Guessing that the item in question is not actually turned off – it being on ‘standby’. That item may be consuming a considerable amount of power in this mode. Switching off at the wall would solve the problem and save energy usage. However, turning off completely may well lose some setting on restarting.

Many appliances that are controlled remotely have a LED that remains on. It would not have "an inverter" to operate it but is directly connected to the control board. Only option is to turn off the unit completely at the mains switch.

Or put a sticker over the LED so it can't be seen.

Paul beat me to it with the sticker ! I have a similar audio unit, the light is off when the unit is on, it's off when it is off but illuminated when the unit is on standby ! The problem with the most obvious solution is the unit will loose its's memory if turned off – as a radio it will loose all the stations tuned in and it's a pain to retune. Noel.

You are correct Michael, I was not thinking of a logic inverter.

I am also assuming (should never do that), that the LED is also turned on when the media player is working. If a logic inverter was used, the LED would be off. Therefore why not just dis-connect it ? (or cover it as suggested). If required to show when the player is working only in the on position, it just needs to be connected to the working power supply in the unit. (If you follow my logic)

Edited By Paul Lousick on 11/10/2022 10:13:03

Originally things had Red LED for off and green or other for on, Then the 'on' state seemed rather pointless as it was obviously on when making a noise. Also not having the green LED saved money. I had to fight to get each button on our products 'cos they cost 20p each. If less than 5 years old it will, by EU regulation Lot23', consume less than 0.5W when in standby.

The standby power regulations were brought in originally decades ago to stop coffee machines sitting there with a heater under the pot. Then they kept adding to the list of devices regulated and dropping the allowed power. Although it seems petty, now with loads of devices in every house it probably saves £30 a year in electricity. I think I calculated once that the standby LED in all our company products deployed amounted to 1MW.

That is actually what they do, dependent on the drive. If you have an active drive (one which can supply or sink current) then connecting the diode to either a positive rail or alternatively a ground will reverse the action.

ragards Martin

Always the way. You never quite know how to phrase it till people start to answer. I should have been clearer:

The LED is not simply an ON-OFF indicator connected across the supply; it also functions as an activity indicator which is useful (and I don't mind inverting that) and means it's driven by something. In any event, the tape solution is not an option for me.

Michael, thanks for the usual excellent searching (believe it or not I did search some time back without helpful result).

Hopper, the Alz situation is not anything new: I've been at it for the last 3 years, all through CV19 … and hasn't that been fun.

Edited By Who? on 11/10/2022 22:03:49

Is 'Who' Peter?

Last post at 22:02:38 has confused me (I've not been drinking but it is getting late).

Anyway, if covering the indicator is an acceptable option then the only solution is to alter the circuitry driving the LED.

Technically fairly simple and might only need a transistor or some other very cheap components, from a practical point of view though it might get very complicated! Whilst the indicator might be on the front panel it is (in 90% of modern electronic equipment) likely to be surface mount LED and possibly coupled to the front panel by a 'Light Guide'. Sometimes even just accessing the circuit board can be difficult so unless you are familiar the product so I suggest searching on YouTube for ' Teardown.

Ian P

Edit, All clear now Peter beat me to it.

Edited By Ian P on 11/10/2022 22:53:38