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Why Sys-Admins Are Disabling The Lights on WiFi Access Points (networkworld.com)
More than a dozen IT professionals said they've disabled the LEDs on wireless access points, according to a Network World article shared by Slashdot reader alphadogg:
Some users don't want a beacon shining in their eyes as they try to get to sleep and others worry about the health effects of a blue light glowing all night. Some even resort to unplugging the gear when they're not using it.... "It seems when you are sick and laying in a hospital bed and have trouble sleeping, the single LED shining in your eyes is an issue," [says the wireless network staff specialist for Penn State College of Medicine]. "I get it and understand it..."
Network pros say they have begun asking vendors such as Cisco if they can provide an easier way to dim, rather than turn off the lights on the access points entirely, via wireless controllers. And some would like to see more granular control, such that the power light could be left on to comfort end users that the device is working, but blinking lights could be turned off or dimmed to avoid bothering them.
End users have tried "all sorts of makeshift fixes -- from Post-it notes to bandages to condom wrappers," but one network architect complains that when they disable the LEDs altogether, "I invariably get a ticket (or more) that the access point is offline and wireless is broken because there are no lights on..." On the plus side, when they then re-enable the LED lghts, "magically the wireless performance and coverage is perfect!"
Network pros say they have begun asking vendors such as Cisco if they can provide an easier way to dim, rather than turn off the lights on the access points entirely, via wireless controllers. And some would like to see more granular control, such that the power light could be left on to comfort end users that the device is working, but blinking lights could be turned off or dimmed to avoid bothering them.
End users have tried "all sorts of makeshift fixes -- from Post-it notes to bandages to condom wrappers," but one network architect complains that when they disable the LEDs altogether, "I invariably get a ticket (or more) that the access point is offline and wireless is broken because there are no lights on..." On the plus side, when they then re-enable the LED lghts, "magically the wireless performance and coverage is perfect!"
This is newsworthy? Slashdot continues to decline with each transition to a new owner. It's literally become a clickbait site.
So, it has come to this. An article on Slashdot about covering up blinking lights.
one network architect complains that when they disable the LEDs altogether, "I invariably get a ticket (or more) that the access point is offline and wireless is broken because there are no lights on..."
Then cover them with black masking tape. Voila, no lights. Plus, everyone can see why there are no lights, so they won't be psychologically fooled into thinking the thing isn't working. And if there really is a problem, they can peel back the tape and have a look.
Bloody hell...
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
I'm one of those sys-admins who's asked for dimming to be added to the Cisco WLC software. About 18 months ago I had a brain tumour about the size of a small orange removed. I've had a number of stays in hospital rooms since with Cisco WAP's in them. I can assure you that the LED's on those WAP's when you're trying to get to sleep are annoying as hell as they light up the whole damn room.
Make it e-paper, not LCD, then it will be readable under any light. If e-paper displays are cheap enough to put on store shelves as price tags, then they should be cheap enough to serve as a status display on a router.
E-paper would be a terrible display for this purpose. It can't change fast enough to work as an activity light, and since it maintains an image effectively forever until updated it's not trustworthy for lower rate status monitoring like power on. If the device crashed or even powered off entirely without resetting the display first it'd look normal at a glance.
I used to get high on life, but I developed a tolerance. Now I need something stronger.
... or mounted with LEDs facing away from people: not in a location where the LEDs will be visible from a sleeping area.
I've been bothered by the LED on my cordless toothbrush flashing during its charge cycle, even while the (green) LED was facing away from my bed directed at a light colored wall. My master bath has an outlet that is only energized when the light fixture is on, so I either have to charge it in the bedroom during the day or take it into another room if it needs to be charged overnight. The blue lights from my workstation in another room are clearly visible at night in my bedroom if the doors to the rooms are open. Like others have mentioned, I've resorted to using colored vinyl tape to cover the overly bright LEDs on things to reduce the intensity to something reasonable.
Not quite a roll of tape, but check out LightDims. You get one set of stickers that dim "50-80%" (or rather three sets, in black, silver and white) and another set that, as far as I can tell, are completely opaque.
They only really stick on flat surfaces, but they look better than using a random bit of tape, and the opaque ones really are opaque.
a WAP is a workspace device, like a computer or TV. It cannot be concealed in wiring closet that may be as much as 300 feet away and still hope to serve the area it's needed for. Hell, I have some buildings where two floors are served by one IDF and there are close to a hundred WAPs patched.
Modern Cisco WAPs have annoyingly bright LEDs on the workspace-facing side. I have three 3602e WAPs that I use for my home learning lab and home wifi, and I have disabled the LEDs on one and probably will on another. An option to either dim or to disable the blue color when not in a fault state would prevent having to do that.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
I've had good success using a black Sharpie (permanent marker) to "dim" the output by coloring all over the bulb.
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .