Blue LED "mods"

[+madman]

I don't get why people replace red LEDs in classic systems and call it a "mod". Is there something I'm missing? Why would I want a NES or N64 with a blue LED instead of its original red one? Am I missing some appeal of updated blue LEDs instead of the original red ones? If the original consoles had blue LEDs would people be modding the systems with red ones?

[Keatah]

Blue leds used to be cool until everybody made them obnoxious.

[Osgeld]

they were never cool, they instantly got used in everyfking thing as soon as they became inexpensive in the late 90's

 

now I will not sit here and tell you I have never put a blue led in a system, my game gear has one as its power light, but to me it made since, on the front there is no red (there is a orangeish red power switch on the top of the console) BUT there is a big blue start button.

 

In my defense I cut the current, thus luminosity WAY WAY WAY back, I am running about 1mA though that led cause I dont want a blue spotlight in my face while playing a game on a handheld

 

 

considering what that single blue LED could do at a very modest 20mA...

 

 

 

It all boils down to class, and control, sure there are times where ultra bright LED's are warranted, such as my 12 LED game gear LED backlight (each LED getting around 3mA each, see first pic for result) or in my current nintoaster project where I am trying to glow up very thick (3/8ths inch) translucent plastic.

 

To just slap an obnoxious LED in a system just cause is just trashy

 

just a disclaimer I design automotive LED lamps for a living so I can talk for hours about it, and if anyone was wondering here is what 4 led's in the nintoaster project looks like sans toaster, keep in mind the pictures above were taken in a pitch black room, the picture below was taken with the lights on, thats 3 60 watters on the ceiling, gotta remember the only parts seen are the inside of the toaster slots once its inside the toaster.

 

Edited August 9, 2014 by Osgeld

[CatPix]

Blue LED mod is probably the worst tasteless thing I can think of.

Probably because today it screams "LOOK AT ME, I'M A CHEAPO PRODUCT MADE IN CHINA" especially the ones using those clear blue wannabe whites LEDs.

Especially since, as Osgeld mention, people feel the need to put a minimal resistor on them, hence giving you a system able to light a whole town at night.

I suppose a mod based on adding a deep sea blue led on minimum power on a system could be considered a good thing tho.

If you wanna go with blue led, that is.

Leds from the 70 are more fun with some having the weirdest colors like greenish yellow, that aren't made anymore.

Edited August 9, 2014 by CatPix

[+save2600]

The bright blue LED's are obnoxious and the brighter they are, the more tasteless and obnoxious they get. Some of these new fangled LED's are so damned bright, it's like looking at the sun. Especially hate them in audio applications. Have one on a Martin Logan subwoofer and the first thing I did, was put a tiny piece of electrical tape over it.

[jaybird3rd]

Blue LED mods are just plain tacky. They might not be so bad if everyone would use the nice, gentle, diffuse blue LEDs that are roughly the same brightness as the green and red LEDs that are traditionally used as indicators. Instead, as others have said, everyone insists on using cheap, clear, ultra-bright blue LEDs that are so bright that, if you look directly into them or place them at eye level, they'll knock your eyes out and burn a hole through your brain. Ultra-bright LEDs have their place—I needed them for my 32K Memory Modules, for example—but I was sure to place them behind the label, where the light would be diffused and redirected through the transparent cartridge shells, not shining directly into someone's eyes.

 

Even newer computer cases use nothing but blue LEDs for the power and hard drive indicators, presumably because somebody thought it looked cool and everyone else followed suit. I never really liked the look of blue lights in a black case, and I prefer separate colors for separate indicators, so whenever I can, I rip them out and replace them with green and red LEDs.

[Osgeld]

so whenever I can, I rip them out and replace them with green and red LEDs.

 

I do the same, Ill replace them with the weakest red led's I can find at radio crap

[fiddlepaddle]

Blue means "cool"; Red means "hot".

 

Both are groovy, tuff, neato, nifty, and jake in the vernacular, depending on when you were a teenager.

 

I like blue.

[Hydro Thunder]

I also like blue and dislike red lights. Just a personal preference. I have a blue digital alarm clock, and have a blue light bulb in the nightlight I keep on when I sleep. Red makes me think of a prostitution zone (which of course isn't all bad ), blue somehow just seems cooler to me. I'm also partial to green, and anti- orange and yellow lights.

Whether it's "in" or not hip anymore never factored in for me whatsoever.

[OldSchoolRetroGamer]

lol how silly. People have different preferences and taste, for those people who prefer Blue over Red options are a good thing, for the rest who cares? End of story.

[Andromeda Stardust]

The red LED in my NES burned out a few years ago. I dunno why, but the lockout pin cut and my NES played games without a hitch. Red LED faded so dim it was barely visible, then went out. The obvious solution was to go to Radio Shack for a replacement ultrabright 5mm blue LED. So yeah I did the blue LED mod, but out of necessity because the original burned out. And yes it's freaking bright but my NES usually faces sideways when I game so it doesn't bother me. That said, I put masking tape across my Monoprice HDMI switch because of the stupid bright blue LED lighting up my room at night. I can still read the indicators through the masking tape so all's good.

[antpie94]

I'm guiltily of having my entire PC able to light my room up with blue LED's everywhere in it however I wouldn't do a blue led mod on an old console, if I had too I would replace the old red LED with a new, maybe brighter, red LED but I wouldn't want to change the colour... unless I was doing a 100% mod to it changing the case and everything to make it look like something out of Sanctum, but that's a waste of a good Atari!

[tpugmire]

I wonder if in, say 50 years, people will look at all the shiny black appliances with blue LED's in the same way we look at the green and orange appliances of the 60's and 70's? They'd be like "Gloss black and blue LED lights? That's so 2010's!"

[Osgeld]

I dont think it will ever top avacado vomit, burnt orange, and brick red, with the cheapest fakest wood grain paneling all in the same room, looks like a clown exploded and left to dry

Edited August 10, 2014 by Osgeld

[OldSchoolRetroGamer]

I dont think it will ever top avacado vomit, burnt orange, and brick red, with the cheapest fakest wood grain paneling all in the same room, looks like a clown exploded and left to dry

True, nothing is ever likely to be that awesome again............

[Andromeda Stardust]

I stripped the amber/green indicators out of my case a long time ago. My PC has 4 violet / near UV LED indicators in it, always on. Red HDD and Standby lights. Apparently good quality too because after years of running at high brightness, none of the four have faded at all. My front intake fan has a red glow also.

 

I wonder if in, say 50 years, people will look at all the shiny black appliances with blue LED's in the same way we look at the green and orange appliances of the 60's and 70's? They'd be like "Gloss black and blue LED lights? That's so 2010's!"

I dont think it will ever top avacado vomit, burnt orange, and brick red, with the cheapest fakest wood grain paneling all in the same room, looks like a clown exploded and left to dry

Colors of the 60s: Brown, ochre, snot yellow, avocado... Floral print patterns in these colors, and turquise in all the bathrooms.

 

Colors of the 70s: wood paneling everywhere, fake woodgrain on all the appliances.

 

Colors of the 80s: lots of light grays everywhere with hints of gray-blue. Often yellowed with age.

 

Colors of the 90s: attire: anything red-white-blue, later iMacs and knockoff stereos in bright UV-reactive neon rainbow colors.

 

Colors of the 2000s: Everything is slick black. Apple and Nintendo Wiis buck the trend going white. And yes, blue LED indicators on everything.

 

Colors of the 2010s: Black is back, baby!

Edited August 10, 2014 by stardust4ever

[TPA5]

I like the colour blue, so I don't mind blue LEDs. I don't like them so bright they scorch my retinas, but that would be any light, not just blue.

 

That's just my preference though. Blue soothes me.

[chart45]

i did it too

 

 

but i like it

[CatPix]

Well maybe it's the pic, but lower the power a bit and it's the "sea blue" color I mentionned that works fine, with this system at least

[Keatah]

One variety of blue LED I liked (and still do) is the custom doped Aqua-blue shade our lab cooked up. Completely different from the standard obnoxious stuff you see everywhere.

[boxpressed]

The original PS2 probably had a lot to do with the trend.

[+5-11under]

Somewhat accurate history:

 

In the old days, there was only red.

Later there was orange,

then yellow,

and green.

Finally moving up the spectrum to blue,

and also violet.

 

Relatively speaking, blue is new, and therefore arguably more fashionable than the others Personally, I prefer style and function over fashion, so blue is not always the best choice.

 

As mentioned by others, it screams "new crap" to me. Blue does sound like a decent warning colour, though (code blue). Green is great for "on" and red is great for "off" (just like stop lights, although I'm guessing some cultures may be different). Mostly I'd go for what works best with the other colours. A ColecoVision (sorry to bring that up again), for instance, has red text, so I would probably go with a red LED for that. Doubledown had a 9 LED (5 colour) mod at the front underside of the ColecoVision to match the rainbow logo.

[Dripfree]

I always thought it was kinda like putting one of those cheesy tips on your exhaust pipe. Just a little custom touch thats that says "Hey look its not stock anymore". It's also simple enough for a novice to do themselves.

[DaytonaUSA]

Because sometimes it makes sense.

 

Blue Gamegear, for instance, it looks much better to have a blue LED. While not "blue", a purple LED on a PC Engine Duo R (or RW) makes sense as all the lettering on the console is purple... not red.

 

No, on an NES, it's not a good fit. I agree. But not all systems "go" with red lights. Just a fact.

[Andromeda Stardust]

The red LED in my NES burned out a few years ago. I dunno why, but the lockout pin cut and my NES played games without a hitch. Red LED faded so dim it was barely visible, then went out. The obvious solution was to go to Radio Shack for a replacement ultrabright 5mm blue LED. So yeah I did the blue LED mod, but out of necessity because the original burned out. And yes it's freaking bright but my NES usually faces sideways when I game so it doesn't bother me.

The big red knob above the controller ports is a volume control for the PowerPak / Everdrive / Famicom expansion audio channel.

Edited August 12, 2014 by stardust4ever