Sony XB20 Battery Indicator

The Sony XB20 Bluetooth compact speaker has a simple battery level indicator LED on the top of the speaker, just above the Power button, 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, nor exactly how full the battery is at a given time while charging or draining. But it does flash orange when the battery hits near-dead. In this post, we explain how to read the battery indicator lamp on the XB20.

To get a more precise readout of battery percentage, see below.

Sony XB20 Battery Indicator: How to Read the Light

1. The Lamp is OFF

The battery lamp is dark in the following situations:

1. When you power down the XB20 with no charger connected.
2. When the charger IS connected but the battery finished charging to full, as shown next.
3. And finally, this light is OFF when the speaker itself is 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 dark CHARGE light on the Sony XB20. — The Sony XB20, showing a dark CHARGE lamp.

2. The Sony XB20 Battery Indicator Blinks Orange

With the charger unplugged, the XB20 powered ON, and the battery having very little energy left, this light starts flashing orange. The meaning here is that the speaker will soon power off due to a dead battery and that you should put it on the charge soon.

3. This Lamp Doubles as a Charging Light

This lamp also lights up solid orange (no flashing) as the XB20 charges, as we see in the next picture. On this speaker, the light glowing is the only visual way of telling that recharging is occurring. But it does not show how far along the recharging is, until it actually goes out.

Picture of the glowing CHARGE light on the Sony SRS XB21 speaker. — The Sony XB20 CHARGE lamp glowing.

Also note that this light should never blink on and off during recharging. If it does, then either your charger is not operating well, your USB cable is bad, or some problems exists inside the speaker.

4. When the Light Goes Dark 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 is OFF in this case whether the speaker itself it ON or OFF.

5. The Sony XB20 Battery Indicator Is Not a Charge Remaining Readout

When unplugged from the charger, this light becomes the battery charge left indicator. Well sort of. I.e. 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.

Reading Battery Percentage

However, on this speaker, you can get a reading on the percentage of battery charge left.

Picture of the PHONE-BATT button on the Sony XB20. — The Sony XB20 PHONE-BATT button.

Just press and hold the Phone-BATT button until the speaker says the remaining power percent value in a female voice.

References

1. Official Sony XB20 Support Page
2. Where to Buy the Sony XB20

Revision History

- 2023-03-17: First published.