Super bright case leds

thejamppa · Post by **thejamppa** » Sun Jul 20, 2008 1:31 pm

If there is something I hate those are super bright power and HDD led's. Antec P18x and Antec Nine Hundred are wonderful cases for their purpouses. Only draw back is that during night timne, their leds blind you. P182's power and HDD leds and Antec Nine hundreds HDD led can really blind guy in a dark. I really hate that. Super bright blue leds in dark is the worse combination you can have IMHO.

One solution is not to plug the cords and mobo but when you got really quiet, almost inaudiable computer the led is usually only way to check if computer is on, if monitor is shut down like I usually do when I go sleep.

I've found some solution that works for myself though. I use some drop of glass paint over the led and once it dries in an hour, the light will be dimmed heavily and its shade is changed ( depending on colour used ) I found out that emerald green dimmens and softens the light quite considerable way, if led is blue. Enough for not being visible unless looked directly, unlike regular antec's blue leds that brighten entire room...

I really hope Antec would use less bright leds and personally... more softer colours like amberish or orangish light with warm green.

tehcrazybob · Post by **tehcrazybob** » Sun Jul 20, 2008 8:54 pm

This is one of my least favorite trends in computing, and even the big system integrators like Dell and HP are guilty. For crying out loud, people - they're indicators, not flashlights.

I replaced the blue flashlights in my SOLO with green and yellow LEDs of more reasonable brightness. Due to the complicated way the motherboard supplies power to the lights, there's no need to install a resistor in series or anything like that. Just pull the old LED out and solder a new one in (make sure the orientation is the same) and you're golden.

quikkie · Post by **quikkie** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 6:18 am

you are not alone - I used a (black) permanent marker to obscure the retinal-burn-inducing brightness.

alleycat · Post by **alleycat** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 6:59 am

Agree about the overuse of bright and, in particular, blue LEDs found in just about everything these days. It's so 3 years ago, and nearly always impractical for the task. Amber is my favourite.

Vicotnik · Post by **Vicotnik** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 7:14 am

I've connected resistors in line with my power and HDD LED.

frenchie · Post by **frenchie** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 7:48 am

agreed !!!!!!!!!!

Was wondering again last night why they had the lights so bright... Maybe if you get lost somewhere in your house, it's supposed to help the search and rescue team figure out where you are... maybe not...

Or if there is a power outage in your house... oh wait, power outage = no power=no LED...

Maybe that's why they make computers so loud !!!! So you don't have to look at the LEDs in the first place...

Conclusion : Bright LEDs are useless !!! Who wants to put sunglasses on when you need to look at the LEDs

!!

Now that I know you can change them directly on a SOLO, I'm going to change them tonight, depending on what I have in stock... Maybe Red for power and green for HD...

Matija · Post by **Matija** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 8:16 am

I have a blue LED on my TV (fixed with some black tape). Don't complain about blue LEDs on computer cases until you've had one shine directly in your face while using a product like it's meant to be used

tehcrazybob · Post by **tehcrazybob** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 3:16 pm

frenchie wrote:Now that I know you can change them directly on a SOLO, I'm going to change them tonight, depending on what I have in stock... Maybe Red for power and green for HD...

This isn't true just for a Solo. Changing the LEDs in any case is that simple.

qviri · Post by **qviri** » Fri Jul 25, 2008 9:26 pm

alleycat wrote:Amber is my favourite.

Another vote for the return of amber, soft red, and maybe soft green. So much nicer-looking than the blue crap we're served with.

frenchie · Post by **frenchie** » Sat Jul 26, 2008 12:07 am

Just did the mod

green for power
red for HDs

looks good and so NOT bright

sjoukew · Post by **sjoukew** » Sat Jul 26, 2008 7:08 am

It was the first "mod" I made to my antec p180. I pulled the cord from the power led the first day

stromgald · Post by **stromgald** » Thu Aug 14, 2008 10:51 pm

Yeah, I'm resurrecting an old thread, but I've got something interesting for people to try if they haven't already dimmed/swapped their LEDs.

I was working on a server rack that had a rackmounted KVM switch that had a terrible blue LED. It's brighter than the ones on the recent Antec cases I've used (NSK4480, NSK3480, Take4). Since it was brand new and everything, I wasn't about to crack it open. I just put a few post-it notes over the LED (~4-5 yellow ones). I also did this on my NSK3480 at home.

Well, after about six-months, I accidently knocked off the Post-It note and I noticed little white specs on the paper. Apparently, the LED bleached some of the color off the yellow paper.

It was kinda interesting because you could see several spots (since the Post-It fell off and got moved periodically), and it was pretty obvious that the bottom Post-It had the biggest white/clear spots.

I've since replaced the old Post-Its with 8 blue colored Post-Its. They work much better at dimming the blue light and hopefully are more resistant to the bleaching since they should reflect the blue light (not sure about the UV component though). That was a few months ago, so I'll probably give it a few more months before taking it off and checking for bleached spots

IsaacKuo · Post by **IsaacKuo** » Fri Aug 15, 2008 5:32 am

I like using a post-it because it's a simple nonpermanent change, but it takes a crazy number of layers of paper to block the light.

Instead, I simply turn the sticky part of the post-it into an aluminum foil "band-aid". Cut the post-it so it's a rectangular strip. In the center, stick a small square of aluminum foil. Then apply this "band-aid" to the offending LED. It completely blocks the light.

If you want, you can poke a pinprick in the aluminum foil to leave a small dot of light.

tehcrazybob · Post by **tehcrazybob** » Sat Aug 16, 2008 7:18 pm

stromgald wrote:[post-its](not sure about the UV component though)....

There's no UV component to an LED; they emit pretty much pure spectrum light. You should be just fine in that regard.

Post-Its are a great way of dealing with the issue when you can't actually modify the lights for whatever reason. When I have friends complain about the brightness of their LEDs, it's generally not worth my time to do any soldering. Instead I create a band-aid out of clear tape and white printer paper, and stick it between the LED and the light-pipe leading to the front of the case. This works remarkably well, and only takes a few seconds. Additionally, because it's behind the front panel, it's secure and long-term, but still very easy to remove.

dragmor · Post by **dragmor** » Sun Aug 17, 2008 5:28 pm

One of the nice features that Shuttle has had for a long time is control of the brightness of the LEDs on the case. Mine has 0% to 100% in 10% increments.

Ethyriel · Post by **Ethyriel** » Sun Aug 17, 2008 6:54 pm

Since most of my stuff is black, I use a gob of black silicon rubber over the offending LED. It's easy enough to peel off when the time comes.

This reminds me how much I love my NEC LCD, it has an option for LED brightness from 0-100% in 5% increments, and also the color between blue and green. Unfortunately, the amber standby diode isn't adjustable.

I need to find a temporary way to dim, but not block, the LEDs on all my network hardware. I suppose I could just use a thin layer of the silicon.

seasponge · Post by **seasponge** » Mon Aug 18, 2008 3:01 pm

black electrical tape. even on my numlock led!

mathias · Post by **mathias** » Sun Oct 05, 2008 11:15 am

This annoying trend isn't just limited to PC's, my phone has an annoying LED which doesn't even do anything. With PC's it's half bad, since most people don't unconsciously leave them on overnight.

That was by far not the only case of excessive time-of-day-inappropriate light causing me problems. For example, my windows leaked in too much light, I had to block that. And room lighting is often excessive.

On the whole, I don't mind LED's at all, they're much more often a solution rather than a problem for me, I use them instead fluorescent lights whenever possible to deal with the aforementioned room lighting problem.

Damn mental pollutants.

Super bright case leds

Super bright case leds

Blue LEDs bleach paper too!

Re: Blue LEDs bleach paper too!