I saw such a blinking LED and found out exactly what it was.

If you’ve come across this blog post, you probably saw a blinking LED or tiny light, flashing repetitively in a totally random spot. Chances are that spot was on the side of the road, in the middle of some shrubbery exiting McDonald’s, or like, me, in the middle of an empty field.

Your thought pattern is probably like this tweet.

It’s happening a lot lately, and there’s a perfectly logical explanation for it.

Here’s a video submitted by a reader showing a device with a purple LED blinking at the end of it.

And here’s a video I took one night of an LED blinking in the middle of an empty field.

This is the third time it’s happened to me. I’d spotted the blinking light driving by, coming home, so I decided to walk out to that exact location and find out once and for all exactly what it is.

The blinking light did indeed turn out to be a blinking LED attached to the end of a lithium-ion cell. After a quick google, my suspicions were confirmed, the randomly thrown LED light attached to the battery probably came from a vape pen or e-cigarette.

Vapers and e-cigarette users are, for some reason, disassembling their vape pens, ripping out its internal electronics, and chucking it out their car windows.

Vapers littering? Why am I not surprised.

Here’s what’s inside a typical e-cigarette.

vape pen guts

That giant lithium-ion battery is used to heat the tiny heating element inside and to power on that LED every time an e-cig user “takes a hit,” imitating a real cigarette.

The LED also blinks to indicate a low battery, complete charge, or various other error codes.

Now that we know what those blinking LEDs are, if you do see one and can reach it, be a good citizen, pick it up, and dispose of it properly.

Batteries, including lithium-ion cells, are classified as hazardous waste and shouldn’t be thrown out with regular garbage.

If the thought of driving to your city’s designated e-waste recycling center sounds like too much of a chore, know that most home improvement centers, like Lowes, have places you can dump old batteries.

If you see your friend chuck their vape pen battery out the window, tell them, “Bro!?” and maybe drive back and pick it up.

Consider recycling the guts of your vape pen, instead.

Did you see a blinking LED in the middle of nowhere? Let me know in the comments below.

19 COMMENTS

  1. Yes! I saw TWO of them in different places on my drive home tonight. I was driving from Whitehall, MI south to Robinson Township, MI and saw one when I was just getting on the highway, then again about 1/2 hour down the hwy, right by the side of the road. I’d never seen one before and thought I was in the Twilight Zone!

    • So crazy. I have seen 3 of them now, two of them in Massachusetts on the side of the road right outside of the line, and one in Maine where I currently live. I also have seen them after torrential downpours and rain in both times, I believe that maybe this could be some sort of tracking unit for an animal that has been dislodged from the rain or maybe even one on a someone’s vehicle. I like the idea of it maybe being a vape pen and I have seen vape penned that do blink similar however this is a much brighter light almost like it wants to be seen. I am very curious and I will not stop until I find another one cuz I will pull over to the side of the road pick it up and examine it, who knows for all we know it could be f****** aliens.
      Of anyone finds out what these are before I can find another one please contact me and lemme know what it is.
      Jacki Smollett on facebook.com/bostonjax

      • Lol Jacki I actually thought someone would be waiting in the bushes to kidnap me so hence why I never stopped for them but they were baffling me so had to Google it tonight lol good to know if I stop I won’t be taken by aliens or whoever else fancied taking a 40 year old mum at 3am in the morning ?

  4. I have lived off the same road for 26 years and have never ever seen this before. Maybe 5 weeks ago I saw one really close to the road just outside panted line. I thought “How bizarre” well I’ve noticed 4 more since then and I happen to see 2 of them in one night. I don’t think it’s a vape battery. So perfectly placed every time and twice it was raining. That’s not a coincidence

    • So crazy. I have seen 3 of them now, two of them in Massachusetts on the side of the road right outside of the line, and one in Maine where I currently live. I also have seen them after torrential downpours and rain in both times, I believe that maybe this could be some sort of tracking unit for an animal that has been dislodged from the rain or maybe even one on a someone’s vehicle. I like the idea of it maybe being a vape pen and I have seen vape penned that do blink similar however this is a much brighter light almost like it wants to be seen. I am very curious and I will not stop until I find another one cuz I will pull over to the side of the road pick it up and examine it, who knows for all we know it could be f****** aliens.
      Of anyone finds out what these are before I can find another one please contact me and lemme know what it is.
      Jacki Smollett on facebook.com/bostonjax

  5. So crazy. I have seen 3 of them now, two of them in Massachusetts on the side of the road right outside of the line, and one in Maine where I currently live. I also have seen them after torrential downpours and rain in both times, I believe that maybe this could be some sort of tracking unit for an animal that has been dislodged from the rain or maybe even one on a someone’s vehicle. I like the idea of it maybe being a vape pen and I have seen vape penned that do blink similar however this is a much brighter light almost like it wants to be seen. I am very curious and I will not stop until I find another one cuz I will pull over to the side of the road pick it up and examine it, who knows for all we know it could be f****** aliens.
    Of anyone finds out what these are before I can find another one please contact me and lemme know what it is.
    Jacki Smollett on facebook.com/bostonjax

  6. I see them all the time and there’s no way it’s a vape pen disassembled and tossed out a car window it wouldn’t survive and then conveniently all land on the edge of the white stripe or on the white stripe. I have close up pics. I’ve also seen no blinking and have pics as well

  7. Tonight driving from Nottingham to Mansfield i saw 2 in different places by the side of the road. One on the A614 and the other somewhere on an unmarked road nearer Mansfield. First time i have ever it.

  8. I live in northern Mississippi, drive a fuel hauler so naturally a lot of night driving. I see them once in a while on far reaches of rural highway. Like others posted they are consistently right next to the road, blue flashing LED. My thinking is this is a police “tattle tale” Device for catching speeders in rural areas where police presence is thin. Put 2 of these on the road each direction with a cop in the area monitoring and it’s like having 3 cops for the price of one. Just my thoughts but sensible for police effectiveness

  9. A friend of mine picked one up. I have a picture. Can’t post it. He’s a truck driver and they see them all of the time.

  10. I’m in California and I see blue blinking lights an these are on a pole one in winco an the other on the on ramp to fwy

  11. Was watching lightning out my window this evening and noticed the blue flashing light across the rd on the hard shoulder as we are next to a main road, turned out to be the blue LED and battery also, probably the vape thing mentioned, was just a bit concerning because it was sporadically flashing and I thought it was some device taking photos directly of our house

  12. After an unfamiliar truck parked across the street from two custom Harleys for over 30 minutes and then parked in two additional spots on the street. a homemade device with two AA batteries powering a flashing blue bulb was on the ground where the truck had originally parked. Long pieces of lumber were sticking out of the bed of the pickup on a rainy night. Ramps maybe?

  13. I’ve seen 2 different ones in the space of a week in different locations at the side of the road. Same thing, blue flashing LED lights. Very strange.

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