Sony XB31 Orange Light Stays On

The Sony SRS XB31 speaker -CHARGE- lamp glowing orange.

Many Sony speakers, including the SRS XB31, feature a charging status light that lights up orange while they’re charging. But sometimes, this light stays on longer than expected. 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 issue.

Sony XB31 Orange Light Stays On: Reasons Why It Might

It’s normal that this lamp glows orange while the charger cable is supplying power to the XB31 for up to a few hours, until the battery completes charging. Then, under typical circumstances, this light should go dark, whether the speaker is running or not.

The Sony XB31 -CHARGE- lamp glowing orange.

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

Sony XB31 -CHARGE- lamp dark.

1. Your AC or Car Receptacle May Be Dead

The Problem

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

The Fix

Check that your outlet has power by testing it. E.g. Plug a lamp or other device into it, to see if it works. Then reset circuit breakers if not. Also, 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 XB31 orange light stays on, perhaps, because the charger adapter you have provides SOME, but not ENOUGH, recharging energy. Or, its output power output has grown weak across time. The speaker requires a DC charger that delivers at least 1.5 amps of charging current at 5 volts (7.5 watts) to fully recharge in the shortest time of 5 hours.

One way to fix extremely long or forever charge times, is to replace the adapter. Note that most AC adapters can deliver this amount of power. So you needn’t be overly critical about which adapter to buy… at least not in terms of its power delivery specs. Just be sure to get a brand with a good reputation for continued reliability, and one that meets or exceedes the minimum power requirements mentioned above.

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

If you’re using a third party charger, the cable might be very long, and this can reduce the charging current even if the power supply itself is working well.

To address this, use an adapter with as short a wire as is practical. Or, switch to a thicker, higher current handling lead. We suggest keeping cord lengths to under six feet.

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 accept a full charge over time, and the characteristics of the charging current they draw changes also. Normally, as a battery recharges, it draws less and less charge current. The Sony XB31 seems to keep track of 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 CHARGE light. But stale 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 31. Note that replacing the battery means disassembly of the speaker. Furthermore, taking the speaker apart will likely break the waterproof seal, so that the unit no longer resists damage if you get it wet. Plus, breaking this seal may also change the unit’s sound quality. 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 XB31 Orange Light Stays On

Even if you have a sufficiently hefty enough power cable. and you also have a working battery, the charging current that actually reaches the speaker may be too high or too low. The can happen when the battery management electronics inside the 31 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 receive no charging current at all. So it never recharges no matter how long you leave the speaker connected. Again, in this case, the orange light might never turn off. 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 lower cost of the XB31, is just get a new speaker. Why? Because the circuits in this model are very small. So unless you can easily replace the system board(s) yourself, just buy another speaker to save yourself the headache of having to work with very small and delicate components.