Always On LEDs

[TheGreatleys]

I understand that we're living in the future or whatever, but does everything really need to have an LED on it?

Our LP detector has a nice bright green always-on LED

to make sure we know that everything's OK

.

Granted, it's probably good to have some visual indicator that the LP detector is getting power, but does it have to be so bright? I'm trying to sleep in here.

12V laptop cord? LED. 12V cell phone car charger? LED. Half the 12V to USB adapters I've found? LED, always on, super bright.

This afternoon, I installed a couple of these 12V/USB outlets. For some reason, I was thinking the LED would activate when a device was using power. That maybe it was there to indicate something. No such luck. Always on.

So, what do you folks do about your LED-lit devices? Cover them in tape? Break the LED? Sleeping mask?

[ROBERT CROSS]

Switch it...get rid of the parasitic draw. 👍

Bob
🇺🇸

[Paprika]

Bob's suggestion is a good one. Also, sometimes I'll open up a device and simply snip one of the LED's leads. I do that routinely with 12 VDC multiple-outlet adapters, for example. Who needs an additional constant 10-15 mA load? It would probably be pretty easy to do this with the 12V/USB outlet you mentioned--easier than installing a switch. (Not that there aren't other reasons for wanting a switched outlet.)

[TheGreatleys]

Originally Posted by ROBERT CROSS

Switch it...get rid of the parasitic draw. [emoji106]

Bob
[emoji631]

Switches sound like a great idea for outlets. Am I understanding correctly that you switched your LP detector? Wouldn't that somewhat defeat the purpose of having one?

[SilverHouseDreams]

Black electrical tape is cheap and blocks light quite nicely, toss some in your suitcase before your next trip to a hotel to do the same thing...horribly bright alarm clocks (though I usually unplug those), clocks on microwaves, etc. When it comes to things that I "own", I use the tinted tape that Lightdims.com offers. Works quite well.