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Fixing annoying blue standby lights

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Re: Fixing annoying blue standby lights

#91

Post by dgacmu »

dessant wrote: post #3

LightDims solved the problem of bright and blinking status LEDs in our home, they sell sticker sheets in various colors that dim or completely block the light: https://www.lightdims.com/store.htm

Seconded. I learned about these here a few years ago and have gone through two packages of them. The ability to dim for things you still want to kind of see is very nice, and as another person noted, the pre-cut shapes are more attractive. For example, I use them on the air filter level indicator where I still want to be able to see what it set to but don't want it lighting up the room much at night.

Re: Fixing annoying blue standby lights

#92

Post by carlosjobim »

TacticalCoder wrote: post #44
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…

> Why is it that manufacturers go for blue or bright white LED indicators? I don't know but I'm sure allergic to red. I don't understand why so many devices are using red for standby or even to indicate work (I'm looking at you Raspberry Pi). To me red is "blood" and blood is "bad". Red means error. Thankfully some devices, like ethernet switches, are using proper colors: green for trafic, orange for "degraded" link…

Red doesn't bother the eyes in a dark environment.

Re: Fixing annoying blue standby lights

#93

Post by weinzierl »

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…

This is how I remember it: For some time LEDs were red, yellow or green. Power LEDs were almost universally red. You can see this on devices from the homecomputer era (Amigas, Ataris, etc.). I'm not sure if red was chosen for technical reasons (red LEDs have the lowest voltage drop), maybe economical reasons or it was already a convention before LEDs became available.

Anyway, when blue LEDs became feasible they were the epitome of cool and every device had to have them. So in my opinion it was a fashion trend that stuck.

Re: Fixing annoying blue standby lights

#94

Post by [deleted] »

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…

[deleted]

Re: Fixing annoying blue standby lights

#95

Post by nyanpasu64 »

I use 1-3 layers of Kapton tape to dim blue LEDs. Interestingly it turns the painfully monochromatic blue light into a more pleasant teal color with two or more layers, probably by blocking out the blue peak more than the longer wavelengths.

Re: Fixing annoying blue standby lights

#96

Post by ElongatedMusket »

davidmurdoch wrote: post #41
crazygringo wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think blue just feels "modern". Red LEDs feel like they belong to the 80's, and green to around 2000. While white feels "clean". I agree 1,000% that they're ridiculous though. But the colors are definitely about achieving an up-to-date "look".

Blue just feels tacky and cheap to me. Maybe "modern" and "cheap" are just the same thing.

I think we are rounding another curve where the blue will start to fade away and white will be the new color

Re: Fixing annoying blue standby lights

#97

Post by bdavbdav »

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 often wonder that when I use certain products. “How can this obviously terrible design choice not be reflected in reviews?”

Re: Fixing annoying blue standby lights

#98

Post by disillusioned »

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…

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 it was watching her or something.

They're absolutely great, and you can even keep a couple in your suitcase and fix horrible lights in hotel rooms or AirBNBs if you're so inclined.

Re: Fixing annoying blue standby lights

#99

Post by disillusioned »

disillusioned wrote: post #98
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…

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

Re: Fixing annoying blue standby lights

#100

Post by qwertox »

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's really useful to have around.

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