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My backyard neighbor installed a backup generator with a very annoying green led that shines right through my kitchen window. I hate HOA's and I don't live in o

My backyard neighbor installed a backup generator with a very annoying green led that shines right through my kitchen window. I hate HOA's and I don't live in one but I really lost sleep about this. One night I just went a back there and put a small green sticker on the plastic case. Still shines on but the annoying glow shines elsewhere. Inspection passed.

AnotherGoodName 1y ago
There was a time in the electronics world when bright, house illuminating leds first came about and manufacturers used them in place of the dull red/green indicators. Black tape everywhere. Macbooks were one of the worst offenders. They had an extremely bright and worst of all pulsating led that was on when the device was in standby. Used to shine right through laptop bags and keep everyone nearby awake. Fortunately that fad is somewhat over and manufacturers mostly learnt not to put in the brightest led they could source.
- giantg2 1y ago
  I think I've used more electrical tape covering LEDs than I have for any other purpose.
- thr0w 1y ago
  Was just about to post this - thought I was neurotic for taping over LED displays in the 2000s. My sight and hearing get annoyingly sensitive when I'm in bed at night.
- zerocrates 1y ago
  I still have electrical tape right now over the power LED on my computer case: it's a pretty bright white LED that pulses in sleep and as far as I know my motherboard won't let me turn that behavior off. I guess I could have just pulled the leads to the LED instead. Now that I think about it, that was probably actually one motherboard ago and it might be different now... but the tape's working just fine so who needs to check?
- paxys 1y ago
  The situation still hasn't improved all that much. Just looking around I have electrical tape over the LEDs of my modem, router, computer monitor, soundbar, humidifier, fan, entryway intercom, thermostat. And these are all new devices.
  - doubled112 1y ago
    I use stickers designed for dimming LEDs. They’re almost like a thick window tint cut into various shapes. Dim enough to stop the LED from being annoying but you can still see its status. A little more expensive, but they look a little nicer too.
    - layer8 1y ago
      https://www.lightdims.com/ https://www.lightdims.com/
      - doubled112 1y ago
        I think those are the ones. I’ve been working on the pack of them for years.
      - EbNar 1y ago
        Very interesting and worldwide shipping for pennies! Thanks!
      - chiph 1y ago
        When I needed to dim the backlight on a new bedside clock, I asked a local window tint company for a couple of pieces of offcut film. I'm glad someone had the idea to turn that into a business.
    - powvans 1y ago
      You can buy a sheet of LED blocking stickers on Amazon for a few bucks. I keep some in my suitcase and leave every hotel room a little better than I found it.
  - thewebguyd 1y ago
- cdjk 1y ago
  The pulsing macbook leds were horrible. I was in college then, living in dorms or other shared housing where my laptop was always in my bedroom overnight. I got in the habit of putting a dark shirt over it.
- dkenyser 1y ago
  My brand new Netgear router I just bought is so bright it's actually blinding if I catch a glimpse late at night so we might not be out of the woods just yet.
- BLKNSLVR 1y ago
  That time is now
- sedatk 1y ago
  My 2024 Lenovo Thinkpad inexplicably has that red light. Constantly fading in and out too. It could be my only reason not to buy a Thinkpad again.
  - arp242 1y ago
    Can't vouch for every model, but on all the ThinkPads I've owned every single LED can be disabled, including on the X13 I got last year.[1] This is actually one reason I buy ThinkPads. Other models I've had were T61, X270, E585, X280. I've heard the Carbon models are quite different from the T/X ones, so maybe you can't disable on those? That would be disappointing. If you're on Linux the dot on the cover is /sys/class/leds/tpacpi::lid_logo_dot. See the other files in that directory for other LEDs. I don't know about Windows off-hand because I don't use it, but the BIOS exposes the functionality so there should be a program to do it. In a quick search: https://github.com/valinet/ThinkPadLEDControl https://github.com/valinet/ThinkPadLEDControl FreeBSD doesn't support it, but quite easy to write a patch for it if you want it (I actually wrote a patch for this, but didn't really put the finishing touches on it and submit it as my previous one got no feedback at all, so *shrug* – I ended up just installing Linux again). Same for the other BSDs. [1]: You need to compile your own kernel for the charging/power LED which wasn't needed on older models, because that's registered as "unknown LED" and protected behind a compile option. It's a tad annoying, but it's possible.
    - sedatk 1y ago
      Oh that's perfect, thanks! Let me give it a shot.
- brookst 1y ago
  When blue LEDs first became available they screamed “premium” and “high tech” and it seemed like a race to put the brightest, most-blue LED possible in every device. That was hell.
- kraussvonespy 1y ago
  Although there are a number of charging stations designed for IOS devices that have bright blue LEDs that you can't turn off. Some good number of these devices are going on someone's nightstand where a bright blue LED is exactly what most buyers don't want.
- amelius 1y ago
  My electric toothbrush has a pulsaring led like that when charging. Which is especially annoying (in hotels etc.) because charging happens overnight.
- HPsquared 1y ago
  Remembering the blue power LED on my old 2007 Dell laptop, that thing would light up the whole room and yes, it did flash ("softly", at least) in sleep mode.
- tomaskafka 1y ago
  That’s because the router and printer makers have bought all the superbright LEDs on the market.
bboygravity 1y ago
I can highly recommend aluminum tape or copper tape. Doesn't let any light through and super easy to apply.
JumpCrisscross 1y ago
> One night I just went a back there and put a small green sticker on the plastic case Did you try talking to them about it first?
- ottah 1y ago
  This is more important, you have to give people a chance to rectify the situation.
  - cwmoore 1y ago
    Seems the authorities were here already.
- actionfromafar 1y ago
  Depending on the neighbours, may be asking for more trouble.
  - godelski 1y ago
    Sure, but we don't know that. Besides, it's becoming increasingly common to avoid confrontation. A lot of people might consider it too much trouble because they don't know their neighbors. If you don't go in angry/"swinging" then people are usually pretty reasonably
  - JumpCrisscross 1y ago
    > Depending on the neighbours, may be asking for more trouble Idk, I’d consider it highly provocative if a neighbour installed anything on or tampered with my property without not only my permission but even the decency of notification. At that point, they not only lose the benefit of doubt but the benefit of civility since I’m not sure what other social conventions and laws they may be comfortable casually violating.
    - actionfromafar 1y ago
      Yes, I'm not advising, just an idle thought.
nenenejej 1y ago
One night I just went a back there and... Expects vandalism or more serious crime. ...put a small green sticker Ok, good engineer!
brikym 1y ago
What do you suggest I do about Ford pickup trucks with annoyingly high, bright high beams? Maybe a light bar for the rear of the car and some reflective material for the sunvisor?
- actionfromafar 1y ago
  Green stickers
- pnw 1y ago
  Night driving glasses. They don't reduce the lumens per se, but they reduce the blue light, leaving a yellow light which is not as headache inducing. https://www.eagleeyes.com/collections/night-driving https://www.eagleeyes.com/collections/night-driving
- reaperducer 1y ago
  Maybe a light bar for the rear of the car and some reflective material for the sunvisor? I once came up behind a semi on a rural stretch of I-80 with my brights on. He hit me with a set of rear-mounted flood lights. Probably illegal, but who's going to stop him? Plus, I got the message.
  - Bender 1y ago
    If you mean rear extra bright red lights those are for fog to prevent being rear-ended. If there was no fog it is illegal. Whether or not it is enforced depends on location, agencies, priorities. Example usage would be in Bakersfield, CA there is a location that at times goes from clear to not being able to see lights 2 feet away nearly instantly. Beyond pea-soup fog. It's a very unnerving experience if one is not ready for it.
    - reaperducer 1y ago
      No. Not red lights. Flood lights. Like you'd have to light up your backyard.
      - 1y ago
scrps 1y ago
Not to hijack your post with a PSA but I think you'll endorse it... If you are building a product and it has any indicator lights please dim/diffuse/lightpipe them. It seems to be a trend these days of ultra bright LEDs for indicators, I have so many devices I've either disconnected, dimmed or taped over the LEDs because it is so bloody bright.
- brikym 1y ago
  Please forward this to the billboard advertising industry.
  - Razengan 1y ago
    The entire advertising industry is cancer.
- godelski 1y ago
  Extra helpful if you can add a photodiode to the system that can adjust brightness accordingly. It costs effectively nothing in parts and should take any competent engineer less than 5 minutes to include it. Better, use multiple because redundancy is better! I wish my car had redundancy so it's entertainment panel could go back to adjusting from being visible during the day to not being blinding at night (it has brightness adjustments but that's insufficient for a car and living anywhere outside a major city) For people doing software, press for the love of god just make that shit adjustable. Only fucking noobs hard code variables. Practicing good habits will help everyone, including you. Unless you got a serious reason not to, expose that to the users. Even if you don't think anyone will want it, I promise you, someone does. There's a lot of people and everyone thinks differently. So only lock down what needs to be locked down. Unless you're trying to create e-waste or piss people off. Which in that case I only have two words for you and they aren't nice
  - paradox460 1y ago
    You don't even need to do that. You can measure ambient light with the LED, using it as a photodiode
bob1029 1y ago
So the LED on these generators is intended to signal issues with the machine to the property owner. The green sticker might be fine at first glance (i.e., when the machine is healthy), but when it switches to yellow (routine maintenance alert) or red (will not autostart due to fault), the owner might not notice.
- garbagewoman 1y ago
  Yeah no kidding the lights are meant to indicate things
neilv 1y ago
> small green sticker Two additional ways to calm an indicator LED are with the modern self-laminating labelmaker tape: * White tape -- Put 1 or more layers over the LED, to dim and diffuse. * Black tape -- Use a pin to poke a hole through the tape, from behind, before putting it over the LED. (If there's 3+ LEDs, like on a network switch or server front panel, it will look neater if you measure the pitch of the centers of the LEDs, then use a ruler over the back of the labelmaker tape to match that with the holes. If the back of the tape has two strips you peel off to expose the adhesive, you can use that as a guide for keeping each hole level.) You could also put black tape over white, but I haven't had to do that so far.
jeffrallen 1y ago
What happened when you talked to him about it and offered him the sticker?
theodric 1y ago
If my neighbor had come to me saying my genset indicator light was annoying them I would have marched right out with side cutters and removed it. It's a pity that people can't just talk to each other rather than having to resort to vigilante stickering.
IAmGraydon 1y ago
You ever think about not breaking the law by trespassing and just talking to your neighbor?

AnotherGoodName 1y ago

There was a time in the electronics world when bright, house illuminating leds first came about and manufacturers used them in place of the dull red/green indicators. Black tape everywhere. Macbooks were one of the worst offenders. They had an extremely bright and worst of all pulsating led that was on when the device was in standby. Used to shine right through laptop bags and keep everyone nearby awake. Fortunately that fad is somewhat over and manufacturers mostly learnt not to put in the brightest led they could source.

giantg2 1y ago
I think I've used more electrical tape covering LEDs than I have for any other purpose.
thr0w 1y ago
Was just about to post this - thought I was neurotic for taping over LED displays in the 2000s. My sight and hearing get annoyingly sensitive when I'm in bed at night.
zerocrates 1y ago
I still have electrical tape right now over the power LED on my computer case: it's a pretty bright white LED that pulses in sleep and as far as I know my motherboard won't let me turn that behavior off. I guess I could have just pulled the leads to the LED instead. Now that I think about it, that was probably actually one motherboard ago and it might be different now... but the tape's working just fine so who needs to check?
paxys 1y ago
The situation still hasn't improved all that much. Just looking around I have electrical tape over the LEDs of my modem, router, computer monitor, soundbar, humidifier, fan, entryway intercom, thermostat. And these are all new devices.
- doubled112 1y ago
  I use stickers designed for dimming LEDs. They’re almost like a thick window tint cut into various shapes. Dim enough to stop the LED from being annoying but you can still see its status. A little more expensive, but they look a little nicer too.
  - layer8 1y ago
    https://www.lightdims.com/ https://www.lightdims.com/
    - doubled112 1y ago
      I think those are the ones. I’ve been working on the pack of them for years.
    - EbNar 1y ago
      Very interesting and worldwide shipping for pennies! Thanks!
    - chiph 1y ago
      When I needed to dim the backlight on a new bedside clock, I asked a local window tint company for a couple of pieces of offcut film. I'm glad someone had the idea to turn that into a business.
  - powvans 1y ago
    You can buy a sheet of LED blocking stickers on Amazon for a few bucks. I keep some in my suitcase and leave every hotel room a little better than I found it.
- thewebguyd 1y ago
cdjk 1y ago
The pulsing macbook leds were horrible. I was in college then, living in dorms or other shared housing where my laptop was always in my bedroom overnight. I got in the habit of putting a dark shirt over it.
dkenyser 1y ago
My brand new Netgear router I just bought is so bright it's actually blinding if I catch a glimpse late at night so we might not be out of the woods just yet.
BLKNSLVR 1y ago
That time is now
sedatk 1y ago
My 2024 Lenovo Thinkpad inexplicably has that red light. Constantly fading in and out too. It could be my only reason not to buy a Thinkpad again.
- arp242 1y ago
  Can't vouch for every model, but on all the ThinkPads I've owned every single LED can be disabled, including on the X13 I got last year.[1] This is actually one reason I buy ThinkPads. Other models I've had were T61, X270, E585, X280. I've heard the Carbon models are quite different from the T/X ones, so maybe you can't disable on those? That would be disappointing. If you're on Linux the dot on the cover is /sys/class/leds/tpacpi::lid_logo_dot. See the other files in that directory for other LEDs. I don't know about Windows off-hand because I don't use it, but the BIOS exposes the functionality so there should be a program to do it. In a quick search: https://github.com/valinet/ThinkPadLEDControl https://github.com/valinet/ThinkPadLEDControl FreeBSD doesn't support it, but quite easy to write a patch for it if you want it (I actually wrote a patch for this, but didn't really put the finishing touches on it and submit it as my previous one got no feedback at all, so *shrug* – I ended up just installing Linux again). Same for the other BSDs. [1]: You need to compile your own kernel for the charging/power LED which wasn't needed on older models, because that's registered as "unknown LED" and protected behind a compile option. It's a tad annoying, but it's possible.
  - sedatk 1y ago
    Oh that's perfect, thanks! Let me give it a shot.
brookst 1y ago
When blue LEDs first became available they screamed “premium” and “high tech” and it seemed like a race to put the brightest, most-blue LED possible in every device. That was hell.
kraussvonespy 1y ago
Although there are a number of charging stations designed for IOS devices that have bright blue LEDs that you can't turn off. Some good number of these devices are going on someone's nightstand where a bright blue LED is exactly what most buyers don't want.
amelius 1y ago
My electric toothbrush has a pulsaring led like that when charging. Which is especially annoying (in hotels etc.) because charging happens overnight.
HPsquared 1y ago
Remembering the blue power LED on my old 2007 Dell laptop, that thing would light up the whole room and yes, it did flash ("softly", at least) in sleep mode.
tomaskafka 1y ago
That’s because the router and printer makers have bought all the superbright LEDs on the market.

bboygravity 1y ago

I can highly recommend aluminum tape or copper tape. Doesn't let any light through and super easy to apply.

JumpCrisscross 1y ago

> One night I just went a back there and put a small green sticker on the plastic case Did you try talking to them about it first?

ottah 1y ago
This is more important, you have to give people a chance to rectify the situation.
- cwmoore 1y ago
  Seems the authorities were here already.
actionfromafar 1y ago
Depending on the neighbours, may be asking for more trouble.
- godelski 1y ago
  Sure, but we don't know that. Besides, it's becoming increasingly common to avoid confrontation. A lot of people might consider it too much trouble because they don't know their neighbors. If you don't go in angry/"swinging" then people are usually pretty reasonably
- JumpCrisscross 1y ago
  > Depending on the neighbours, may be asking for more trouble Idk, I’d consider it highly provocative if a neighbour installed anything on or tampered with my property without not only my permission but even the decency of notification. At that point, they not only lose the benefit of doubt but the benefit of civility since I’m not sure what other social conventions and laws they may be comfortable casually violating.
  - actionfromafar 1y ago
    Yes, I'm not advising, just an idle thought.

nenenejej 1y ago

One night I just went a back there and... Expects vandalism or more serious crime. ...put a small green sticker Ok, good engineer!

brikym 1y ago

What do you suggest I do about Ford pickup trucks with annoyingly high, bright high beams? Maybe a light bar for the rear of the car and some reflective material for the sunvisor?

actionfromafar 1y ago
Green stickers
pnw 1y ago
Night driving glasses. They don't reduce the lumens per se, but they reduce the blue light, leaving a yellow light which is not as headache inducing. https://www.eagleeyes.com/collections/night-driving https://www.eagleeyes.com/collections/night-driving
reaperducer 1y ago
Maybe a light bar for the rear of the car and some reflective material for the sunvisor? I once came up behind a semi on a rural stretch of I-80 with my brights on. He hit me with a set of rear-mounted flood lights. Probably illegal, but who's going to stop him? Plus, I got the message.
- Bender 1y ago
  If you mean rear extra bright red lights those are for fog to prevent being rear-ended. If there was no fog it is illegal. Whether or not it is enforced depends on location, agencies, priorities. Example usage would be in Bakersfield, CA there is a location that at times goes from clear to not being able to see lights 2 feet away nearly instantly. Beyond pea-soup fog. It's a very unnerving experience if one is not ready for it.
  - reaperducer 1y ago
    No. Not red lights. Flood lights. Like you'd have to light up your backyard.
    - 1y ago

scrps 1y ago

Not to hijack your post with a PSA but I think you'll endorse it... If you are building a product and it has any indicator lights please dim/diffuse/lightpipe them. It seems to be a trend these days of ultra bright LEDs for indicators, I have so many devices I've either disconnected, dimmed or taped over the LEDs because it is so bloody bright.

brikym 1y ago
Please forward this to the billboard advertising industry.
- Razengan 1y ago
  The entire advertising industry is cancer.
godelski 1y ago
Extra helpful if you can add a photodiode to the system that can adjust brightness accordingly. It costs effectively nothing in parts and should take any competent engineer less than 5 minutes to include it. Better, use multiple because redundancy is better! I wish my car had redundancy so it's entertainment panel could go back to adjusting from being visible during the day to not being blinding at night (it has brightness adjustments but that's insufficient for a car and living anywhere outside a major city) For people doing software, press for the love of god just make that shit adjustable. Only fucking noobs hard code variables. Practicing good habits will help everyone, including you. Unless you got a serious reason not to, expose that to the users. Even if you don't think anyone will want it, I promise you, someone does. There's a lot of people and everyone thinks differently. So only lock down what needs to be locked down. Unless you're trying to create e-waste or piss people off. Which in that case I only have two words for you and they aren't nice
- paradox460 1y ago
  You don't even need to do that. You can measure ambient light with the LED, using it as a photodiode

bob1029 1y ago

So the LED on these generators is intended to signal issues with the machine to the property owner. The green sticker might be fine at first glance (i.e., when the machine is healthy), but when it switches to yellow (routine maintenance alert) or red (will not autostart due to fault), the owner might not notice.

garbagewoman 1y ago
Yeah no kidding the lights are meant to indicate things

neilv 1y ago

> small green sticker Two additional ways to calm an indicator LED are with the modern self-laminating labelmaker tape: * White tape -- Put 1 or more layers over the LED, to dim and diffuse. * Black tape -- Use a pin to poke a hole through the tape, from behind, before putting it over the LED. (If there's 3+ LEDs, like on a network switch or server front panel, it will look neater if you measure the pitch of the centers of the LEDs, then use a ruler over the back of the labelmaker tape to match that with the holes. If the back of the tape has two strips you peel off to expose the adhesive, you can use that as a guide for keeping each hole level.) You could also put black tape over white, but I haven't had to do that so far.

jeffrallen 1y ago

What happened when you talked to him about it and offered him the sticker?

theodric 1y ago

If my neighbor had come to me saying my genset indicator light was annoying them I would have marched right out with side cutters and removed it. It's a pity that people can't just talk to each other rather than having to resort to vigilante stickering.

IAmGraydon 1y ago

You ever think about not breaking the law by trespassing and just talking to your neighbor?