8 ms·

The problem with indicator lights is, that they're useless, until you actually need that info. If i turn my head just a bit, i can see a 48 port ethernet switch

The problem with indicator lights is, that they're useless, until you actually need that info. If i turn my head just a bit, i can see a 48 port ethernet switch with 50+ blinking lights here in the office, and 99.9% of the time, they're all useless. But, if something doesn't work, one quick glance, can tell me if the switch is on (lights), if the data is sent through (random blinking), if the ethernet connection to my pc is up (one specific light), is it waiting for spanning tree to set up (light color), is there a loop (all lights on, or blinking synchronously), and also if the connection is slow during a calm time, I can see who's sending most traffic (frequency of blinking). I literally never look at them when all is ok, but when it's not, i get the status info in literally a second. Same with my home router with 8leds (especially the "internet" one), same with my PCs (on/off, hdd activity) etc. My prefered solution would be just to keep those things away from the bedroom. Currently, in my bedroom, there is only one visible led (TV), and even that one is very very dim red.

StavrosK 6y ago
A button or setting that turned the LEDs on/off would probably be prudent.
- LargoLasskhyfv 6y ago
  My HP ZR2440w screens have this. But I don't need it there, because it isnt glaringly bright. Some other stuff I have could profit from it, but lacks that setting. Dark tape does wonders :-)
kqr 6y ago
Would also be very easy to add a switch that turns the indicator lights on while pressed. At least any indicator lights I look at already require me to be at arm's length from the device to discern which light is which. Note that this is not one of those things that sound simple but would complicate the design a lot. It's literally just adding a switch to one of the line supplying power to the lights. It can be done completely modularly -- probably even hacked into place after the fact.
- gregoriol 6y ago
  Yes! My internet box has this and it's practical: one button turns on and off the status LEDs. They are off mostly, and on on boot or rare times I need to check the status.
vidarh 6y ago
Electrical tape for complete blackout, and little small black dot stickers for LEDs you want to dim instead of completely cover. For the black dot/circle stickers, just search for "black dot" on Amazon. The 6mm / 1/4 inch ones tends to fit neatly over most LEDs. The electrical tape is easy enough to remove and reattach or replace for the rare occasion I actually need to see an indicator light. I thought I'd need to remove it more often when I "snapped" and put electrical tape on every device in my living room a while back, but I've yet to remove a single bit of it. I'm sure I'll have to now and again, but it's worth the hassle.
- Marsymars 6y ago
  I did this for LEDs, and I also took the opportunity to cover up all the logos on my electronics/appliances. It's nice having my home now be entirely free of Samsung/Sonos/Apple/Dell/etc. logos. Took several different colours and types of tape to get everything looking nice.
- nick_meister 6y ago
  This! I also use electrical tape for complete blackout, and paper tape for dimming. On a side note, also black electrical tape for laptop camera covering :)
- kqr 6y ago
  Sound like it might also be an option to take a pin and poke a tiny aperture into the electrical tape over the lights you do want to see, only dim down.
  - vidarh 6y ago
    That'd probably work fine too, but anywhere where I care about appearance I need to cut the electrical tape while the dot stickers are available in just the right size for fractions of a penny per sticker, so I have what appears to be a lifetime supply of stickers anyway.
- black_puppydog 6y ago
  I find that most tapes are not blacking out everything I want, and often light can leak through the cases of cheap equipment. For those cases I usually use a combination of tape (of any kind) with pieces of tin foil underneath, which reliably blocks all the light. Of course make sure to not use it on any contacts, but that's usually not an issue for consumer grade hardware.
agumonkey 6y ago
Same goes for usb keys.. they used to come with leds and then not anymore. Sometimes you'd like to know if the IO layer is blocked or if it's just slow pace.
- albertsondev 6y ago
  The ones I pick up in the checkout line at Microcenter still have I/O indicators (on top of being phenomenally inexpensive). It's a shame that more don't anymore.
  - agumonkey 6y ago
    I wanted to make a usb ring with task is only to be a data / power line activity led you plug other stuff in
snarf21 6y ago
The interesting question is, could it work the other way? Light up ones that aren't on in red. Light up ones that haven't sent data recently in yellow. I'm not sure what is ideal but the question might be is it more important to indicate success/normal or failure/error?
- liamdiprose 6y ago
  Who uses the indicator lights? - people looking behind a computer or at switchgear. They aren't regular users, they understand how networks operate and what the green/yellow lights mean. They're typically debugging a problem, for which you want the truest indication of what's happening on the wire. For regular users who just care about working internet, you can notify the user of connection failure where they look - the screen.
input_sh 6y ago
> I literally never look at them when all is ok, but when it's not, i get the status info in literally a second. I'd say this is an argument for simply not having them on until something goes wrong. I'm fortunate enough that almost all LEDs in my living room are dimmed green, with the exceptions being my speaker set with a very bright blue (covered with a black tape, they're always on anyway), and my external monitor (dim white, not on when in standby). Unfortunately, my Thinkpad has an annoying blue power indicator and I can't keep my mic turned off via a keyboard shortcut since that turns on another blue LED. Especially annoying when the night light turns on. Nice username BTW!
- Too 6y ago
  My router has 4 ethernet ports, 3 of them have cables plugged in. One of the cables are broken. One of the computers on the other end lost it's power. I want a cheap router and i don't want to configure which ports that are supposed to be in use. How many error-leds do you expect to be flashing?

StavrosK 6y ago

A button or setting that turned the LEDs on/off would probably be prudent.

LargoLasskhyfv 6y ago
My HP ZR2440w screens have this. But I don't need it there, because it isnt glaringly bright. Some other stuff I have could profit from it, but lacks that setting. Dark tape does wonders :-)

kqr 6y ago

Would also be very easy to add a switch that turns the indicator lights on while pressed. At least any indicator lights I look at already require me to be at arm's length from the device to discern which light is which. Note that this is not one of those things that sound simple but would complicate the design a lot. It's literally just adding a switch to one of the line supplying power to the lights. It can be done completely modularly -- probably even hacked into place after the fact.

gregoriol 6y ago
Yes! My internet box has this and it's practical: one button turns on and off the status LEDs. They are off mostly, and on on boot or rare times I need to check the status.

vidarh 6y ago

Electrical tape for complete blackout, and little small black dot stickers for LEDs you want to dim instead of completely cover. For the black dot/circle stickers, just search for "black dot" on Amazon. The 6mm / 1/4 inch ones tends to fit neatly over most LEDs. The electrical tape is easy enough to remove and reattach or replace for the rare occasion I actually need to see an indicator light. I thought I'd need to remove it more often when I "snapped" and put electrical tape on every device in my living room a while back, but I've yet to remove a single bit of it. I'm sure I'll have to now and again, but it's worth the hassle.

Marsymars 6y ago
I did this for LEDs, and I also took the opportunity to cover up all the logos on my electronics/appliances. It's nice having my home now be entirely free of Samsung/Sonos/Apple/Dell/etc. logos. Took several different colours and types of tape to get everything looking nice.
nick_meister 6y ago
This! I also use electrical tape for complete blackout, and paper tape for dimming. On a side note, also black electrical tape for laptop camera covering :)
kqr 6y ago
Sound like it might also be an option to take a pin and poke a tiny aperture into the electrical tape over the lights you do want to see, only dim down.
- vidarh 6y ago
  That'd probably work fine too, but anywhere where I care about appearance I need to cut the electrical tape while the dot stickers are available in just the right size for fractions of a penny per sticker, so I have what appears to be a lifetime supply of stickers anyway.
black_puppydog 6y ago
I find that most tapes are not blacking out everything I want, and often light can leak through the cases of cheap equipment. For those cases I usually use a combination of tape (of any kind) with pieces of tin foil underneath, which reliably blocks all the light. Of course make sure to not use it on any contacts, but that's usually not an issue for consumer grade hardware.

agumonkey 6y ago

Same goes for usb keys.. they used to come with leds and then not anymore. Sometimes you'd like to know if the IO layer is blocked or if it's just slow pace.

albertsondev 6y ago
The ones I pick up in the checkout line at Microcenter still have I/O indicators (on top of being phenomenally inexpensive). It's a shame that more don't anymore.
- agumonkey 6y ago
  I wanted to make a usb ring with task is only to be a data / power line activity led you plug other stuff in

snarf21 6y ago

The interesting question is, could it work the other way? Light up ones that aren't on in red. Light up ones that haven't sent data recently in yellow. I'm not sure what is ideal but the question might be is it more important to indicate success/normal or failure/error?

liamdiprose 6y ago
Who uses the indicator lights? - people looking behind a computer or at switchgear. They aren't regular users, they understand how networks operate and what the green/yellow lights mean. They're typically debugging a problem, for which you want the truest indication of what's happening on the wire. For regular users who just care about working internet, you can notify the user of connection failure where they look - the screen.

input_sh 6y ago

> I literally never look at them when all is ok, but when it's not, i get the status info in literally a second. I'd say this is an argument for simply not having them on until something goes wrong. I'm fortunate enough that almost all LEDs in my living room are dimmed green, with the exceptions being my speaker set with a very bright blue (covered with a black tape, they're always on anyway), and my external monitor (dim white, not on when in standby). Unfortunately, my Thinkpad has an annoying blue power indicator and I can't keep my mic turned off via a keyboard shortcut since that turns on another blue LED. Especially annoying when the night light turns on. Nice username BTW!

Too 6y ago
My router has 4 ethernet ports, 3 of them have cables plugged in. One of the cables are broken. One of the computers on the other end lost it's power. I want a cheap router and i don't want to configure which ports that are supposed to be in use. How many error-leds do you expect to be flashing?