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-warren | 7 months ago

While we're at it, can we do something about the gigalumen blue light every device seems to have to indicate on/charging/charged? My house looks like a dystopia spaceship after dusk.

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JohnBooty|7 months ago

It's pretty much never changing.

It's the kind of flaw we don't notice until after we've bought the products and lived with them for a while. Therefore, it doesn't hurt sales and therefore, there is no pressure for manufacturers to change.

It sucks.

As a workaround, these work great. Note that these particular ones are partial blackout stickers. They are 50-80% opaque. You can still see the light, but it won't be bright enough to annoy. If you want to darken even further you can just layer two of the stickers.

https://www.amazon.com/FLANCCI-Blocking-Stickers-Dimming-Bla...

If you need total blackout, there are similar ones available that are 100% opaque, although at that point I'm not sure why a person would buy a specialty product instead of just using regular tape...

marcosdumay|7 months ago

> It's the kind of flaw we don't notice until after we've bought the products and lived with them for a while.

I dunno. There is an increasing amount of products announcing "no led indicators" as a feature. And I've seen plenty of reviews with people saying things like "the on led is too bright".

alterom|7 months ago

I've had to put a layer of electric tape, sometimes two of them, on some of those just to get the bedroom to a level where it's dark enough to sleep in comfortably.

They're so bright, you can see the damn blue circles on the ceiling. Blue moon rising, invited by no one.

cmg|7 months ago

I once bought one of those alarms that brighten along with the pattern of natural sunlight in the morning (and dim in the evening), as I don’t get much natural light in my bedroom. The time display on it was so unbelievably bright at its lowest setting that my sleep was worse until I piled stuff up in front of it. I don’t even bother with it anymore.

enobrev|7 months ago

Gaffers tape works great. Rips easy and one small piece is plenty to douse the brightest unwanted nightlight.

octo888|7 months ago

My record was 6 layers of duct tape! Didn't have any electrical tape around

magneticnorth|7 months ago

Yes, seconding this one too. I've opted for ugly black electrical tape squares over the worst offenders in sleeping spaces, but why is that the only option?

RankingMember|7 months ago

Ha, I've done the same. I never thought I'd become like my old grandpa, who didn't like when TV stations started adding crawls to the bottom of the screen for certain news/information so put electric tape across the bottom of the screen.

If they're going to do LEDs, at least do red ones, which don't obliterate night vision. Making them togglable is the ideal unless they're literally a life-or-death piece of equipment.

kaonwarb|7 months ago

This is something Eero routers do well: you can turn off the light (which is a more subtle white to begin with) in settings.

wonger_|7 months ago

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mjlee|7 months ago

I now have a small amount of electrical tape in my travel bag, and I use it at practically every place I stay. I just rewrapped some around a bit of plastic - no need for it to be very sticky anyway as I take it off when I leave.

kjkjadksj|7 months ago

I do the same only using some of the 2 dozen spare pillows they put on the beds

inetknght|7 months ago

You don't want the interior of your home to look like it belongs in a scene from a star wars visual novel? I think that'd be pretty cool actually.

socalgal2|7 months ago

My MacBook Pro's dual magsafe charging lights do this for me. It becomes an issue when I travel so that the MacBook is in the same room I sleep in. Sometimes turing it perpendicular to the bed is enough, at least it's not directly into my eyes even if it is lighting up the room. Other times I have to pile stuff on top

saghm|6 months ago

I've always struggled to fall asleep with even a moderate amount of light in the room, and I used to go crazy trying to cover every small led to make things easier for me. It took me far longer than it should have for me to realize that it would be easier to cover my eyes instead, and I bought a nylon sleep mask on Amazon for a few dollars. It's literally been life changing how much my sleep improved after that. If anyone is bothered by this specifically when trying to sleep, I'd highly recommend trying out using a mask to block light when sleeping; it's really cheap to give it to a shot, so you don't lose much by trying, and you might end up winning the lottery like me.

_DeadFred_|7 months ago

Fun fact, this is why nail polish was invented.

p1mrx|7 months ago

I have a monitor with a bright blue / dull orange LED. I found that stacking layers of kapton tape turns the blue into a dull green, while leaving the orange mostly unaffected.

Zak|7 months ago

The worst one of these I encountered was in a USB-PD power supply meant to replace a 12V outlet in a car. It was extremely distracting driving at night. The illuminated area covered most of the face of the device, so I covered it with RTV silicone.

tartoran|6 months ago

Stick some opaque tape on it. It will still see through but won't project light everywhere.

aitchnyu|7 months ago

When my wife moves in her sleep, her watch lights up the entire room for a moment.

ratelimitsteve|7 months ago

yes plz && ty, I listen to audiobooks at bedtime and I can't put my earbuds back in the case without them turning on a super bright blue light that has actually woken up my partner in the past. Why? I can see a little pinhole status light to show me that the connection is made correctly but why outline the whole case in blue and then start flashing the percentage charge remaining in the case while also animating charging bars to show that the buds themselves are also charging? Why turn my bedroom into the landing scene from the movie ET?