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Fixing annoying blue standby lights

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Re: Fixing annoying blue standby lights

#221

Post by Fluorescence »

dqv wrote: post #138
xapata wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> some kind of signal Low sales is a signal. Also, they can hire a UX researcher.

I realize I wasn't clear about that - these notebooks are well-liked and have tons of positive reviews. There is no low sales signal, because people who don't care about the labels still buy the notebooks. It's that they're missing more sales from the people who don't buy them because of the ugly labels on the front. That would be the same with TVs, the only way a TV maker would really know is if they sold a "bedroom…

I imagine the signal they measure is AB test / throw crap at a wall type scale i.e. they trial lots of lines of product and scale-up and restock those doing great margin/numbers and drop those that don't. They don't care too much about subjective product picker's design opinions or user reviews - if it sells, it's stocked.

I also expect the demographic they are selling to are impulse buyer notebook neophytes. The lettered purpose on the front triggers those buyers. They buy the product and put it to one side, never to use it. Repeat buyers that care about the notebook design probably turn to specialist brands they multi-buy online.

Re: Fixing annoying blue standby lights

#222

Post by mcv »

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…

Please do add your own review. It's bizarre that manufacturers think unnecessary lights, and especially bright blue ones, are a good idea. Manufacturers have fallen a bit too much in love with blue leds.

I've got to admit, the desktop cases I got from Fractal Design also use bright blue leds. I didn't think about it until I had guests sleep in that room.

Re: Fixing annoying blue standby lights

#223

Post by qwertox »

dilawar wrote: post #167
qwertox wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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'…

Blue Tac?

Seems to be similar to UHU patafix which I also do use to cover LEDs on devices like ESP32 boards.

https://www.uhu.com/en/product-page/patafix-white/35211

Re: Fixing annoying blue standby lights

#224

Post by quechimba »

I've been using black diamond headlamps. In recent years they replaced their battery indicator LEDs to some really strong blue ones. I use the red light a lot, and when I turn it off, the battery indicator LEDs will light up the entire room. I have covered mine with electrical tape, but the blue light shines through the plastic so it doesn't really work and my headlamp looks ugly.

I don't know why they would do this. The first headlamp I got from them had red, yellow and green battery indicator LEDs, now they have 3 blue ones. It's really annoying. I should probably write them an email and ask them to fix it.

Re: Fixing annoying blue standby lights

#225

Post by archi42 »

pineaux wrote: post #71
wkat4242 wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah my external HDD has a blue LED that's so ridiculously bright it lights up the whole room and puts a really bright blue spot on the other side of the room. I tried covering it with a post it (several layers) and after a month I noticed that the yellow colour had whitened completely where the LED is. Probably contains an unhealthy level of UV as well. Yuck. I tried opening it up to replace the LED but it's clipped…

I have good experience with drilling a small hole in the side of the housing and through the LED. You need to aim well. Its not a good technique for all annoying LEDs.

Sometimes the indicator LED acts as a voltage reference for some circuit. In that case, destroying it is a bad idea.

Also, I think most hotels would object ;-)

Re: Fixing annoying blue standby lights

#226

Post by worthless-trash »

TylerE wrote: post #202
worthless-trash wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've had some success with kapton tape, it drops the 'bright blue' down to a dull orange. Not perfect but its adhesive and knocks the brightness of the led down.

The stuff I use (3M) is opaque to anything you’d reasonably think of doing this to.

Got a name? i'm always looking for a cheaper/better options.

Re: Fixing annoying blue standby lights

#227

Post by e40 »

fantasybroker wrote: post #73
Groxx wrote: post #56

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.

NYT Wirecutter top recommend one? Your description fits it to a T.

Re: Fixing annoying blue standby lights

#228

Post by coryrc »

hnaccount_rng wrote: post #205
coryrc wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't want to make things indistinguishable for the color-blind.

What would be an appropriate set of color choices then?

Like traffic lights, physically separate can be different colors. Red-green colorblindness is most common though, so your easiest bet is to only pick colors where red or green is always zero, then vary the amount the other and blue. If choosing LEDs, most are single-frequency, so ignoring anything orange or lower frequencies removes most of the redundant choices; leaves green, yellow, blue, violet. They're plenty of good websites out there for details.

Re: Fixing annoying blue standby lights

#229

Post by Cerium »

notatoad wrote: post #139
yugioh3 wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

black gaffer’s tape is perfect for covering LEDs long term without any residue.

maybe i just bought cheap tape, but i've definitely found gaffers tape to leave a residue if left in place for a couple years. especially on electronics that are generating some heat.

The good stuff is like 20 or 30 bucks for a roll. I just pulled off a piece that was stuck to glass for 4 years and it came off residue free.

Re: Fixing annoying blue standby lights

#230

Post by AdrianB1 »

jjav wrote: post #46
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…

> Blue is more rare in nature than other colors Since the sky and the ocean are blue, that suggests a majority of visual field in nature contains blue in most cases.

Daylight sky, with emphasis on daylight, and ocean blue only for people living next to a large body of water. Objects in nature are rarely blue. At night, nothing is blue, most of our history the only color at night is the orange-reddish of the camp fire (and yes, 100 years of light bulbs don't replace 50,000 years of conditioning of camp fires).
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