It’s on the walls, there’s one each side. It’s a rectangular grid of smaller rectangles. Each of the smaller rectangles has a light on it that is sometimes on, sometimes off and sometimes blinking. The bar in the middle lights up during a red alert.
Has there ever been an explanation what this is for, and what the lights (other than red alert) indicate?
Various diagrams I’ve found list them as equipment bays. The redundant placement (on each side of the bridge) and the association with the alert indicator suggests to me that they are for emergency equipment–they’re set up to be easily accessible and to be very obvious in emergency situations. What that “emergency equipment” entails, I can only speculate, but if I were stocking them, each bay would contain gear for one person–breather mask, phaser, tricorder, first aid kit, some kind of emergency bulkhead sealant, and a basic repair kit (with some common spare parts as well as tools). There are enough bays on each side to provide kit for a full bridge crew, so no one would get left out, even if they all rushed to the same set of bays for some reason.
If that’s the case, then I would infer that the lights on the bays are status indicators. Steady light indicates the bay is fully stocked and up to date. Light off means the bay is not in ready status–it’s not fully stocked or the items in it are not confirmed ready for use. Blinking lights would mean “attention needed”; perhaps a reminder that the bay is overdue for inspection and manual verification of its contents. (Manual check and refresh of emergency equipment would logically be a routine part of bridge duties during slack times.) The blinking light status may only trigger if the number of “ready” bays is less than the number of people detected on the bridge, or if the stored equipment that can’t be verified is actually safety-specific, like breathers.
The reason some of the lights are often off is that the bridge crew is prone to raiding them for repair kits or minor medical supplies, rather than leaving the bridge to get spare parts or a headache remedy (or whatever). The redundancy of the kits means they’re pretty casual about restocking non-emergency items in them, and leave them alone until it’s time for a regular refresh or inspection.