22h ago

Would you return something because the power indicator LED is too bright?

I got a HDD dock from startech.com. It works great and does everything I need. The problem is it has the brightest goddamn blue LED I have ever seen. It is so unnecessarily bright. My eyes hurt looking in the same direction as it. What the fuck should I do? Return it? De solder the stupid ass LED? It works great aside from this one issue.

Edit: I opened the thing and drew with sharpie on the LED. It's bearable to look at now.

61 comments

Tape
- The problem with that is the LED also functions as the power button.
  
  i had a monitor like that once. big bright af blue power light baked into the power button, bottom center of the bezel. blue led was the 'new' thing back then. the barton-era matching pc (which i didn't have) had a larger matching button on its front. if you know your '00s pavilions, you know the ones.
  it was horrible. that monitor lived its entire life with a black piece of paper taped over the whole switch and light. i was not saddened when it finally gave up and failed to turn on. i was more annoyed that it took 15 years for it to fail.
  
  Press on the tape?
  
  Carefully trimmed sticker?
  EDIT: Ah, I see you've handled it. Carry on, then.

Yes but also I've just put electrical tape over many an item.
The RGB craze is the worst.
- Yeah it sucks that I sleep in the same room as my computer. It's damn near impossible to find a case without RGB.
  
  Should be possible to just not plug them in.
  But I have no idea why they are there in the first place.
- Amen. I do love LEDs since their dawn and have a big-ass collection. But on every single stupid computer thing? I don't wanna pay extra just because my mouse can have stupid rgb-lights. Or my damn RAM. It adds absolutely nothing, costs more and has another part that will go broke.
  I hate the rgb-craze...
  One my Xbox controller's light is so bright it could power our solar-panels. I had to put multiple Band-Aids on it 🫤
- Last pc i built i had 1 hard request, "I don't want a damn xmas tree in my pc." girl laughed and the only light is from the heat sync :(

I've use a black sharpie to "tint" LEDs before. Your mileage may vary though, depending on the kind and shape of LED.

I am also a hater of unnecessarily bright lights. In your shoes, presuming I'm happy with the product otherwise, I would paint over it with a bit of nail polish.
You can get polish in any color you want these days, and it's very cheap. It dries fast and it comes with a very small brush. You can apply one coat, see if the led still shines through too much, apply another coat 15mins later once the first layer is dry. Repeat.
Edit: seeing the photo I realize the shape it has. Be careful with the polish if you use it, one coat or two probably will be okay on the inner surface but don't add more or the button may get stuck. Also wait extra before even daring to test button functionality, you don't want the button scraping off semi dry polish.
- I might just open the thing and paint over the actual LED.
  
  That's a good idea if it's an option

Likely not, it seems wasteful if the product is otherwise good in all other important regards. I'd just cover up the LED with tape or paint.

You could dab it with a little paint or glue or something.

This is where black electric tape can be your best friend.
- I bought a keyboard from ThinkGeek that had an LED that would hit me right in the eye. A little piece of tape and that keyboard served me well for years.

Blue LEDs are the worst offenders. No need to return it as long as you keep a bit of black tape ready. If you still need it as an indicator, you can use layers of yellowish tape. The one used while painting your walls works great. Masking tape it's called in English.

No, one of my mesh WiFi routers is in my room and too bright at night, I just put tape on it. Problem solved.
- Every modern router that I've worked with has an option to turn the lights off at night. Does the control panel of your router have that too?
  
  It technically has got that setting, but sometimes I'll do a weird shift or do something that requires me to sleep when it would otherwise be on. I don't want it permanently off because if I pick it up and look under I can still see the light if I need to and that's quicker than changing settings in the app.
  The tape works and you can't see it, so I have no need to do it in software.

I have marker pens and led dims so...no

Yes
A sharpie also works.

I suggest getting something like LightDims: https://www.lightdims.com/index.php

Returning it seems extreme to me... But I'm happy modding things like that.
Stick a piece of paper or card over the button/LED such that you can still depress it... Iterate/repeat until you're satisfied.
- I have never heard anyone claim returning something is "extreme" before. It's so mild it should be one of the first options you consider, especially when you ordered online and didn't get the chance to see the item before purchase. You shouldn't get saddled with shit just because there's some "feature" you hate which you weren't aware of when you bought it. For that reason where I am you'd have a legal right to return almost any order within 14 days of receipt no questions asked, or longer if there's a defect.
  
  Tell me you are not in New Zealand, without telling me you are not in New Zealand.
  
  I meant extreme for this very specific case. If every other features of the product is satisfactory for OP then dumping the whole product is extreme.
  No product is perfect in every way for every customer. Modifying a product that you've already bought is an entirely reasonable thing to do.

I either tape the things with Isolation in dark to see nothing or the Painters-Tape which is yellow and partly lets light through.
But colored isolation band lets the light through a bit too.

Nail polish. Couple layers of black and you can tune in how dark you want it

some good ideas here already. i just wanted to suggest that if ur going to open it, the option of adding a small resistor in series is also there. thatll lower the current going thru the LED and make it darker.
- When I opened it there was room for the LED and not much else. It was soldered directly to the board. I did consider it until I saw inside.

lol, I know this pain. about 20 yrs ago i bought a shiny new pc case and expected the red leds, it had 2 super bright blue leds that were either solid on(power) or flashing(drive activity), this pc was next to my bed pointing across my bed. the entire room was lit by these and hard blue circles were projected on the wall. ended up taping a cardboard strip over them.

I've had good success with small pieces of electrical tape cut so that a very small part of the LED is still exposed.

You can get LED film off Amazon for like, $7. It blocks those annoying LEDs on tech devices, monitors, wall outlets, kitchen appliances, and my nemesis, smoke detectors with stupidly bright LEDs.
Best $7 you'll spend this year.

I've not returned an item over it, but I've often wondered if there was a market for a company which de-LEDs items.

The xbox Button on my Elite Controller is too damn bright when i play in darkness. Ive put black electric tape over it and i‘m happy.
- I think I remember finding an option to dim that.
  
  I remembered it too but was way too lazy to look it up and just wanted a quick fix. I’ll look it up eventually, maybe

Depends on the product and how inexpensive it is but generally avoid touch devices or anything with led or lights on them that are not needed because I don't need a fucking touch display for something a button can do.
I bought a air fryer a week ago and couldn't find one that had simple dials and buttons. It's fucking disgusting and it's so bright too. But hey, I can use it as a night light when I'm getting water I guess

Nope, i sleep with a 1000 watt equivalent led bulb on all the time.
- Getting flashbanged (minus the bang, usually but not always) by my electronics is helping me build up an immunity to riot control devices. Combine it with my cooking and it's good training for pepper spray, tear gas and vomiting agents as well.
- Do you have noctophobia?
- If you have all the lights on, that one little light won't bother you as much because your pupils aren't dilated.

Tape

Translucent cellotape over the led? Or small translucent plastic piece taped over it?
Not sure if it would affect air circulation tho

I usually use a little tiny piece of electrical tape, which should work unless the power button is absolutely minuscule. Desoldering it also works, but is more permanent.

Yes. Return rate influences future product design.

No, but I did case mod a computer for this once. My Fractal Node 202 my last computer is in has a very bright white power button LED, too damn bright. Fortunately in this case it's a standard 5mm through hole LED standing up off the board on its leads a bit, bent to point out the front. So I bent it to point upward. Dimmed it down significantly.

My monitor had a bright blue power LED smack in the middle of the lower bezel. I took it apart on day one and brutally ripped out the LED, only then did I ever connect it to my computer.

61 comments