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Fixing annoying blue standby lights

fullcircuit.com

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Re: Fixing annoying blue standby lights

#101

Post by globular-toast »

atticora wrote: post #30

I recently bought an adjustable bed base which has USB ports on both sides. Each port has a bright blue light that illuminates the whole bedroom at night. I don't use them so covered both with black electrical tape. Problem solved. I've had the same problem with several desk lamps that lit up the world with that blue light even when turned off. I returned a couple of those immediately. But I looked through the review…

Something similar: I recently bought a white noise machine for sleeping (a short term fix for noise at night). It has a bright blue LED that also lights up the whole room at night. You're literally for sleeping and you're going to illuminate the whole room with blue light?!

One of the Amazon reviews did mention this. But I always see stupid bright LEDs that people haven't covered with tape so there are probably people sleeping with these on at night.

Re: Fixing annoying blue standby lights

#102

Post by ewams »

Bought a Hisense tv for two reasons: status light turns OFF when the TV is on, and there is a physical disable switch for the microphone. Verified both in reviews and in person before buying.

Electrical tape for everything else.

Re: Fixing annoying blue standby lights

#104

Post by wayvey »

masklinn wrote: post #15
mrweasel wrote: post #12

Why is it that manufacturers go for blue or bright white LED indicators? I assume that they are cheap enough that it doesn't matter, but green would probably still be slightly cheaper. We have a USB charger that cannot be used in a bedroom, not that you should, but it can light up an entire room. Why not just have a tiny green LED? Apple is really good about not using bright LEDs in their product, or really any LED i…

> We have a USB charger that cannot be used in a bedroom, not that you should, but it can light up an entire room. Had the same issue, thankfully a piece of black duct tape was heavy enough to fix the issue. Really annoying to have a device which is essentially unusable out of the box. > Apple is really good about not using bright LEDs in their product, or really any LED indicators (there might still be one in the ma…

I think the latest MBP M1/2 also have it still.

Re: Fixing annoying blue standby lights

#105

Post by globular-toast »

AdrianB1 wrote: post #35

2 problems here: color and intensity. 1. Color. Blue is more rare in nature than other colors and it has a known association with daylight that is disturbing for sleep. Why not something more neutral like orange (not red, not green)? 2. Intensity. I think the manufacturers don't even think about this. For indoor use, full brightness makes no sese, but bad UX is the default choice for most, what TV manufacturer pays a…

I think the blue is still considered "cool" perhaps precisely because it's rare and it was the last LED colour to be available cheaply. It seems to be a rather persistent trend, though. In the UK a blue light on an electric kettle has been standard for the past 15 years at this point. Red/orange and green seem deeply uncool as they are associated with neons and old LEDs that have been available basically forever at this point.

Re: Fixing annoying blue standby lights

#106

Post by MrBuddyCasino »

qwertox wrote: post #100
atticora wrote: post #30

I recently bought an adjustable bed base which has USB ports on both sides. Each port has a bright blue light that illuminates the whole bedroom at night. I don't use them so covered both with black electrical tape. Problem solved. I've had the same problem with several desk lamps that lit up the world with that blue light even when turned off. I returned a couple of those immediately. But I looked through the review…

I hate electrical tape. It becomes sticky after some time, when it starts to smear because it got moved or stopped sticking to the surface. I bought a set of nail polish and use the black one to paint over the LEDs, it even allows you to control how much you want to cover it, in case you still want to have a bit of light to see if it's on or off. Other colors can be used to mark pins on breakout boards or cables. It'…

> I hate electrical tape.

Same. I’ve used aluminum tape to block LEDs, works great.

Re: Fixing annoying blue standby lights

#107

Post by porkbeer »

ewams wrote: post #102

Bought a Hisense tv for two reasons: status light turns OFF when the TV is on, and there is a physical disable switch for the microphone. Verified both in reviews and in person before buying. Electrical tape for everything else.

I would rather my television not include a microphone at all. But should they want to listen, they can always just use the speakers as a mic.

Re: Fixing annoying blue standby lights

#108

Post by globular-toast »

barnabee wrote: post #49

Hotel rooms are the worst for unwanted LEDs! I now carry blackout tape when I travel.

Yes. I've had to place objects in front of LEDs that can't be disabled before. But there are smoke/heat detectors that apparently need to blink all night and I wouldn't want to go taping those up. I now wear an eye mask.

My favourite discovery, though, was in Spain. I started to notice all the hotels were wired up with a separate consumer unit per room. Me being me, I looked inside one and noticed someone had simply flipped the switch on the emergency exit sign to disable the green glow all night. Genius!

Unfortunately not all hotels have individual consumer units nor do they put the exit sign on its own circuit.

Re: Fixing annoying blue standby lights

#110

Post by chedabob »

kjkjadksj wrote: post #74
Podgajski wrote: post #50

And I’m wondering how much power is wasted by the literally billions of these status indicating LEDs…

I wonder if all the gains from phasing out incandescents have already been eaten alive from the probably 10000 leds that appear in the wake of every dying bulb? There’s an LED billboard (the reef) in downtown LA you can plainly see from Mt. Wilson 40 miles away. Throwing a stadiums worth of light all night like that to show junk no one wants to see. And they keep building more of these wastes of resources.

Yeah the energy consumption of even the small advertising displays is insane.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/jan/09/electronic-a...

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