Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Detecting TV On/Off status

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    Detecting TV On/Off status

    how do most folks detect tv on off status...

    In days before LCD tvs... I'd think a current detector in series with the 110 VAC Main would do the trick... but I'm thinking that there probably isn't as much of a difference between on and off with the new LCD tvs...

    I can probably tell by "Pinging" my smart tvs... (I assume they do not respond when turned off?)... but for the non-connected televisions... is there a standard way of telling if it is on or off?

    I realize it has been discussed before.. but a cursory search of the boards didn't turn up what I thought it would... so any help would be appreciated..

    Thanks
    Regards,

    Andrew B.

    #2
    I personally use an aeotec outlet module. Tvs in their off state generally use only a couple watts, mine registers about 2 to 10 watts (I have an older plasma). When on, I see roughly 400 watts being used for that tv. My newer LCD tvs do still show almost 100 watts when on. So you have enough difference to detect on/off. The downside is, it's not instant. The plugs only send it's data every minute or so. But it works for my needs to detect presence in the room.

    Comment


      #3
      I use the Harmony and plugin. The plugin reports activity states (not each device), which is enough for my needs.

      Comment


        #4
        I have chromecasts on my TVs.
        When the TV goes off the Chromecasts go off-line.
        Chromecast off-line=TV is off.

        Tim
        FB Page - https://www.facebook.com/pages/Capt-Tim/209398425902188

        HSTouch Layouts - https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?...5902188&type=3

        Comment


          #5
          You can still use a current detector for low-wattage devices, you just may have to make several windings around/through the detector for it to trigger the detector.

          There are ways to fine tune it too.

          About 15 years ago, I had a CRT TV used with a current detector connected to my Ocelot. When I switched to a rear-projection LCD, it no longer worked. I tried additional windings based on some advice from the ADI forum. Still didn't work as now it would remain tripped in standby. I ended up splitting the current passing through the detector and wrapping the split wire 3 times, essentially multiplying the current by 1.5, and it worked. I don't understand much about how electricity flows beyond the water pipe size/pressure analogy, so my math may be off. Bottom line is it worked. Here's a picture showing what I mean by "splitting the current," since it's hard to explain. The read wires are the hot and the green is neutral.

          I'm thinking about doing this again with my modern flat panel LCD, which I'm sure uses even less power than the old RP model, as my TV has a long startup before it responds to commands (picture shows after a few seconds bu it will not change volume or inputs for nearly 30 seconds). Because of this, my Harmony hub is setup to wait 30 seconds to issue any other commands, which is a pain since I don't always use Harmony to control things, so it's always out of sync. I used to have every single device in my home theater rack connected to a current sensor, except my receiver which had 12V trigger outputs, so HS and my Ocelot could track the status of everything. I had all my various Home Theater startup commands in an Ocelot program, triggered by discrete IR commands that did not overlap with anything I owned, and everything worked perfect all the time. Now, nearly everything I own has discrete power on and off commands and I've abandoned the old Ocelot program and current detectors (never updated the IR codes as I got new equipment). However, after about 4 months of using Harmony Hub, I think the old Ocelot program was far more reliable and faster... actually it was 100% reliable and maybe twice as fast.

          Bottom line, current detectors are the way to go for instant, reliable power status.
          Attached Files
          Last edited by jrfuda; April 13, 2017, 12:29 PM. Reason: added more info
          John
          Hardware: i5-6400T w/16GB RAM & SSD w/HS3Pro, Z-Net, Harmony Hub x2, Echo Dot x2, Ocelot
          Plugins: Z-wave, HSTouch, BLBackup, Harmony, GTS CPUXA, UltraMon3, Nest
          HSTouch: Multiple Android Devices; 5 x ToteVision MD-1001 10.1" Win 7 Tablets
          Devices: Cooper RF9501 x4, RF9517 x6, RF9534 x1, RF9540-N x7, RF9542 x1, RF9542-Z x2, RFHDSCG x1, RFWC5 x5; Intermatic HA02 x6; FortrezZ MIMOLite x3; Leviton VRPD3-1LW x4, VRR15-1LZ x6; Nest Tstat & 9x Protects; Dragon PD-100 x3, PA-100 x3

          Comment


            #6
            Originally posted by waynehead99 View Post
            I personally use an aeotec outlet module. Tvs in their off state generally use only a couple watts, mine registers about 2 to 10 watts (I have an older plasma). When on, I see roughly 400 watts being used for that tv. My newer LCD tvs do still show almost 100 watts when on. So you have enough difference to detect on/off. The downside is, it's not instant. The plugs only send it's data every minute or so. But it works for my needs to detect presence in the room.
            You can set most of the Aeotec's to send updates based on % change as well, so you should be able to get it to be more responsive. Which specific model are you using?

            Cheers
            Al
            HS 4.2.8.0: 2134 Devices 1252 Events
            Z-Wave 3.0.10.0: 133 Nodes on one Z-Net

            Comment


              #7
              If your TV has a USB port, then another option is to measure the power on it using a Global Cache voltage sensor, an Arduino, etc.

              Cheers
              Al
              HS 4.2.8.0: 2134 Devices 1252 Events
              Z-Wave 3.0.10.0: 133 Nodes on one Z-Net

              Comment


                #8
                Direct RS-232 if the TV supports that.


                Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

                Comment


                  #9
                  I use BLLan to detect when the TV IP address is on/offline. It takes a few minutes to register as on/offline but it works for my purposes.

                  Bob

                  Comment

                  Working...
                  X