specified recharge time.
Also, slow charging can happen because your charge cord is too thin. So for best results, we suggest a high capacity USB cable (one that easily carries at least 2 amps).
Other Sony XB 33 Posts
References
Revision History
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- 2023-04-09: First published.