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.

  • lemonuri@lemmy.ml
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    2 hours ago

    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.

  • lost_faith@lemmy.ca
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    3 hours ago

    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.

  • thezeesystem@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    2 hours ago

    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

  • ReakDuck@lemmy.ml
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    2 hours ago

    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.

  • Stovetop@lemmy.world
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    6 hours ago

    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.

  • haych@feddit.uk
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    8 hours ago

    No, one of my mesh WiFi routers is in my room and too bright at night, I just put tape on it. Problem solved.

    • RobotZap10000@feddit.nl
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      7 hours ago

      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?

    • lost_faith@lemmy.ca
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      2 hours ago

      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 :(

    • Dyskolos@lemmy.zip
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      10 hours ago

      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 🫤

    • daggermoon@lemmy.worldOP
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      10 hours ago

      Yeah it sucks that I sleep in the same room as my computer. It’s damn near impossible to find a case without RGB.

  • sylver_dragon@lemmy.world
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    7 hours ago

    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.

  • Dr. Wesker@lemmy.sdf.org
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    12 hours ago

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

  • Mothra@mander.xyz
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    12 hours ago

    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.

  • onion_trial@europe.pub
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    8 hours ago

    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.