[javier_e06]

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]

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.

[paxys]

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.

[giantg2]

I think I've used more electrical tape covering LEDs than I have for any other purpose.

[dkenyser]

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.

[cdjk]

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.

[zerocrates]

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?

[sedatk]

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.

[thr0w]

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.

[kraussvonespy]

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.

[brookst]

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.

[HPsquared]

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.

[amelius]

My electric toothbrush has a pulsaring led like that when charging. Which is especially annoying (in hotels etc.) because charging happens overnight.

[tomaskafka]

That’s because the router and printer makers have bought all the superbright LEDs on the market.

[BLKNSLVR]

That time is now

[neilv]

> 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.

[JumpCrisscross]

> 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?

[actionfromafar]

Depending on the neighbours, may be asking for more trouble.

[ottah]

This is more important, you have to give people a chance to rectify the situation.

[brikym]

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?

[brookst]

Flash brights at them, as you would do with anyone else. I drive a lifted 4x4 and through honest oversight failed to re-adjust headlights after the lift.

Just took a few people flashing brights at me to make me realize and do the (very easy) adjustment to proper specs.

Doesn’t solve people behind you, but it’s not like they’re going to pull over and adjust anyway. Flash brights and consider it a favor to the person in front of the offender.

[hammock]

What kind of car do you drive? It’s highly likely if your vehicle is low-slung that the pickup is not using high beams, just its regular lights, but the height difference means they shine straight in your eyes.

Similar to the effect when an oncoming car is cresting a small hill and the headlight angle of incidence changes to impact your eyes

[reaperducer]

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.

[yard2010]

Put tennis balls between your washer and the back windshield with a visible note "back off or feel my balls"

[pnw]

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

[actionfromafar]

Green stickers

[scrps]

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.

[godelski]

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

[Razengan]

This is actually one of the best things that Apple did with their devices (except a few like the MacBook MagSafe) that PC users with their 1000 lights on everything just don't get.

[brikym]

Please forward this to the billboard advertising industry.

[bob1029]

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]

Yeah no kidding the lights are meant to indicate things

[bboygravity]

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

[theodric]

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]

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

[jeffrallen]

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

[nenenejej]

One night I just went a back there and...

Expects vandalism or more serious crime.

...put a small green sticker

Ok, good engineer!