Light pollution - Lykalyte

Light pollution

Some of you may may experience this more than others but if you are like me you have a sensitivty to any tiny source of light at night time when you are trying to sleep.  I was a shift worker for years and there are plenty of studies around the effects of light exposure at night time and sleep issues.  It seems like just about every modern day device has some sort of led indicator light.  A faint light during daytime can seem like a torch light at night when you are trying to sleep.  At one point I had a powerline adapter in my bedroom, at night time it was like a set of traffic lights in my bedroom constantly flashing orange, green and red.  A bit of black electrical tape to cover the flashing lights fixed the problem but it wasn’t the prettiest solution.  Even discreet led's like the ones on our Wifi Smart Switch can seem quite bright in the middle of the night.  This can be an advantage as the faint glow can help you to navigate without the need to switch the lights on and you can always see where the switch is if you do need to turn the lights on.  But when it comes to bedrooms you might not want the light to be as bright.  This is where a product like Light Dims comes in.  These handy little vinyl stickers can be used to 'dim' the led light or block it out altogether.  The stickers come in various sizes, shapes, colours and blocking strength 50%-100%.  They can be used externally or on the inside of the product you are applying them to.  I have attached an example below of a Zigbee gateway that has/had a particularly bright led.  I applied the light dim sticker internally as I feel it looks tidier and the stickers are non-conductive so safe to use.  The end result in the last picture is much more subdued, you can barely see the indicator led.  Of course Light Dims do come in white and silver colours as well so as to match the colour of the device you are applying them to if applying externally.  If you do decide to apply internally make sure the device is not connected to power before you continue especially in the case of mains supply!  If a complete block out is what you would like then you can always use trusty old electrical tape which can be cut to shape and if it's applied internally the colour of the tape won't matter as much.  I hope these solutions help in some way and may even lead to a better nights sleep for some of you.  As always feel free to get in touch if you have any questions or comments.  Cheers Luke.

Zigbee gateway ledZigbee gateway internalZigbee gateway internal ledLight DimsLight Dims sheetZigbee gateway internal led coveredZigbee gateway subdued led

Featured cover image Photo by Sergei Akulich from Burst
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