Seriously... Why so bright?

By: Qwaider

On:Wednesday, October 21, 2009 11:24:17 PM
In:Thoughts
Viewed: (5328) times

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My good friends in the industrial engineering department appear to be engaged in this pissing contest on who will install the brighter LEDs in their appliances. Which completely puzzles the heck out of me!

Remember way back when high intensity LEDs were too expensive and it would be almost impossible for anyone to see them in appliances? Well, these days they're EVERYWHERE, and quite cheap. But that doesn't mean that they should be used for everything.

Many have a simple idea of relaying information on the state of something (on or off). 99% of the time you don't even need to know if the thing is on or off because the freakin 50 inch TV is visible from the moon! Yet, Samsung (for example) insists on damaging our retinas with high intensity LED in the front to let you know that the TV is ON. The TV IS ON. THE GODDAMN TV IS ON. Even when the TV is not on, that LED is there to let you know that THE TV IS IN STANDBY! It's bright enough to be used as a night light!

Even worse many of the people who make WI-FI access points the type that comes with integrated 4 port Ethernet. They insist on installing the brightest LEDs they can find to indicate the that your cable is connected. Woo Hoo, and they keep blinking and shining ever brighter because THE NETWORK IS CONNECTED. It's like this is something you do 24/7. You just have to keep checking to see if that light is on because your life depends on it! When realistically you glance at it -maybe- once when you installed that new computer 18 months ago.

I have to give kudos to Dell by the way on their excellent use of LED for the power switch. It's bright enough to be seen. Not too bright that will cause eye damage like some others.

I think it's time for my good friends in the industrial design and engineering departments to start considering that these annoying factors in their designs. Bluetooth headsets should not have stupid annoying LEDs blinking all the time. We know, it's on. Can you do it in a discrete way that doesn't cause people to think they're being chased by the police?!

Think about the product, use it during the day, and at night. See how annoying it could be before you ship it to people and make them hate the technology, like I hate the Bluetooth dongle I got for my laptop. It was cute and tiny, but comes with aircraft class warning LED to let me know, every second, that BLUETOOTH IS ON!

Damn LEDs

*LED: Light Emitting Diode. A semiconductor device that works like (but better than) light bulbs

Memories....

#1
Marvin
Said
On: 10/22/2009 2:50:13 AM
SpamScore=[-0.21]

My darling wife requires complete darkness at night. The first thing she does when we acquire any piece of electrically-powered equipment is to cover all the LEDs with tape or nail polish.

#2
Subzero
Said
On: 10/24/2009 3:35:50 PM
SpamScore=[0.31]

The article was ok until u cursed LEDs. :(
LEDs r diodes, transistors r diodes, microprocessors r transistors and pcs r microprocesors :(

#3
Qwaider
Said
On: 10/24/2009 9:59:58 PM
SpamScore=[-42.27]

I shouldn't have cursed LEDs, they've done nothing wrong. It's the fault of the industrial design engineers
By the way, Transistors and diodes are two different things and have different functions. They're not the same. Although technically a Transistor is two conjoined junctions. Every junction is a diode. But that's a stretch

#4
subzero
Said
On: 10/25/2009 12:20:27 PM
SpamScore=[-0.23]

lool man, transistors and diodes and other circuit components are what I am getting a PhD in!

Transistors are basically two diodes (at least) connected "anode" to "anode" or "cathode" to "cathode". This kind of setup forms what we call a "transistor" since as we increase current (or voltage) the two diodes (=one transistor) will act as a switch either opened or closed.

Ofcourse, nowadays these two diodes (=one transistor) are doped directly together to form the transistor directly inside the same wafer.

Anyway,
please do me the favor of striking through the diode curse in your article :(

#5
Qwaider
Said
On: 10/25/2009 6:37:37 PM
SpamScore=[-42.31]

Wow! I didn't expect anyone to throw a PHD at me to explain something as simple as how Diodes and Transistors worked. I've been playing with these things since I was 6, and first studied about this stuff back in secondary school, trust me I know how they work. (I've taken them several times after that, in way more details, I can even gave lectures in electronics, digital electronics, power electronics and electronic design and manufacturing)
What you said is exactly what I said . However, I didn't know what level of detail should I get into. So I left it at the "Two conjoined junctions". Was that technically and factually "incorrect"? I think you will agree that it was correct.
By the way, transistors are not always "binary" switches and can function as Amplifiers as well. Since Transistor started first in the Analog world. Way before they were used in the digital world. I'm positive you already knew this too. But since you didn't mention it I thought I would throw it in there for absolutely no reason :).
PS, I personally designed and built a digital storage oscilloscope. I'm sure you know how much electronics go into something like that

#6
subzero
Said
On: 10/25/2009 9:52:45 PM
SpamScore=[-0.25]

Man, u r getting my comments "too" seriously! loosen up a little I still have no PhD to throw on anyone.

I said transistors are two diodes, you objected by saying "Transistors and diodes are two different things and have different functions". So I had to clarify things. And I still state again saying transistors are two diodes.

Since you already can give lectures in electronics, then you should definitely know that.