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DesertNomad

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jun 25, 2008
635
1,304
Nevada
I have a new OWC Thunderbay 8 RAID system and also a new OWC Thunderbay 4 unit. When you take the front door/grill off, the LEDs are incredibly bright. However, at the top inside of the grill is a small rectangular plastic "lens" to let the light pass through the activity light holes in the grill. On the TB8 the plastic lens is black and nearly opaque so that the lights are dim and can only be seen straight on.

On the Thunderbay 4 however, the lens is clear and the full intensity of the light shines through which creates a laser show in my office at night. Are other people here seeing this on the TB4/TB8 units? I need to find a piece of dark tinted plastic for the inside of the door on my TB4.

The older Thunderbay 4 chasis has a much more reasonably bright LED system.
 
Stop at a place that does car window tinting and ask if they have a scrap piece and attach it to the inside of the clear lens.
 
Stop at a place that does car window tinting and ask if they have a scrap piece and attach it to the inside of the clear lens.

Haha - my thought already. There is not much room there for a rigid piece - 1/32" perhaps, but two blank negatives from old 35mm film are enough to do it. It would have to be pretty dark car window tinting. I tried my eclipse glasses and found out the LEDs are not quite as bright as the sun. :)
 
There should be some kind of international taskforce on Unnecessary and/or Overly Bright LEDs. It's been a scourge for at least a couple of decades!
 
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