5 ms·

If only it was impossible. Blue leds are abominable! [EDIT] I hate white ones too so the replies aren't exactly selling them!

jlokier 3y ago
I wasn't a big fan of the excessive blue LEDs that appeared everywhere after they were invented, either. Though it was understandable enthusiasm for something new by product developers, after decades of having only red-green combinations. But blue LEDs are what make white LEDs work, and those have revolutionised ordinary lighting in a big way. The linked video goes into this at the end. Blue LEDs (or white LEDs, or blue OLEDs) are also used in modern, high quality computer and phone displays.
- jacquesm 3y ago
  White LEDs were/are also made using a UV LED and phosphor.
  - hugryhoop 3y ago
    That sounds dangerous, since not all emissions will be converted.
    - jacquesm 3y ago
      Wait until you find out about fluorescent lamps...
    - mattashii 3y ago
      If they (or you) use a cap that's opaque to UV but transparent to the visible spectrum, then there won't be any issues with this.
joks 3y ago
????? Blue LEDs made white LEDs & LED displays possible. And blue light being bad for your circadian rhythm is just as true for an LCD display as it is an LED display.
- bombcar 3y ago
  Right after the blue LED was possible, everything that wanted to appear "high value" was sticking them in as power indicators, but they were much brighter than previous LEDs. I was at college at the time and you could read a book by the pulsating sleep blue lights from equipment.
  - mdip 3y ago
    As I read your statement sitting in my "bedroom office", I notice: My Vizio TV which has a piece of white electrical tape[0] with aluminum foil underneath. Incredible failure of engineering that has a setting to disable the power LED, however, that setting is ignored if you use the "black screen" option that kills the screen while the TV continues playing ... a feature you are likely to only use if you like to sleep to the noise, but not the light, of the television. My switch has a sock wrapped around the front with a piece of cardboard jammed in it to keep the blinken-lights from creating strobe effects all night. My monitor, multi-USB charger, have similar black-tape treatments that the TV received and the power outlet next to my dresser has a piece of white tape on it -- it's a smart plug and I'm guessing there was an indicator light under that. The thrown together solutions indicate the worst part. You tend to not discover it's a problem until you wake up at 2:00 AM and you can't get back to sleep because it's bright as early morning in the bedroom. [0] It was all I had at the time.
    - themerone 3y ago
      Have you tried a sleep mask? I had to try a bunch before I found one (Manta Mask) that was comfortable and stayed on.
polonbike 3y ago
Having blue allowed creating white, and anycolor (RGB) LEDs, so I would not dismiss them just because you don't like the blue color
- mdip 3y ago
  Of course -- and all of that has lead to the display technologies we take for granted these days and a number of other advances (low cost, low energy, high output LED lighting, for example). This is an example of the reaction to any new technology -- electric cars catch fire and we suddenly forget we drive around in vehicles carrying large quantities of explosive gas (and work via controlled explosions). They get stuck in the winter and we forget the few times a winter we had to jump our gas car to get somewhere. I remember actual indicator lamps ... granted, they tended to serve very temporary lighting purposes and despite that were still often burned out (if your elevator in the 80s had floor indicator lamps, 25% or more were dead). When it's good new technology, as the blue LED objectively is, it becomes mass produced and then mass adopted as "the cool new thing." And it was the cool new thing -- I remember thinking how neat the deep blue LED on my first AV receiver was. And then it becomes over-adopted. Most of the LEDs I have covered up in my bedroom aren't blue -- they're cool white[0] and oh so much brighter than the various-shades-of-blue ones that adorn other equipment throughout my electronics stuffed house. [0] If they were warm white, but dim, I'd probably have a similar "that's neat" if they looked like earlier indicator lamps (but cleaner).
dylan604 3y ago
Blue LEDs that are on to let you know something has power is abominable, but that isn't the fault of the blue LED. What is abominable is the use of the "cooler" blueish white light being used at night indoors. That should be considered a crime against humanity.
- SoftTalker 3y ago
  When did blue become the indicator for "has power"? That has traditionally been red or maybe orange/amber even going back to miniature incandescent bulbs or neon bulbs.
  - dylan604 3y ago
    It became that when it became available.??? exec: I'm sick of that red indicator light? minion: They just came out with a blue LED we can try. exec: Perfect. Use it on everything. Our products will look different, and people will like it
- dingaling 3y ago
  > What is abominable is the use of the > "cooler" blueish white light being > used at night indoors. We only associate warm orangey-white light with nocturnal lighting because of centuries of sitting around fires and candles.
  - jacobolus 3y ago
    And because (a) blue light causes your eyes to become bright-adapted, ruining your night vision, (b) blue light is incredibly distracting in your peripheral vision causing massively more glare than "warmer" light sources, (c) blue light screws up circadian rhythms for people and wildlife.
  - samatman 3y ago
    Many millennia, actually. A million years at least, quite likely more. Co-evolving to be comfortable with a certain quality of light, is a good argument for maintaining that quality of light, and for not using light with a quality which triggers subconscious (or conscious) discomfort.
graphe 3y ago
Green SMD LEDs are just as bad.
maxglute 3y ago
Blue leds also gave birth to purple leds, which for some reason every condo building has multiple units lit up like vampire dens.

jlokier 3y ago

I wasn't a big fan of the excessive blue LEDs that appeared everywhere after they were invented, either. Though it was understandable enthusiasm for something new by product developers, after decades of having only red-green combinations. But blue LEDs are what make white LEDs work, and those have revolutionised ordinary lighting in a big way. The linked video goes into this at the end. Blue LEDs (or white LEDs, or blue OLEDs) are also used in modern, high quality computer and phone displays.

jacquesm 3y ago
White LEDs were/are also made using a UV LED and phosphor.
- hugryhoop 3y ago
  That sounds dangerous, since not all emissions will be converted.
  - jacquesm 3y ago
    Wait until you find out about fluorescent lamps...
  - mattashii 3y ago
    If they (or you) use a cap that's opaque to UV but transparent to the visible spectrum, then there won't be any issues with this.

joks 3y ago

????? Blue LEDs made white LEDs & LED displays possible. And blue light being bad for your circadian rhythm is just as true for an LCD display as it is an LED display.

bombcar 3y ago
Right after the blue LED was possible, everything that wanted to appear "high value" was sticking them in as power indicators, but they were much brighter than previous LEDs. I was at college at the time and you could read a book by the pulsating sleep blue lights from equipment.
- mdip 3y ago
  As I read your statement sitting in my "bedroom office", I notice: My Vizio TV which has a piece of white electrical tape[0] with aluminum foil underneath. Incredible failure of engineering that has a setting to disable the power LED, however, that setting is ignored if you use the "black screen" option that kills the screen while the TV continues playing ... a feature you are likely to only use if you like to sleep to the noise, but not the light, of the television. My switch has a sock wrapped around the front with a piece of cardboard jammed in it to keep the blinken-lights from creating strobe effects all night. My monitor, multi-USB charger, have similar black-tape treatments that the TV received and the power outlet next to my dresser has a piece of white tape on it -- it's a smart plug and I'm guessing there was an indicator light under that. The thrown together solutions indicate the worst part. You tend to not discover it's a problem until you wake up at 2:00 AM and you can't get back to sleep because it's bright as early morning in the bedroom. [0] It was all I had at the time.
  - themerone 3y ago
    Have you tried a sleep mask? I had to try a bunch before I found one (Manta Mask) that was comfortable and stayed on.

polonbike 3y ago

Having blue allowed creating white, and anycolor (RGB) LEDs, so I would not dismiss them just because you don't like the blue color

mdip 3y ago
Of course -- and all of that has lead to the display technologies we take for granted these days and a number of other advances (low cost, low energy, high output LED lighting, for example). This is an example of the reaction to any new technology -- electric cars catch fire and we suddenly forget we drive around in vehicles carrying large quantities of explosive gas (and work via controlled explosions). They get stuck in the winter and we forget the few times a winter we had to jump our gas car to get somewhere. I remember actual indicator lamps ... granted, they tended to serve very temporary lighting purposes and despite that were still often burned out (if your elevator in the 80s had floor indicator lamps, 25% or more were dead). When it's good new technology, as the blue LED objectively is, it becomes mass produced and then mass adopted as "the cool new thing." And it was the cool new thing -- I remember thinking how neat the deep blue LED on my first AV receiver was. And then it becomes over-adopted. Most of the LEDs I have covered up in my bedroom aren't blue -- they're cool white[0] and oh so much brighter than the various-shades-of-blue ones that adorn other equipment throughout my electronics stuffed house. [0] If they were warm white, but dim, I'd probably have a similar "that's neat" if they looked like earlier indicator lamps (but cleaner).

dylan604 3y ago

Blue LEDs that are on to let you know something has power is abominable, but that isn't the fault of the blue LED. What is abominable is the use of the "cooler" blueish white light being used at night indoors. That should be considered a crime against humanity.

SoftTalker 3y ago
When did blue become the indicator for "has power"? That has traditionally been red or maybe orange/amber even going back to miniature incandescent bulbs or neon bulbs.
- dylan604 3y ago
  It became that when it became available.??? exec: I'm sick of that red indicator light? minion: They just came out with a blue LED we can try. exec: Perfect. Use it on everything. Our products will look different, and people will like it
dingaling 3y ago
> What is abominable is the use of the > "cooler" blueish white light being > used at night indoors. We only associate warm orangey-white light with nocturnal lighting because of centuries of sitting around fires and candles.
- jacobolus 3y ago
  And because (a) blue light causes your eyes to become bright-adapted, ruining your night vision, (b) blue light is incredibly distracting in your peripheral vision causing massively more glare than "warmer" light sources, (c) blue light screws up circadian rhythms for people and wildlife.
- samatman 3y ago
  Many millennia, actually. A million years at least, quite likely more. Co-evolving to be comfortable with a certain quality of light, is a good argument for maintaining that quality of light, and for not using light with a quality which triggers subconscious (or conscious) discomfort.

graphe 3y ago

Green SMD LEDs are just as bad.

maxglute 3y ago

Blue leds also gave birth to purple leds, which for some reason every condo building has multiple units lit up like vampire dens.