19 ms·

We Ruined Status LEDs; Here’s Why That Needs to Change

107 points by rex_lupi 3y ago

lionkor 3y ago
I have to say my favorite indicator is definitely the Thinkpad's little red dot on the back of the screen.
anotherevan 3y ago
My old CPAP machine had nice blue LEDs that were on all the time so you can easily find it in an otherwise dark room… Current CPAP machine has green lights that turn off completely thirty seconds after it starts.
secretsatan 3y ago
I bought a new Amplifier a few years ago, what I thought was a decent brand, but I think they were taken over and now the brand is just stuck on some cheap stuff. It has the most infuriating feature. It has the blue status light, it is always on, wether the amp is on or off, it indicates nothing. Worse, the button doesn't pop in or out, there's actually no way of telling if the amp is on or off.
- pluijzer 3y ago
  Blue lights are the worst. They used to be everywhere around the turn of the century when blue LEDs were novel. My room used the look like some nightclub with all these useless flashing bright lights. Luckily you can always tape them off.
- FireBeyond 3y ago
  I love my Vanatoo Transparent Zero speakers for my desktop setup: > The intensity of the blue power on LED can be adjusted to taste. In fact it can be turned off completely if you want. To adjust the intensity once the T0s are powered up and the blue LED is on and no music is playing...
eternityforest 3y ago
How about get rid of them entirely except where one needs to be notified of something. Phone chargers have no power LEDs and we are fine. The phone tells you and notifies when charging state changes. It might give you notice when something is broken before you try to use it, so I can kinda get it, but really, I think we'd be fine. LED clocks don't need to be there unless a user specifically buys one at night. Appliances could be screen off until a button press. Power tool charger lights make sense. There's no display or Bluetooth, you'll probably be checking it and interested in the status, it needs some kind of onboard indicator. Then again, I would prefer there WAS Bluetooth and it broadcasted a notice, and a reflective LCD would be fine too. Network activity lights are meaningless most of the time, there's always some background nonsense going. Maybe sometimes useful, I wouldn't mind if they went away. Same with disk, unfortunately. Aesthetically, indicator lights look kind of junky. I don't associate them with high tech, because phones and ultra thin laptops lack them. They're always so highly utilitarian looking. We all know that if they really wanted to be fancy they'd use a TFT even if it's not needed. Why do I need to know the status? Is it unreliable enough I need debug info? Ak I supposed to think about it a lot? Is it supposed to remind me to unplug it to save power? Why is it wasting power anyway?
- jpc0 3y ago
  > Then again, I would prefer there WAS Bluetooth and it broadcasted a notice, and a reflective LCD would be fine too. Why use a simple circuit that is definitely going to work when you can implement a complex software based solution to do the same thing? Honestly there are times a status LED is really useful for quick troubleshooting, I don't want to find some weird menu on a PC of have to get a shell on a server to see whether network came up on a device, if that device even is a PC, it could be an IOT device that the literal only way to even control it is through the very network you are connecting and also receives it's power over said network cable. Sometimes utilitarian is exactly what you need, I don't need a fancy screen on my washing machine or dishwasher, it's a utility item I need to know it's doing what I told it and that is that. People are quick to complain that their new fangled fridges and washing machines and light switches and dishwashers don't last longer than the warranty yet they are exactly like you and don't see how something simple and reliable is significantly more cost effective than a fancy one that has Bluetooth radios and screens and software that goes out of date.
nojs 3y ago
> The fad of using blue LEDs for power indicators only makes this problem worse. The human eye features special receptors sensitive to blue light that are not only used for vision.These cells are also used to detect the blue light from the sky, coordinating our internal Circadian rhythms to the Earth’s day/night cycle. Exposure to artificial blue light can interfere with this system, with research suggesting it may have a negative effect on sleep cycles. This is always repeated but I seriously doubt it’s ever actually relevant in practice. Like does anyone actually suffer from a sleep disorder that magically goes away when the evil blue LEDs on their devices are switched out for red ones?
- panxyh 3y ago
  Why are you making a strawman?
- rypskar 3y ago
  I have problems sleeping when there are bright blue LEDs in the room and not when there are red LEDs. I do not have a problem sleeping when the room is light at night because of the midnight sun, so is not dark vs light that is the difference
- JohnFen 3y ago
  > Like does anyone actually suffer from a sleep disorder that magically goes away when the evil blue LEDs on their devices are switched out for red ones? I guess it depends on what you mean by sleep disorder? Blue lights make it hard for me to fall and stay asleep. White lights less so. Red lights don't bother me at all.
RecycledEle 3y ago
"The fact is, if I can see a bright glow on the ceiling because I left Caps Lock on before retiring for bed, that’s a problem."
Karsteski 3y ago
Man this article speaks to me. We live in a relatively small old home so our bedroom is right next to the living room. We leave the doors open for airflow reasons. All my electronics (desktop, NAS, Dell laptop charger, keyboard, monitors, TV) have such bright LEDs that the room is never dark, which affects our bedroom. I'm seriously considering disconnecting/covering as many of those damn LEDs as possible. The worst part is that our Honeywell bedroom standing fan has a bright blue light panel for indicating speed... Who the fuck designed this shit. It's a fan, people are gonna use in it dark rooms. It legit lights up a room like those Christmas lights people hang along their ceiling. It's absurd This is the fan I mean, the entire panel is a bunch of bright ass, sleep ruining LEDs. I covered it up years ago with a bandana https://www.londondrugs.com/on/demandware.static/-/Sites-londondrugs-master/default/dw8344d1f4/products/L4665980/large/L4665980.JPG https://www.londondrugs.com/on/demandware.static/-/Sites-lon...
- masklinn 3y ago
  I have an even funnier one: I bought a Rowenta table fan because it was reputed to be very quiet, and I’ve bad sleep. It even has a sub-1 “sleep” mode where it uses a really minimal airflow, still improves comfort on a muggy night but you can barely hear the fan spin. The sleep mode, and only the sleep mode has a bright white LED. The fan is completely dark on (1), and it lights up the entire room on (sleep). The level of stupid is unfathomable. On that front I was actually surprised by the meaco 1056, while it’s way too expensive for what it is and I would not recommend it and it’s got way too many unnecessary LED behind piano black surface… it does have a “light off” mode which turns off the lights, and even in the base mode most of the LEDs draw down or turn off after a bit.
  - bloopernova 3y ago
    Sounds like the 2 LG monitors I have. In sleep mode it has a bright white LED that flashes. So cover it? Nope, LG designers have thought of that! The LED is built into the menu joystick nub. So covering it with electrical tape won't work. Cover it anyway? Nope, LG designers are one step ahead of you! The back/bottom of the monitor is translucent white plastic, so the entire thing flashes in sleep mode!! I complained to LG about it, got told that it was working as designed. The customer service rep was very confused about me wanting to stop 2 bright white flashing lights at night. Never going to buy LG again. Utterly ridiculous.
seanhunter 3y ago
100%. As someone who likes to sleep in the dark and used to travel a lot I can't tell you how many times I would arrive, exhausted at some hotel and then have to spend a further 30mins unplugging stuff, clipping the curtains shut using the clippy clotheshangers and covering every damn light on every thing with a postcard, a postit note, some of my clothes etc, only having to repeat the charade daily after the cleaning staff would "fix" my room and undo all my careful endarkening. Not everything needs to have a goddamn light on it. Seriously it doesn't. I quite like the feedback that phones have started to do where if you put something on a magsafe charger it initially does something so you know its charging and then darkens itself. It doesn't just sit there glowing like a magical item in some hellish RPG.
- jraph 3y ago
  Yep, that TV at the hotel in front of the bed I'm not going to use anyway but has a led directly lighting the eyes, unplugged. Last time, the thermostat was lighting the room with its very bright led. I had to put it a sock on. All people of my group complained. Do they not test their rooms at hotels?
  - wryanzimmerman 3y ago
    First step in any hotel room is find the nightstand light and unplug it to plug in your phone charger. Second step is unplug the tv to kill the status lights… I’m shocked that hotels haven’t started changing things just to save the cost of plugging it back in. Airbnbs, on the other hand, usually come with the nightstand lights pre-unplugged in my experience, sometimes with the cables all coiled up neatly because everyone knows they’re only there for the listing photos and nobody will ever use them.
    - jraph 3y ago
      Well, I do plug it back in before leaving :-) With you for the phone charger, usually another small light is reachable from the bed anyway.
  - Gud 3y ago
resuresu 3y ago
The smartphone is the single biggest piece of regressive technology ever made. We would all be better off without them.
M2Ys4U 3y ago
My partner bought an eye mask with built-in Bluetooth headphones so they could sleep listening to audio books or podcasts or whatever. But it had a bright blue LED, which was not only disturbing to me but could also be seen through the damned mask. How on Earth anybody signed off on that design is beyond me.
- jraph 3y ago
  Yep. My Sony headset too. The WH-1000XM3. Once, this blinking blue led messed up with the dreams of the person sleeping next to me. Turn it on? Blinking forever. Pair it? Fast blink for almost 10 seconds, then blink again for a while. Trigger an action by mistake or because of your sweat through its touch interface? Blink 6 times, slowly. That last one is particularly crazy, there's already an audio feedback for this, no need to tell the world I decreased the volume of my headset one step. It also screams loudly and for long times whenever I power it on and when I want to switch the ambient noise mode. At the point it can be heard by someone close, despite the closed design. Especially that the default is active noise cancelling, and it's broken most of the time, making a loud blow noise in one hear, and that the mode in the middle, that badly recreates the noise around, for which I have no use. Tough luck if the device establish a Bluetooth connection when it's speaking, it cancels the operation and the process needs to be done again. Please, please remember the last mode I used, this is the one I most probably want to use next time. This device is gratuitously both noisy and very luminous. The latter can be somewhat fixed with some good electrical tape, the later requires a mobile app I can't install and it would disable any feedback, and reverts next time it needs to be reset. Despite its comfort and good sound, when it dies, I'll probably buy something else. But I have to admit, a blinking eye mask has to be a whole level of craziness higher.
  - lbourdages 3y ago
    The XM4s have a red LED. I love the sound and noise cancelling of these headphones, but it's true the UX is clunky.
    - jraph 3y ago
vero2 3y ago
The great offender is modem/router. According the manual for my ISP - slow blinking is attempting to connect to DSL - normal blinking is success - Fast blink is fail - there are 4 different LEDs. some even change colour.
TheWoodsy 3y ago
I get much better sleep in a completely dark room. I've solved this issue innumerable times with Blu-Tack, electrical tape and straight-up de-soldering or unplugging lights. 3090, Unplugged leads with tweezers. Mobo, Blu-Tack. NIC, Blu-Tack - Notable mention of Intel NICs where you can disable LEDs in ethtool. Bedside lamp, Tape. Standing fan, Tape. yada yada etc. etc. Only Gadgets I've remembered with light pollution considerations easily accessed is my Mitsubishi AC, Onkyo Reciever and LG OLED TV. All have a night mode where I can disable all illumination.
- automatic6131 3y ago
  Take your computer out of your room? Also, you can turn motherboard LEDs off in every bios I've ever used. And the status LEDs, which usually only light up for errors.
  - 4ggr0 3y ago
    Everyone can tape over lights, not everyone can move their PC to a different room :)
  - pdpi 3y ago
    > Take your computer out of your room? That’s not really an option eg for people who share a flat.
wrp 3y ago
I have various electronic items from the 1970s/80s, particularly a big LED clock, that use red LEDs. Even though they look dated and may lack features, I hope to keep using them until my own EOL, because any replacement would use those bright blue LEDs. Like others here, I generally hack new devices to reduce the glow.
- zh3 3y ago
  Likewise, an old alarm clock from the '70's with red seven segment displays. Never failed, and it's so easy to set the time/alarm (hold down the time or alarm button, and press the + or - button). The physical switches (alarm/radio etc) still work perfectly - while over the decades since I've seen so many devices end up with failed/glitchy buttons within a few years.
blueflow 3y ago
People keep powered-on electronics in their sleeping room? Except from the alarm clock of course.
- lionkor 3y ago
  Some people sadly have a living situation with only one or two rooms, where the bed and computer / other devices must be in the same room due to space constraints
- bloopernova 3y ago
  We have: CPAP. Battery backup for the CPAP. Fan. AC unit. TV. My wife's Bedjet base unit. Chargers for our phones. Heating pad or heated blanket during winter. Kindle. Phones. :)
- bears-n-beets 3y ago
  Lots of people live in studio apartments or similar. I live in a loft-style condo where everything is open, including my bedroom upstairs. The only proper separate room with a door to shut is the bathroom. But even if that weren’t the case, there’s a stupid bright blue LED light on the power strip behind my bed.
- JohnFen 3y ago
  I don't. But power/status LEDs can be so insanely bright that they'll light my bedroom from other rooms if I don't shut the door. So I rip them all out.
JoeAltmaier 3y ago
Blue LEDs? The devil. I have a roll of aluminum tape I put over every damn blue LED on any appliance I buy.
- expertentipp 3y ago
  Some producers apparently eavesdrop your smartphone, because they install transparent ring around buttons and knobs. The LED is below it and translucing through. Now try to blind these.
  - JohnFen 3y ago
    Easy. Open it up, find the LED(s) (easy to do by powering it on), and if you're feeling dainty, clip the lead to it or desolder it. If you're not feeling dainty, crush it with a pair of pliers.
- russdill 3y ago
  Genius. I've opened up a few devices to put aluminum foil between the LED and the case. The nice thing about aluminum is you can poke a tiny hole to let a small amount of light through.
boxed 3y ago
I still miss the sleep indicator on my old G5 mac. A soft white light that gently pulsated in the tempo of the breathing a human sleeping might have. So elegant! And also it was shining through very thin aluminium so it was invisible when the light was off.
- joezydeco 3y ago
  I'm not sure why the article's author is dumping on Apple's breathing LED. For a laptop it made perfect sense. Either the laptop is awake, or it's "sleeping". If I close the lid I want to know it's asleep and not running 100% generating all kinds of heat. The animation conveys this perfectly.
  - justsomehnguy 3y ago
    > Flashing should only be used where absolutely necessary. LEDs for hard drive and network activity should flash, as they indicate a constantly changing state. State isn't changed. You don't need to stare at the LED to make if the laptop is off or it's power LED is in 'not breathing atm' part of 'animation'.
    - boxed 3y ago
      The quote from the article is a bit hilarious too, as the flashing leds from network gear is a side channel to spy on network traffic in many devices. So not a great example of a "should" flash scenario imo.
      - pseudalopex 3y ago
        Small fluctuations in always on LEDs can be a side channel.
    - pseudalopex 3y ago
      The article did not say state change was the only reason to flash. You removed a sentence. There were 3 states. Different colors would have made a problem for color blind people. And 2 seconds was enough to see the LED was pulsing.
fifticon 3y ago
The confusion revolves around _who's_ status. The blue LEDs were not to signal the status of the device, but to signal the high status of the OWNER, in the same way an expensive iphone communicates the high status of its owner. I too miss when LEDs only concerned the status of the device.
- expertentipp 3y ago
  Ok now I dug from abyss of my memory Mercedes front logo illuminated with blue light. Somewhere seen an article it luckily is connected to some crucial circuit and screws with it.
anymouse123456 3y ago
As a lifelong sufferer of too-bright LEDs, these semi-translucent stickers [1] dramatically improved my vibes. One layer is rarely enough for the insane blues, but they can be applied on top of each other and stick quite well to most materials. 10/10 [1] https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09DY1ZHKS?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09DY1ZHKS?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_...
flower-giraffe 3y ago
I use three solutions depending on the circumstance. 1/ kapton tape ( the orange/yellow semi transparent tape you find on battery packs and cable assemblies). This not only reduces the light level, it can make it more green. Multiple layers for very bright leds. 2/ black vinyl wrap for LEDs that have no useful purpose. 3/ replacement LEDs and resistors for non SMD stuff that it is cheap enough to hack.
expertentipp 3y ago
Every device with LED indicators, after subsequent product iterations and software updates is destined to illuminate the entire room or car it's placed into.
LinAGKar 3y ago
I got Sonoff wall switches wall switches a while back. But apparently someone thought it was a good idea to put Blue LEDs in them which glows all the time, even when the lights are off (albeit more dimly), with no way to disable it. Plus a blue Wi-Fi status LED, which you can turn off, but it will blink all the time anyway if it can't access the internet (which I've blocked it from, since a light switch has no damn business doing that). I ended up covering it in electrical tape (had to cover the whole thing, since the white plastic would spread the light. In hindsight, it would have been better to put a Shelly puck behind the normal switch. Would have let me keep physical buttons too, instead of the annoying touch buttons.
- lionkor 3y ago
  Do these really provide any value to you? I've found normal switches, with no light, no internet, no microcontroller, and no touch, to just work fine
  - LinAGKar 3y ago
    I can turn them on/off remotely, plus I've got some lights automatically tied to sunrise/sunset. And I've got a whole bunch of lights which I can turn off all together when going to bed.
    - Sohcahtoa82 3y ago
      > I can turn them on/off remotely I'm 41 years old and I've never in my life wished for the ability to turn a light on/off remotely. When do you use this? > plus I've got some lights automatically tied to sunrise/sunset Other than a porch light, what lights would you want to turn on/off at sunrise/sunset? > And I've got a whole bunch of lights which I can turn off all together when going to bed. Every room in my house has a light switch located at the entrance. I just flip the switch off as I'm passing it. Do you just live in a house with bizarre locations for the light switches?
      - Gud 3y ago
mhalle 3y ago
I was recently very pleased to find pre-cut "LED light dimming stickers" on Amazon. My family enjoyed a half hour early evening "search and stick" mission to attenuate our home's luminous loudmouths.
- elliottkember 3y ago
  I did this a while back and was astounded at what a difference it made. Especially the blue lights. I keep a packet of these on-hand and I'm always finding new ones.
nottorp 3y ago
Black tape and black nail polish FTW.
bluGill 3y ago
Try to find a nightlight that isn't blue. Good luck. Talk about unfit for purpose design.
- quickthrowman 3y ago
  You can get night lights in warm color temps, I found some 1700-2200k night lights by searching for a specific color temp along with ‘night light’. Here’s an example from GE: https://www.homedepot.com/p/GE-LED-Brushed-Nickel-Amber-Glow-SleepLite-Night-Light-36244/302885636 https://www.homedepot.com/p/GE-LED-Brushed-Nickel-Amber-Glow... I also found this cool Legrand wiring device that fits in a single-gang box that has a photocell built in (auto-on and auto-off depending on light levels) and 1800k color temp: https://www.legrand.us/wiring-devices/outlets-and-receptacles/residential-receptacles/radiant-amber-led-full-night-light/p/ntlfullambertc https://www.legrand.us/wiring-devices/outlets-and-receptacle... I would guess that if you went to Target or Walmart, all the options are going to be 3000k-5000k, which is far too blue for night light use.
xg15 3y ago
I wonder if small patches of e-paper could be a viable alternative to status LEDs: They have the novelty and "rule of cool" effect of blue LEDs but no brightness at all. Or, if its property of keeping the last image on poweroff is a downside here, how about bringing back good old monochrome LCDs?
- Gigachad 3y ago
  Usually the only purpose of the lights is to show the device is plugged in. E paper wouldn’t help.
HocusLocus 3y ago
I have a related gripe: Why do devices feel the need to make a sound and flash the display when they are finished charging? How often have people thought, "I want to go jogging now but I will wait until my phone is charged." More often they are asleep and it wakes them. The "unplug device now to save energy" is a dubious harassment notice, especially when a hungry device goes into several charge cycles per night. That is really the sign of a badly implemented charge method with insufficient hysteresis. My Dad had a Samsung phone he hated because he said, "It whimpers in the night" and turning off sound meant turning off the ringer.
spiffytech 3y ago
I've gotten great use out of "LightDims", a brand of translucent stickers that make status LEDs dimmer and keep the light from shining out into the room.
cxced 3y ago
I used to get Febreze air fresheners from Walmart. The type that plugs into a wall outlet, and you buy refills for. A couple of years after getting my first one, I got a couple more for other rooms. Suddenly, one night I woke up and there was this bright blinking blue light in the room. Turns out that they updated their Wall unit to have a blue indicator light when a refill is needed. I could imagine the rationalization for that product decision being that reminding users to refill would increase recurring revenue. I have now replaced all my Febreze units with Air Wicks from Costco. Cheaper, more dispersal rate options, and no silly blue indicator light.
ChrisArchitect 3y ago
(2020)
JohnFen 3y ago
Yes, this is a serious problem. I started having to disable power and status LEDs in equipment a number of years ago because of how utterly ridiculous they are. It reminds me of how when my children were little, I was constantly disabling speakers on toys because so many were ear-blisteringly loud.
- klondike_klive 3y ago
  I've stumbled over my son's toy ambulance more than once in the middle of the night. Sirens and flashing blue lights!
  - JohnFen 3y ago
    Be thankful that toy ambulance isn't also made of Lego!
lacker 3y ago
The LED on my Kindle wireless charger is so bright, I had to put several layers of tape over it.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
HeyLaughingBoy 3y ago
People don't think! It never occurs to engineers to put themselves in the shoes of the user. Engineers are developing these products in well-lit rooms with HVAC and that insulates them from the actual usage environment. I see it all the time and I do what I can to counter it. I've seen the case where I had to caution one of my team members that the product he was coding was going to be used in a dangerous, chaotic environment that was nothing like the quiet, calm office he was demoing it in. And that taking a few seconds to figure out a setting (like he was proposing) could literally be the difference between life and death in actual operation. In safety-critical industries we have FMEAs and UI reviews to prevent usage errors, but in "normal" development? Nope. No one thinks of these problems unless they have specific experience and that 10x dev you just hired may be a C++ genius, but he's never been a firefighter. I'll say it again: people don't think!
- c_o_n_v_e_x 3y ago
  This is why product managers and or industrial designers exist - someone who either has domain experience or empathizes with a user. I was a PM for a wearable product used on industrial sites. The engineering team suggested a lanyard as an option for the wearable. Anyone who's spent some time on industrial sites knows that lanyard-worn-anything is outright not allowed or highly frowned upon by HSE departments.
- IIsi50MHz 3y ago
  > It never occurs to engineers to put themselves in the shoes of the user. Or sometimes, they do, but they get overruled by Marketing. Marketing: "Our focus group didn't like the holes on the side or back. Said it looked like ceiling tile. They liked when we mocked it up with holes half as big, though." Engineering: "…That will cook the hard drive, and maybe the CD-ROM drive, too. Those holes are half the dia—" Marketing: "After the warranty?" Engineering: "Maybe. Maybe most of them. We'd have to test." Marketing: "Great! We'll ship with the smaller holes, then."
Hanschri 3y ago
I recently rented at a place where the owner used Google Nest Wifi to get coverage of the whole property. One of those devices was placed in the window sill in my bedroom and didn't really cause any issues at the start. Until one day it replied to something I said and I found out it had a microphone, because of course it does. When I found the hardware switch for the microphone the whole base of the device lit up in orange, with no way of turning the LEDs off without turning the microphone back on. The device also started speaking every time I touched it to "gently" remind me that the microphone was turned off while I was putting tape over the lights. I had to 10+ thin strips of duct tape in multiple layers in order to remove most of the light it radiated.
circuit10 3y ago
I really don’t like how you can’t turn the ring light on the Amazon Echo/Alexa off so whenever you speak to it, it lights up the whole room at night
- fknorangesite 3y ago
  Right? I should at least have to say > Computer. Lights.
mixmastamyk 3y ago
"Funny" story about how these are so bright today. Have a cable modem with blinding LEDs. Put a few layers of Post-its over it the second night I think. Came back to look a while later. Guess what? The light is so strong it bleached the color out of the paper above it. Like the sun does.
layer8 3y ago
https://www.lightdims.com/ https://www.lightdims.com/ are a great mitigation for the brightness.
gipp 3y ago
Maybe it's changed in the last couple years, but have you tried to buy a desktop PC case anymore? Last time I did, it was a struggle to even find one that isn't plastered with decorative LEDs, let alone 13 status indicators for fans or other trivial nonsense.

107 points by rex_lupi 3y ago

I have to say my favorite indicator is definitely the Thinkpad's little red dot on the back of the screen.

My old CPAP machine had nice blue LEDs that were on all the time so you can easily find it in an otherwise dark room… Current CPAP machine has green lights that turn off completely thirty seconds after it starts.

secretsatan 3y ago

I bought a new Amplifier a few years ago, what I thought was a decent brand, but I think they were taken over and now the brand is just stuck on some cheap stuff. It has the most infuriating feature. It has the blue status light, it is always on, wether the amp is on or off, it indicates nothing. Worse, the button doesn't pop in or out, there's actually no way of telling if the amp is on or off.

pluijzer 3y ago
Blue lights are the worst. They used to be everywhere around the turn of the century when blue LEDs were novel. My room used the look like some nightclub with all these useless flashing bright lights. Luckily you can always tape them off.
FireBeyond 3y ago
I love my Vanatoo Transparent Zero speakers for my desktop setup: > The intensity of the blue power on LED can be adjusted to taste. In fact it can be turned off completely if you want. To adjust the intensity once the T0s are powered up and the blue LED is on and no music is playing...

eternityforest 3y ago

How about get rid of them entirely except where one needs to be notified of something. Phone chargers have no power LEDs and we are fine. The phone tells you and notifies when charging state changes. It might give you notice when something is broken before you try to use it, so I can kinda get it, but really, I think we'd be fine. LED clocks don't need to be there unless a user specifically buys one at night. Appliances could be screen off until a button press. Power tool charger lights make sense. There's no display or Bluetooth, you'll probably be checking it and interested in the status, it needs some kind of onboard indicator. Then again, I would prefer there WAS Bluetooth and it broadcasted a notice, and a reflective LCD would be fine too. Network activity lights are meaningless most of the time, there's always some background nonsense going. Maybe sometimes useful, I wouldn't mind if they went away. Same with disk, unfortunately. Aesthetically, indicator lights look kind of junky. I don't associate them with high tech, because phones and ultra thin laptops lack them. They're always so highly utilitarian looking. We all know that if they really wanted to be fancy they'd use a TFT even if it's not needed. Why do I need to know the status? Is it unreliable enough I need debug info? Ak I supposed to think about it a lot? Is it supposed to remind me to unplug it to save power? Why is it wasting power anyway?

jpc0 3y ago
> Then again, I would prefer there WAS Bluetooth and it broadcasted a notice, and a reflective LCD would be fine too. Why use a simple circuit that is definitely going to work when you can implement a complex software based solution to do the same thing? Honestly there are times a status LED is really useful for quick troubleshooting, I don't want to find some weird menu on a PC of have to get a shell on a server to see whether network came up on a device, if that device even is a PC, it could be an IOT device that the literal only way to even control it is through the very network you are connecting and also receives it's power over said network cable. Sometimes utilitarian is exactly what you need, I don't need a fancy screen on my washing machine or dishwasher, it's a utility item I need to know it's doing what I told it and that is that. People are quick to complain that their new fangled fridges and washing machines and light switches and dishwashers don't last longer than the warranty yet they are exactly like you and don't see how something simple and reliable is significantly more cost effective than a fancy one that has Bluetooth radios and screens and software that goes out of date.

nojs 3y ago

> The fad of using blue LEDs for power indicators only makes this problem worse. The human eye features special receptors sensitive to blue light that are not only used for vision.These cells are also used to detect the blue light from the sky, coordinating our internal Circadian rhythms to the Earth’s day/night cycle. Exposure to artificial blue light can interfere with this system, with research suggesting it may have a negative effect on sleep cycles. This is always repeated but I seriously doubt it’s ever actually relevant in practice. Like does anyone actually suffer from a sleep disorder that magically goes away when the evil blue LEDs on their devices are switched out for red ones?

panxyh 3y ago
Why are you making a strawman?
rypskar 3y ago
I have problems sleeping when there are bright blue LEDs in the room and not when there are red LEDs. I do not have a problem sleeping when the room is light at night because of the midnight sun, so is not dark vs light that is the difference
JohnFen 3y ago
> Like does anyone actually suffer from a sleep disorder that magically goes away when the evil blue LEDs on their devices are switched out for red ones? I guess it depends on what you mean by sleep disorder? Blue lights make it hard for me to fall and stay asleep. White lights less so. Red lights don't bother me at all.

RecycledEle 3y ago

"The fact is, if I can see a bright glow on the ceiling because I left Caps Lock on before retiring for bed, that’s a problem."

Karsteski 3y ago

Man this article speaks to me. We live in a relatively small old home so our bedroom is right next to the living room. We leave the doors open for airflow reasons. All my electronics (desktop, NAS, Dell laptop charger, keyboard, monitors, TV) have such bright LEDs that the room is never dark, which affects our bedroom. I'm seriously considering disconnecting/covering as many of those damn LEDs as possible. The worst part is that our Honeywell bedroom standing fan has a bright blue light panel for indicating speed... Who the fuck designed this shit. It's a fan, people are gonna use in it dark rooms. It legit lights up a room like those Christmas lights people hang along their ceiling. It's absurd This is the fan I mean, the entire panel is a bunch of bright ass, sleep ruining LEDs. I covered it up years ago with a bandana https://www.londondrugs.com/on/demandware.static/-/Sites-londondrugs-master/default/dw8344d1f4/products/L4665980/large/L4665980.JPG https://www.londondrugs.com/on/demandware.static/-/Sites-lon...

masklinn 3y ago
I have an even funnier one: I bought a Rowenta table fan because it was reputed to be very quiet, and I’ve bad sleep. It even has a sub-1 “sleep” mode where it uses a really minimal airflow, still improves comfort on a muggy night but you can barely hear the fan spin. The sleep mode, and only the sleep mode has a bright white LED. The fan is completely dark on (1), and it lights up the entire room on (sleep). The level of stupid is unfathomable. On that front I was actually surprised by the meaco 1056, while it’s way too expensive for what it is and I would not recommend it and it’s got way too many unnecessary LED behind piano black surface… it does have a “light off” mode which turns off the lights, and even in the base mode most of the LEDs draw down or turn off after a bit.
- bloopernova 3y ago
  Sounds like the 2 LG monitors I have. In sleep mode it has a bright white LED that flashes. So cover it? Nope, LG designers have thought of that! The LED is built into the menu joystick nub. So covering it with electrical tape won't work. Cover it anyway? Nope, LG designers are one step ahead of you! The back/bottom of the monitor is translucent white plastic, so the entire thing flashes in sleep mode!! I complained to LG about it, got told that it was working as designed. The customer service rep was very confused about me wanting to stop 2 bright white flashing lights at night. Never going to buy LG again. Utterly ridiculous.

seanhunter 3y ago

100%. As someone who likes to sleep in the dark and used to travel a lot I can't tell you how many times I would arrive, exhausted at some hotel and then have to spend a further 30mins unplugging stuff, clipping the curtains shut using the clippy clotheshangers and covering every damn light on every thing with a postcard, a postit note, some of my clothes etc, only having to repeat the charade daily after the cleaning staff would "fix" my room and undo all my careful endarkening. Not everything needs to have a goddamn light on it. Seriously it doesn't. I quite like the feedback that phones have started to do where if you put something on a magsafe charger it initially does something so you know its charging and then darkens itself. It doesn't just sit there glowing like a magical item in some hellish RPG.

jraph 3y ago
Yep, that TV at the hotel in front of the bed I'm not going to use anyway but has a led directly lighting the eyes, unplugged. Last time, the thermostat was lighting the room with its very bright led. I had to put it a sock on. All people of my group complained. Do they not test their rooms at hotels?
- wryanzimmerman 3y ago
  First step in any hotel room is find the nightstand light and unplug it to plug in your phone charger. Second step is unplug the tv to kill the status lights… I’m shocked that hotels haven’t started changing things just to save the cost of plugging it back in. Airbnbs, on the other hand, usually come with the nightstand lights pre-unplugged in my experience, sometimes with the cables all coiled up neatly because everyone knows they’re only there for the listing photos and nobody will ever use them.
  - jraph 3y ago
    Well, I do plug it back in before leaving :-) With you for the phone charger, usually another small light is reachable from the bed anyway.
- Gud 3y ago

resuresu 3y ago

The smartphone is the single biggest piece of regressive technology ever made. We would all be better off without them.

M2Ys4U 3y ago

My partner bought an eye mask with built-in Bluetooth headphones so they could sleep listening to audio books or podcasts or whatever. But it had a bright blue LED, which was not only disturbing to me but could also be seen through the damned mask. How on Earth anybody signed off on that design is beyond me.

jraph 3y ago
Yep. My Sony headset too. The WH-1000XM3. Once, this blinking blue led messed up with the dreams of the person sleeping next to me. Turn it on? Blinking forever. Pair it? Fast blink for almost 10 seconds, then blink again for a while. Trigger an action by mistake or because of your sweat through its touch interface? Blink 6 times, slowly. That last one is particularly crazy, there's already an audio feedback for this, no need to tell the world I decreased the volume of my headset one step. It also screams loudly and for long times whenever I power it on and when I want to switch the ambient noise mode. At the point it can be heard by someone close, despite the closed design. Especially that the default is active noise cancelling, and it's broken most of the time, making a loud blow noise in one hear, and that the mode in the middle, that badly recreates the noise around, for which I have no use. Tough luck if the device establish a Bluetooth connection when it's speaking, it cancels the operation and the process needs to be done again. Please, please remember the last mode I used, this is the one I most probably want to use next time. This device is gratuitously both noisy and very luminous. The latter can be somewhat fixed with some good electrical tape, the later requires a mobile app I can't install and it would disable any feedback, and reverts next time it needs to be reset. Despite its comfort and good sound, when it dies, I'll probably buy something else. But I have to admit, a blinking eye mask has to be a whole level of craziness higher.
- lbourdages 3y ago
  The XM4s have a red LED. I love the sound and noise cancelling of these headphones, but it's true the UX is clunky.
  - jraph 3y ago

vero2 3y ago

The great offender is modem/router. According the manual for my ISP - slow blinking is attempting to connect to DSL - normal blinking is success - Fast blink is fail - there are 4 different LEDs. some even change colour.

TheWoodsy 3y ago

I get much better sleep in a completely dark room. I've solved this issue innumerable times with Blu-Tack, electrical tape and straight-up de-soldering or unplugging lights. 3090, Unplugged leads with tweezers. Mobo, Blu-Tack. NIC, Blu-Tack - Notable mention of Intel NICs where you can disable LEDs in ethtool. Bedside lamp, Tape. Standing fan, Tape. yada yada etc. etc. Only Gadgets I've remembered with light pollution considerations easily accessed is my Mitsubishi AC, Onkyo Reciever and LG OLED TV. All have a night mode where I can disable all illumination.

automatic6131 3y ago
Take your computer out of your room? Also, you can turn motherboard LEDs off in every bios I've ever used. And the status LEDs, which usually only light up for errors.
- 4ggr0 3y ago
  Everyone can tape over lights, not everyone can move their PC to a different room :)
- pdpi 3y ago
  > Take your computer out of your room? That’s not really an option eg for people who share a flat.

wrp 3y ago

I have various electronic items from the 1970s/80s, particularly a big LED clock, that use red LEDs. Even though they look dated and may lack features, I hope to keep using them until my own EOL, because any replacement would use those bright blue LEDs. Like others here, I generally hack new devices to reduce the glow.

zh3 3y ago
Likewise, an old alarm clock from the '70's with red seven segment displays. Never failed, and it's so easy to set the time/alarm (hold down the time or alarm button, and press the + or - button). The physical switches (alarm/radio etc) still work perfectly - while over the decades since I've seen so many devices end up with failed/glitchy buttons within a few years.

blueflow 3y ago

People keep powered-on electronics in their sleeping room? Except from the alarm clock of course.

lionkor 3y ago
Some people sadly have a living situation with only one or two rooms, where the bed and computer / other devices must be in the same room due to space constraints
bloopernova 3y ago
We have: CPAP. Battery backup for the CPAP. Fan. AC unit. TV. My wife's Bedjet base unit. Chargers for our phones. Heating pad or heated blanket during winter. Kindle. Phones. :)
bears-n-beets 3y ago
Lots of people live in studio apartments or similar. I live in a loft-style condo where everything is open, including my bedroom upstairs. The only proper separate room with a door to shut is the bathroom. But even if that weren’t the case, there’s a stupid bright blue LED light on the power strip behind my bed.
JohnFen 3y ago
I don't. But power/status LEDs can be so insanely bright that they'll light my bedroom from other rooms if I don't shut the door. So I rip them all out.

JoeAltmaier 3y ago

Blue LEDs? The devil. I have a roll of aluminum tape I put over every damn blue LED on any appliance I buy.

expertentipp 3y ago
Some producers apparently eavesdrop your smartphone, because they install transparent ring around buttons and knobs. The LED is below it and translucing through. Now try to blind these.
- JohnFen 3y ago
  Easy. Open it up, find the LED(s) (easy to do by powering it on), and if you're feeling dainty, clip the lead to it or desolder it. If you're not feeling dainty, crush it with a pair of pliers.
russdill 3y ago
Genius. I've opened up a few devices to put aluminum foil between the LED and the case. The nice thing about aluminum is you can poke a tiny hole to let a small amount of light through.

boxed 3y ago

I still miss the sleep indicator on my old G5 mac. A soft white light that gently pulsated in the tempo of the breathing a human sleeping might have. So elegant! And also it was shining through very thin aluminium so it was invisible when the light was off.

joezydeco 3y ago
I'm not sure why the article's author is dumping on Apple's breathing LED. For a laptop it made perfect sense. Either the laptop is awake, or it's "sleeping". If I close the lid I want to know it's asleep and not running 100% generating all kinds of heat. The animation conveys this perfectly.
- justsomehnguy 3y ago
  > Flashing should only be used where absolutely necessary. LEDs for hard drive and network activity should flash, as they indicate a constantly changing state. State isn't changed. You don't need to stare at the LED to make if the laptop is off or it's power LED is in 'not breathing atm' part of 'animation'.
  - boxed 3y ago
    The quote from the article is a bit hilarious too, as the flashing leds from network gear is a side channel to spy on network traffic in many devices. So not a great example of a "should" flash scenario imo.
    - pseudalopex 3y ago
      Small fluctuations in always on LEDs can be a side channel.
  - pseudalopex 3y ago
    The article did not say state change was the only reason to flash. You removed a sentence. There were 3 states. Different colors would have made a problem for color blind people. And 2 seconds was enough to see the LED was pulsing.

fifticon 3y ago

The confusion revolves around _who's_ status. The blue LEDs were not to signal the status of the device, but to signal the high status of the OWNER, in the same way an expensive iphone communicates the high status of its owner. I too miss when LEDs only concerned the status of the device.

expertentipp 3y ago
Ok now I dug from abyss of my memory Mercedes front logo illuminated with blue light. Somewhere seen an article it luckily is connected to some crucial circuit and screws with it.

anymouse123456 3y ago

As a lifelong sufferer of too-bright LEDs, these semi-translucent stickers [1] dramatically improved my vibes. One layer is rarely enough for the insane blues, but they can be applied on top of each other and stick quite well to most materials. 10/10 [1] https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09DY1ZHKS?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09DY1ZHKS?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_...

flower-giraffe 3y ago

I use three solutions depending on the circumstance. 1/ kapton tape ( the orange/yellow semi transparent tape you find on battery packs and cable assemblies). This not only reduces the light level, it can make it more green. Multiple layers for very bright leds. 2/ black vinyl wrap for LEDs that have no useful purpose. 3/ replacement LEDs and resistors for non SMD stuff that it is cheap enough to hack.

expertentipp 3y ago

Every device with LED indicators, after subsequent product iterations and software updates is destined to illuminate the entire room or car it's placed into.

LinAGKar 3y ago

I got Sonoff wall switches wall switches a while back. But apparently someone thought it was a good idea to put Blue LEDs in them which glows all the time, even when the lights are off (albeit more dimly), with no way to disable it. Plus a blue Wi-Fi status LED, which you can turn off, but it will blink all the time anyway if it can't access the internet (which I've blocked it from, since a light switch has no damn business doing that). I ended up covering it in electrical tape (had to cover the whole thing, since the white plastic would spread the light. In hindsight, it would have been better to put a Shelly puck behind the normal switch. Would have let me keep physical buttons too, instead of the annoying touch buttons.

lionkor 3y ago
Do these really provide any value to you? I've found normal switches, with no light, no internet, no microcontroller, and no touch, to just work fine
- LinAGKar 3y ago
  I can turn them on/off remotely, plus I've got some lights automatically tied to sunrise/sunset. And I've got a whole bunch of lights which I can turn off all together when going to bed.
  - Sohcahtoa82 3y ago
    > I can turn them on/off remotely I'm 41 years old and I've never in my life wished for the ability to turn a light on/off remotely. When do you use this? > plus I've got some lights automatically tied to sunrise/sunset Other than a porch light, what lights would you want to turn on/off at sunrise/sunset? > And I've got a whole bunch of lights which I can turn off all together when going to bed. Every room in my house has a light switch located at the entrance. I just flip the switch off as I'm passing it. Do you just live in a house with bizarre locations for the light switches?
    - Gud 3y ago

mhalle 3y ago

I was recently very pleased to find pre-cut "LED light dimming stickers" on Amazon. My family enjoyed a half hour early evening "search and stick" mission to attenuate our home's luminous loudmouths.

elliottkember 3y ago
I did this a while back and was astounded at what a difference it made. Especially the blue lights. I keep a packet of these on-hand and I'm always finding new ones.

nottorp 3y ago

Black tape and black nail polish FTW.

bluGill 3y ago

Try to find a nightlight that isn't blue. Good luck. Talk about unfit for purpose design.

quickthrowman 3y ago
You can get night lights in warm color temps, I found some 1700-2200k night lights by searching for a specific color temp along with ‘night light’. Here’s an example from GE: https://www.homedepot.com/p/GE-LED-Brushed-Nickel-Amber-Glow-SleepLite-Night-Light-36244/302885636 https://www.homedepot.com/p/GE-LED-Brushed-Nickel-Amber-Glow... I also found this cool Legrand wiring device that fits in a single-gang box that has a photocell built in (auto-on and auto-off depending on light levels) and 1800k color temp: https://www.legrand.us/wiring-devices/outlets-and-receptacles/residential-receptacles/radiant-amber-led-full-night-light/p/ntlfullambertc https://www.legrand.us/wiring-devices/outlets-and-receptacle... I would guess that if you went to Target or Walmart, all the options are going to be 3000k-5000k, which is far too blue for night light use.

xg15 3y ago

I wonder if small patches of e-paper could be a viable alternative to status LEDs: They have the novelty and "rule of cool" effect of blue LEDs but no brightness at all. Or, if its property of keeping the last image on poweroff is a downside here, how about bringing back good old monochrome LCDs?

Gigachad 3y ago
Usually the only purpose of the lights is to show the device is plugged in. E paper wouldn’t help.

HocusLocus 3y ago

I have a related gripe: Why do devices feel the need to make a sound and flash the display when they are finished charging? How often have people thought, "I want to go jogging now but I will wait until my phone is charged." More often they are asleep and it wakes them. The "unplug device now to save energy" is a dubious harassment notice, especially when a hungry device goes into several charge cycles per night. That is really the sign of a badly implemented charge method with insufficient hysteresis. My Dad had a Samsung phone he hated because he said, "It whimpers in the night" and turning off sound meant turning off the ringer.

spiffytech 3y ago

I've gotten great use out of "LightDims", a brand of translucent stickers that make status LEDs dimmer and keep the light from shining out into the room.

cxced 3y ago

I used to get Febreze air fresheners from Walmart. The type that plugs into a wall outlet, and you buy refills for. A couple of years after getting my first one, I got a couple more for other rooms. Suddenly, one night I woke up and there was this bright blinking blue light in the room. Turns out that they updated their Wall unit to have a blue indicator light when a refill is needed. I could imagine the rationalization for that product decision being that reminding users to refill would increase recurring revenue. I have now replaced all my Febreze units with Air Wicks from Costco. Cheaper, more dispersal rate options, and no silly blue indicator light.

ChrisArchitect 3y ago

(2020)

JohnFen 3y ago

Yes, this is a serious problem. I started having to disable power and status LEDs in equipment a number of years ago because of how utterly ridiculous they are. It reminds me of how when my children were little, I was constantly disabling speakers on toys because so many were ear-blisteringly loud.

klondike_klive 3y ago
I've stumbled over my son's toy ambulance more than once in the middle of the night. Sirens and flashing blue lights!
- JohnFen 3y ago
  Be thankful that toy ambulance isn't also made of Lego!

lacker 3y ago

The LED on my Kindle wireless charger is so bright, I had to put several layers of tape over it.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

HeyLaughingBoy 3y ago

People don't think! It never occurs to engineers to put themselves in the shoes of the user. Engineers are developing these products in well-lit rooms with HVAC and that insulates them from the actual usage environment. I see it all the time and I do what I can to counter it. I've seen the case where I had to caution one of my team members that the product he was coding was going to be used in a dangerous, chaotic environment that was nothing like the quiet, calm office he was demoing it in. And that taking a few seconds to figure out a setting (like he was proposing) could literally be the difference between life and death in actual operation. In safety-critical industries we have FMEAs and UI reviews to prevent usage errors, but in "normal" development? Nope. No one thinks of these problems unless they have specific experience and that 10x dev you just hired may be a C++ genius, but he's never been a firefighter. I'll say it again: people don't think!

c_o_n_v_e_x 3y ago
This is why product managers and or industrial designers exist - someone who either has domain experience or empathizes with a user. I was a PM for a wearable product used on industrial sites. The engineering team suggested a lanyard as an option for the wearable. Anyone who's spent some time on industrial sites knows that lanyard-worn-anything is outright not allowed or highly frowned upon by HSE departments.
IIsi50MHz 3y ago
> It never occurs to engineers to put themselves in the shoes of the user. Or sometimes, they do, but they get overruled by Marketing. Marketing: "Our focus group didn't like the holes on the side or back. Said it looked like ceiling tile. They liked when we mocked it up with holes half as big, though." Engineering: "…That will cook the hard drive, and maybe the CD-ROM drive, too. Those holes are half the dia—" Marketing: "After the warranty?" Engineering: "Maybe. Maybe most of them. We'd have to test." Marketing: "Great! We'll ship with the smaller holes, then."

Hanschri 3y ago

I recently rented at a place where the owner used Google Nest Wifi to get coverage of the whole property. One of those devices was placed in the window sill in my bedroom and didn't really cause any issues at the start. Until one day it replied to something I said and I found out it had a microphone, because of course it does. When I found the hardware switch for the microphone the whole base of the device lit up in orange, with no way of turning the LEDs off without turning the microphone back on. The device also started speaking every time I touched it to "gently" remind me that the microphone was turned off while I was putting tape over the lights. I had to 10+ thin strips of duct tape in multiple layers in order to remove most of the light it radiated.

circuit10 3y ago

I really don’t like how you can’t turn the ring light on the Amazon Echo/Alexa off so whenever you speak to it, it lights up the whole room at night

fknorangesite 3y ago
Right? I should at least have to say > Computer. Lights.

mixmastamyk 3y ago

"Funny" story about how these are so bright today. Have a cable modem with blinding LEDs. Put a few layers of Post-its over it the second night I think. Came back to look a while later. Guess what? The light is so strong it bleached the color out of the paper above it. Like the sun does.

layer8 3y ago

https://www.lightdims.com/ https://www.lightdims.com/ are a great mitigation for the brightness.

gipp 3y ago

Maybe it's changed in the last couple years, but have you tried to buy a desktop PC case anymore? Last time I did, it was a struggle to even find one that isn't plastered with decorative LEDs, let alone 13 status indicators for fans or other trivial nonsense.