Sony XB12 Battery Indicator

The Sony XB12 Extra Bass BT speaker has a battery level indicator LED near the bottom of the button panel, as shown in the following pictures. This displays battery status. E.g. Whether it’s draining or charging, or whether it’s critically low or not when discharging. But it neither reads out charging progress, or how full the battery is at a given time while charging or draining. But it does flash when the battery reaches near-dead state. In this post, we describe how to read the battery level and charging indicator lamp on the XB12.

Sony XB12 Battery Indicator: How to Read the Light

1. The Light is OFF

The battery level / charging (CHG) lamp is dark in the following situations:

1. When you power down the XB12 with no charger connected.
2. When the charger IS connected but the battery finished charging to full, as shown next.
3. And finally, the CHG light is OFF when the speaker itself it powered ON, but the battery is fuller than critically low. The lamp is dark as long as the battery does not yet need charging in this case.

Picture of the Sony XB12 with its CHG lamp OFF. — Sony XB12 with its CHG lamp OFF.

2. The Sony XB12 Battery Level Indicator Light Blinks Orange

With the charger not connected, the XB12 powered ON, and the battery having very little energy left, the CHG light starts blinking orange. This means that the speaker will soon shut off due to a dead battery and that you should put it on the charge soon.

3. This Lamp Doubles as a Charging Light, that Shows Battery Recharging is in Progress

The CHG lamp lights up orange (no flashing) as the XB12 charges, as shown in the next picture. On this speaker, the glowing CHG light is the only visual means of knowing that recharging is going on. But it does not display how far along the charging is.

Picture of a charging Sony XB12 BT speaker, with its CHG light glowing orange. — A charging Sony XB12 BT speaker, with its CHG light glowing orange.

Also note that this light should never flash while charging is going on. If it does, then either your charger is not functioning well, your USB cable is bad, or some problems exists inside the speaker.

4. When the Light Goes Out While Charging, Then Charging is Done

As speaker charging continues, the light keeps glowing, But eventually, battery recharging finishes, and the lamp goes out to show this. It turns off when the speaker is not ON, and stays OFF when the XB12 is ON.

5. The Sony XB12 Battery Indicator Is Not Much of a Charge Remaining Meter

When unplugged from the charger, what was the charging indicator becomes the battery charge left indicator. Well sort of. If it is dark when the speaker is ON, then the battery has some amount of play time left, although you cannot tell how much.

References

1. Official Sony XB12 Support Page
2. Where to Buy the Sony XB12

Revision History

- 2023-03-15: First published.