A weakness with the Generic Smart Outlet Zigbee driver is the LED cannot be disabled. It seems stupid to me that there is a 'flash' button but no 'Led off/On' button. It seems to exist (I saw it on the Smartthings driver) but it's sorely lacking on the generic driver.
No one in our house likes bright lights when they sleep, and that includes annoying LED's on TV's, outlets etc.
No doubt everyone knows of the LightsDim film (expensive), or the 'cut some electrical tape' (cheap!). Here is another method some folks may find useful ...
I had these felt pads laying around from an rPi project - and they are perfect :). If you apply it JUST right, you can still actually see a leakage of the LED.
My smart outlets are all now CMARS (eWeLink manufacturer is what the driver says). I've been replacing a few Peanuts after being guided that they potentially cause problems and I have no need for power metering anyway - so these eWeLink outlets (~$16 for 2) are awesome.
You might note that the size still blocks other outlets, a common problem with these type units and you can see how I solved that here. I hope others find this a useful trick.
FWIW, that outlet in your photo looks like a eWeLink SA-003 outlet (they're sold under a variety of brand names). If it is, then AFAICT, the manufacturer doesn't permit the LED to be disabled/dimmed on it.
@aaiyar - I'm pretty sure you're right - I tried to use a modified driver I snagged from smartthings and it had no effect. I did reach out to the manufacturer today but I don't have expectations. The Flash feature of the generic driver (and I had to ask myself, why put the flash feature on the generic driver and not the on/off ...) and flash does NOT work on these units. So... while it's always better to use software that can be useful down the road and helps others, this was my fix on this
most if not all zigbee outlets do not provide a generic means to disable the indicator light, if you have a specific driver snippet that does infact disable the led, please post it up!
I stand corrected! I've got 2 of the exact units at my feet and they immediately triggered the Flash including the timer of the flash. note: The flash is orange to green - so I can't use a long delay to simulate led off... bummer.
arg. I'll go back and find it. I think it was the Smartthings Iris outlet...
okay - pretty sure I was in this area but I can't see the command now. Disable Blue LED
This discussion I found was about disabling the LED on a dimmer switch, and has a hardware solution given ... sorry it's all I can find now
I found "lightdims" work great for such situations. They have various levels of transparency from light dim to blackout. Since they are just plastic there is not adhesive. They stick like the peel off film on a new product screen.
I currently have them on my C7 to take the edge off the led, my Cox TV box whose clock can light the room and my TV on led that is really annoying (gee you would think the large screen above the led would give one a hint the TV was on.
Smart plugs have to have power connected at all times so the devices can act as repeaters as well as wait to receive commands to activate the relay or dimmer. I suspect the LED indicator is part of that always-on circuitry once the plug connects to the hub. However, I have not tried dissecting one of the plugs to see how it is wired internally.
