I have a “smart” 2013 Samsung TV that suffers from a disease, every x amount of hours it turns itself on (but not the image) to check for software updates. I have a soundbar connected to it and when the TV does this, it leaves the soundbar turned on, thus consuming about 50watts for nothing. Even though HDMI-CEC is working fine and turning the soundbar off when I use the TV in normal conditions.
Furthermore, I have disabled internet access to the network the TV is connected to, so now the TV never shuts down anymore.
I’m trying to find some kind of solution to cut the power off when nobody is using the TV. But the problem - how to turn the power back on in a convenient manner, without pressing additional switches?
Presence sensor maybe?
Help me with some ideas. Thanks!
I think you have the right plan. You could use a presence senor that would turn on an outlet that is connected to the tv. Or you could use some kinda on button i.e. zigbee button to turn the outlet on. Another option would be to use pressure sensors on the couch, and that would turn on the outlet. These are a few thing that could do the job.
But essentially you could program this with the power button from the remote, so when you press power button it toggles a switch then a few seconds later sends the power command itself to the TV.
It works really well with ESP-Home and you can extend wires to get the IR diod on a cable
Or is the soundbar IR controlled?
If so you could send the command to switch off the soundbar when the TV does the update thing if you somehow can detect that the TB does the update and not turned on for real.
with the presence sensor it might create weird dependencies, like leaving the room and when returning everything is off
zigbee button probably the most easiest to implement but wife would not appreciate having to press another button
pressure sensor on couch means having to sit on couch before being able to turn on
I thought about putting pressure sensor in TV remote and it would have actually been viable: pick up remote => turns on socket. BUT nowadays I use Firestick and its remote is extra slim and I cannot fit the sensor in.
@Hellis81 probably using an IR module to detect power commands from the remotes is the most bullet proof solution. I actually have 3 remotes for the same TV (1 dumb, 1 “smart”, 1 firestick) that I use interchangeably. Power signal from either would be captured by the IR module which would signal HA to switch the socket off/on for both TV and soundbar.
I have two Broadlinks and one ESP based.
I prefer the ESP based.
The only thing Broadlink does better is to fire the signal in all directions.
But you can solder on more IR diods on the ESP based.
How about the UFO-R1? Just got one for 2EUR and seems to do what I want once I flash tasmota on it.
@Lakini No, completely random and extremely annoying. Nothing on the ‘internets’ about it either. I really hate when things act like they know better than the owner.
Auto update
Screen Menu > Support > Software Update > Auto update Try Now
This option upgrades the TV while it is in Standby Mode. In Standby Mode, the TV appears to be
turned off but still has access to the Internet. This allows the TV to upgrade itself automatically
while it is not in use. Because the TV’s internal processes are operating, the screen may emit a faint
glow, and this may continue for more than 1 hour until the software download is complete. Check the
network configuration and internet connectivity and then enable this option.
Standby Mode Upgrade Settings
Specify when you want the upgrade to take place. This TV can be set to periodically check and install
updates. Choose one of the preset time slots
I’m using one of these devices with ESPHome to control my LG WebOS TV via IR commands. Other than the extremely short IR transmission range, it’s been very reliable. To overcome the range issue, I simply placed it beneath the front of the television set.
Oh really?
I did not notice that.
I could fire it “backwards” on a wall 3-4 m away and have it “bounce” back to the TV.
I haven’t tried it with longer range since that is the size of the room.
But I opted to desolder the LED and place it on a “stick” Infront of the TV to make sure nothing is blocking it.
I have my TV + Apple TV + Speaker all plugged into a multi-way, that’s then plugged into a Smart Socket, to turn on I just tell Siri to town on that socket, HA monitors for when that socket is turned on, and sends an IR command to also turn on the TV (since when it gets power it doesn’t actually turn on but sits in standby).
At end of day, then we use Siri again to power of socket. We could to semi automate… use an energy monitor socket and monitor when watts drops below a certain level, which would suggest say Apple TV has gone to sleep, to then power of the socket, thus turning everyone off all at once.
Yup quite easy to achieve that, but I’m not happy with the idea of talking to Alexa or pressing a button, physical or virtual, in order to activate the TV. It has to be something that doesn’t change my routine
I’m curious if you have looked into energy saving power strips. They detect when the primary device is turned on then they power up the other acessories. Many electric companies even sell them at a subsidized rate. You would in theory use it to turn the soundbar on when the TV powers on but I’ve used them in other ways as well. No reason you couldn’t do that backwards so the TV only gets power when the soundbar is turned on. I have a chip that sends an RF command when it’s powered up. I see no reason you couldn’t do the same with IR.
Use a remote to turn on the soundbar.
The soundbar coming on triggers the TV to get power using the power saving power strip.
An ESP or other device also get power from the strip and boots.
The ESP waits a few seconds and sends the IR code to fully turn on the TV.
If you are looking at pre-built IR blasters let me say I love my Broadlink RM3 pro. There are newer models though.
@giqcass That’s actually a good idea, I forgot about these. And I have one already that I’m not using.
So I’ve hooked up an energy meter:
3W all in standby
12W soundbar on
60W TV and soundbar on
27.5W when TV is doing its update and soundbar on; 19W only the TV (soundbar off).
To the 27.5 there’s an extra 4.2W for the woofer which is in a different socket and turns automatically whenever the soundbar is on, so a total of 31.7W. If this runs for 5hrs every day (and I’m sure it does), it’s 4.75kW wasted energy per month
We have a TV we rarely use. We also have a Fire stick attached to the power strip. It takes longer to boot but it seems stupid to have it run all the time when we might not even use the TV once a month. I use them on the computers too.
You do not need the smart powerstips if you buy smart plugs with power metering buit in. I use them all the time to see what devices are drawing current.
I have a similar problem with my older amplifier. I installed a shelly plug that switches off if the TV had been in the off state for 1m. I turn it back on if the TV’s screen state turns on…
I dunno if your smart TV has those states available though
