171–180 of 257 posts
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Indeed, red was the first visible LED color to be practical in production. Blue came much later.
Blue LEDs were deemed a huge breakthrough at the time; they enabled full-colour LED displays (think large panels viewed from a distance) by adding the long-missing B in the RGB.
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…
AppleTV 4k has super bright white led on the front (outwards to user) while the device is on. So annoying!
Nail polish works just about everywhere too, lasts for years (unlike electrical tape, which is excellent temporarily), and is trivial to find. It can take a couple layers, but if you just want to dim it that can be a good thing. (edit: though I have no idea if it'll let infrared through like this post covers. I luckily haven't had any devices sharing IR windows like that)
That's a great tip! I bought an air purifier that has a very bright blue light illuminating the entire room at night. Now if only I can find a way to disable its annoying on/off chimes.
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That's a great tip! I bought an air purifier that has a very bright blue light illuminating the entire room at night. Now if only I can find a way to disable its annoying on/off chimes.
I've gotta find a way to stop the touch-sensitive controls on mine from responding to cats o_o. Because of course they're just on the flat top, where cats like to climb and stand.
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It's basically this, yes. Blue LEDs were such a game-changer that the inventor won a Nobel prize for it. When they became cheap enough to use in consumer electronics, manufacturers went absolutely nuts and put them in everything as a sort of whiz-bang look-what-we-can-do thing. But since everyone did that, they stopped feeling distinctive almost immediately. The only designers still using them for indicators are the…
Looking at flashlight runtimes on battery, it seems like white LEDs (blue with a phosphor) or blue, are much more efficient per lumen than any other color. Perhaps that could be a reason as well? I'd generally prefer green and red.
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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'…
Gotta buy better electrical tape. Scotch Super 33+ is amazing.
F.ex. Patched a hole in a Miata top with some duct tape = gone in 2 weeks in high summer heat. Used some "high strength" heat-tolerant duct tape = still there, 3 years of summer and winter later. The latter was ~$5 more expensive.
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'…
(The one I use - mainly for barcode etc. stickers with shitty adhesive that doesn't peel off nicely - is by 'Pro Power' which I think is CPC's house brand, so that's not helpful if you're outside the UK.)
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There's a brand on Amazon called LIGHT DIMS that sells differently sized stickers, in both ultra-dim and full-blackout forms, which do _exactly_ what they say on the tin, and it's amazing. I used the ultra-dim for the (white) temp display on my Dyson fan in my bedroom, and the blackout for the brighter-than-the-sun blue LED on my charger brick. Also used the dim one on a smoke detector because my 5-year-old thought i…
Not sure if you can post AMZN links here, but it's this product and its cousin the blackout version: https://amzn.to/3RGV3My