Comment by eternityforest | Hacker News Reader

Comment by eternityforest | Hacker News Reader

How about get rid of them entirely except where one needs to be notified of something.

Phone chargers have no power LEDs and we are fine. The phone tells you and notifies when charging state changes. It might give you notice when something is broken before you try to use it, so I can kinda get it, but really, I think we'd be fine.

LED clocks don't need to be there unless a user specifically buys one at night. Appliances could be screen off until a button press.

Power tool charger lights make sense. There's no display or Bluetooth, you'll probably be checking it and interested in the status, it needs some kind of onboard indicator. Then again, I would prefer there WAS Bluetooth and it broadcasted a notice, and a reflective LCD would be fine too.

Network activity lights are meaningless most of the time, there's always some background nonsense going. Maybe sometimes useful, I wouldn't mind if they went away. Same with disk, unfortunately.

Aesthetically, indicator lights look kind of junky. I don't associate them with high tech, because phones and ultra thin laptops lack them. They're always so highly utilitarian looking. We all know that if they really wanted to be fancy they'd use a TFT even if it's not needed.

Why do I need to know the status? Is it unreliable enough I need debug info? Ak I supposed to think about it a lot? Is it supposed to remind me to unplug it to save power? Why is it wasting power anyway?

> Then again, I would prefer there WAS Bluetooth and it broadcasted a notice, and a reflective LCD would be fine too.

Why use a simple circuit that is definitely going to work when you can implement a complex software based solution to do the same thing?

Honestly there are times a status LED is really useful for quick troubleshooting, I don't want to find some weird menu on a PC of have to get a shell on a server to see whether network came up on a device, if that device even is a PC, it could be an IOT device that the literal only way to even control it is through the very network you are connecting and also receives it's power over said network cable.

Sometimes utilitarian is exactly what you need, I don't need a fancy screen on my washing machine or dishwasher, it's a utility item I need to know it's doing what I told it and that is that.

People are quick to complain that their new fangled fridges and washing machines and light switches and dishwashers don't last longer than the warranty yet they are exactly like you and don't see how something simple and reliable is significantly more cost effective than a fancy one that has Bluetooth radios and screens and software that goes out of date.

But appliances don't break because of the Bluetooth. At worst a badly designed smart circuit generally needs a reboot or factory reset, it doesn't break in the way that is expensive or takes more that a few minutes all that often. A 4 bar LCD battery indicator is rock solid, it just isn't as good in the pr9 grade stuff you need to see at a distance.

New washers and stuff seem to break because mechanical parts wear out, and some new power tools do in fact have Bluetooth, so you know right away when it's charged and how much is left, on things like battery generator alternatives.

Needing a smartphone to figure out if your power tool is charging is moronic and a complete waste of human resources in the engineering involved.

You don't need one, it's just a convenience feature in addition to the other indicators, alongside other Bluetooth features like anti theft.

Also that stuff is not always done by the same people doing more meaningful things. I could easily build a Bluetooth charger. I could probably teach a beginner to design that kind of thing in months.

I couldn't do the same for a solar inverter that was any better than existing stuff though. I couldn't figure out the DSP involved in making a better pacemaker. I'm not a mechanical engineer, so I couldn't do anything to make the physical part of a tool better, except by adding more software self protection for it. If I worked at a tool company, what could I be doing instead of Bluetooth?

> it's just a convenience feature in addition to the other indicators, alongside other Bluetooth features like anti theft.

Which adds cost, complexity and failure modes.

Thanks what you are not working at a tool company.

Theft is a lot more likely of a failure mode than Bluetooth.

Ah, then let's add BT to everything: flash drives, pens, women hygiene pads and, of course, sandwiches sold on the beaches.

Right?

Nobody needs BT in the power tools to prevent theft. No amount of BT would help you to retrive the stolen goods (see all those stories when police don't give a fuck for all these AirTags). Please, get a life.

I would love it if flash drives had Bluetooth. What else are we supposed to do now that phones don't have expandable storage anymore?

In DeWalt's case, they are shut off if you get out of BT range. I would imagine it just slightly deters crackheads, or perhaps it helps fight organized retail theft gangs which are apparently a problem for tool companies.

Occasionally police do care about airtags. It's better than nothing. Better than trying to defend your property with force, when the criminal is going to be far better at fighting than me, because it's part of their profession. It's a cheap extra deterrent that makes their job a little harder.

> I would love it if flash drives had Bluetooth

Looks like you forgot what you need a battery there too. At this point just buy a phone and use it as flash drive. You can even call on it if you lost it, or lock it through Google account.

> I would imagine it just slightly deters crackheads

Crackheads steal first.

> it helps fight organized retail theft gangs which are apparently a problem for tool companies

Just like automobile anti-theft devices aren't a problem for the organized crime the measly BT shit wouldn't be a problem for organized crime.

> In DeWalt's case

It's an inventory system in the first place, not anti-theft.

> It's better than nothing

You just asking to add a battery, bluetooth module, micro-controller (at least) or a full blown computer (Raspberries as mundane programmable OTC parts in the electric scooters comes to mind from a recent news), some app - can you guarantee what a 5 y.o. cordless drill would work with a your new phone? Or more like your new phone would allow a 5 y.o. app to install and work?

> Better than trying to defend your property with force

You are trying to solve an administrative problem with a technical means.

> It's a cheap extra deterrent that makes their job a little harder.

It's not cheap. It's additional $5 (at least) BOM for everything and you would pay way more than $5 for it in the end product.

Oh, by the way - carbon footprint.

> Honestly there are times a status LED is really useful for quick troubleshooting,

I 100% agree. Status LEDs are often really useful and important. They just shouldn't be blue, and shouldn't be bright.

I agree with the entire premise of the article.

They shouldn't be blue and they shouldn't be bright, I do like to have them though.

> Phone chargers have no power LEDs and we are fine.

I have a white anker charger with a blue (of course, it's always blue) LED so bright that I had to wrap the entire brick in light-blocking tape because the LED phased through the case everywhere.

Another favorite of mine was an USB M.2 enclosure that of course also had a blue LED (constant on = on, blinking = activity), but instead of using a side-emitting LED they used a top-emitting LED and just made it so incredibly bright that the light leaking out the side was still bright when viewed from outside the case. When you removed the case it was blindingly bright even in a well-lit room. Probably used more power than the USB chipset. Almost surprised you couldn't see it through the aluminium case.

>Same with disk, unfortunately.

Some newer cases are coming out without a disk activity light, and I hate it.

That light is by far the quickest, simplest, easiest way of judging whether a computer is actively doing something. I can just look at it for a second and know! This is even more important now, since SSDs don't make any sounds.

Contrast anything else, say Task Manager, which even if I leave it minimized in the notification area I would still first need to wake up the monitor and/or unlock the computer. That's at least several seconds just so I can check if it's doing something.

I want my disk activity light back, damnit. KISS is a virtue.

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