The Sony XB41 has a simple battery level indicator LED in the back button panel, just above the USB power input port, as shown in the pictures that follow. This communicates battery status in a rudimentary way. Specifically, whether the battery is draining or charging, or whether it’s critically low or not as it discharges. But it does not show charging progress, or exactly how full the battery is at a given time. Yet it does blink orange in short but widely spaced bursts when the battery hits close-to-dead status. In this piece, we describe how to read this battery indicator LED on the XB41.
Note that for a better reading of battery percentage, see below.
Sony XB41 Battery Indicator: How to Read the Light
1. The Lamp is Dark
The battery indicator lamp (Sony labels this as the CHARGE lamp) is dark in the following scenarios:
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- When you shut down the XB41, and you have no charger connected.
- When the charger IS connected but the battery finished charging to full, as shown next.
- And finally, this light is OFF when the speaker itself is powered ON, but the battery has more charge left than a critically low amount. This light is dark as long as the battery does not yet need charging.
2. The Sony XB41 Battery Indicator Flashes Orange
With the charger unplugged, the XB41 powered ON, and the battery having very low power left, this LED begins blinking orange. The means that the speaker will shorty cut off due to a dying battery, and so, you should put it on the charge soon to avoid play interruption.
3. This LED Also Works as a Charging Indicator
This orange LED also lights steadily (no blinking) as the 41 recharges, as we see in the next picture. On this unit, the light glowing is the only visual means of knowing that charging is happening. But it does not show how far along the recharging is, until the light actually turns OFF.
Also note that this light should never flash on and off during recharging the speaker. If you see this, then either your power adapter is not delivering enough (or any) electricity, your USB cord is damaged, or you have something broken in the speaker itself.
4. When the Light Goes Dark While Charging, Then Recharging is Probably Done
As speaker charging advances, the light stays steadily lit. No flashing. But after some hours, the charging finishes and the lamp goes out to show this. It goes dark here whether the speaker itself is ON or OFF. Note that the light turns OFF as well, if you disconnect the charger before the charge cycle completes.
5. The Sony XB41 Battery Indicator Is Not a Charge Remaining Meter
When unplugged from the charger, this light becomes the battery charge left indicator. Well something like that. I.e. If it is dark when the speaker is ON, then the speaker has some play time left, although you cannot know exactly how much just by reading this light. If it flashes though, then you can figure that the battery is just about to run dead.
Reading Battery Percentage
However, on the XB41, you can get a more accurate reading on the percentage of battery charge left, besides just by reading the battery indicator lamp.
For that, just press and release the LIGHT-BATT button in the rear button and port compartment, just above the DC input port. This makes the speaker announce the power remaining in its battery as a percentage value, and it speaks this in a lady’s voice.
That’s the long and short of it.
Related Posts to Sony XB41 Battery Indicator
Other Sony XB41 Posts
References
Revision History
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- 2023-03-27: First published.