Mod'ing the HDExtender to tell if it's in standby or not.

[IVB]

It's either HA to the rescue, or HA making me spend time on stuff we could train ourselves around.

In the past few months, the Sage HDExtender driving the H/T has started putting itself in standby if not used for a while. I know I upgraded the firmware some time ago, but whether that's related or not I don't know. Well, the issue here is that it's in the next room, and the family uses the MX850 to switch between video sources. CQC picks up on the command, and turns the TV on, turns denon on, switches to the right stereo input (which is the video switcher also).

Imagine your wife's angst if she hit the Sage button below, but the TV was blank.


Should I put in a power-toggle button on that empty spot? Seems like such a waste and low WAF given the guesswork about should she press the button or not. It would be much nicer if CQC could tell whether the HDExtender was in standby mode, and along with the other switching, automatically powered it up if it was when someone pressed the Sage button.

I'm not sure, but I hear it's not possible to wake up out of standby using some API command, or to tell if it's actually in standby mode).

Given that I don't have that info today, and this is bugging the wife today, I decided to learn about some new EE type stuff.

With the help of this cocoontech.com how-to article about photoresistors and help from BraveSirRobbin who wrote it, I went to RadioShack, got the $3 pack of photoresistors, and now I can tell if the LED is on or not.

Well, it was a little more complex than that. Turns out that the plastic front panel was dimming too much of the LED for the photoresistor to pick up enough light to tell the difference between on & off. I had to disassemble it and drill out the panel. On the upside, I made the hole just big enough to hold the photoresistor. This is a much larger than lifesize pic of a photoresistor:



I put that in the hole, and ran a wire to an Elk (automation panel) zone. I setup that zone as an analog zone, and wrote an ElkRP rule that sets digital output #180 to true if the voltage is below 10V (it's 8.8V when on), and false if it's above (it's 13.3V when off). Elk talks to CQC, so now CQC can tell whether the Sage HDExtender is in standby or not.

The mod doesn't look bad at all, especially when you consider this is in a closet and is never actually looked at. This is with zero effort to clean it up.



I'm not done, of course. All I can do now is tell whether it's on or not. The next step is to use an IR blaster to send the power-toggle if it's off, and the user presses the Sage button. I've got a GlobalCache GC-100-12 that I was going to sell off, but I could use that. Seems like a waste as I only need the 1 IR command, esp since I have to buy the damn IR Learner to get that one freakin command.

But, at least it will be possible to automate yet one more thing, and remove one more point of manual entry so the family can watch TV. And most importantly, the 6 year old won't wake me up on Sat mornings because she can't get the TV to work.

[mayamaniac]

Mine goes to the screensaver, it does not go to standby. Of course it depends on how long you mean by "not used for a while". Also, having the TV off might have something to do with it. Have you tried contacting SageTV to ask them why yours is going into standby?

[IVB]

Well, it just went into standby after the TV being off for <30 mins, so it's pretty rapid. I checked the general settings, it's set to screen-saver on sleep.

I haven't contacted SageTV, figured this was an intentional thing. I guess I should have done that...

[IVB]

Well, *that* euphoria was short-lived.

I just found discrete power on/off codes for the Sage HDExtender. I didn't think they existed, thought it was just a toggle. So now, all I have to do is alway send a power-Extender-on command along with the Input-sage switching command and it works fine. No status lights or funky monitoring needed.

Well, at least I learned about Photoresistors and got to drill holes in perfectly functioning equipment today...

[bcjenkins]

I was going to suggest the very same thing. Does anything happen if the unit is already on? Like go back to home, etc?

B

[IVB]

not sure; i actually want it to go to "Home" on switching to that input, so I intentionally have CQC send it there regardless. Makes for a nice, consistently predictable start, which is good for the wife.

[ChuckSchick]

IVB, Heya from another CQC user and thanks for all the work you've made public. Your posts first directed me towards SageTV.

Anyhow, about these codes. Are these discrete on/off codes the ones listed in the Harmony remote setup, or are you using something different?

[IVB]

I don't have the Harmony, so i'm not positive, but they're just the regular discrete power on/off commands. The stock remote doesn't have it, and the first MX850 remote file i downloaded didn't have it, so I didn't realize they existed.

[waynedunham]

Originally Posted by IVB

The mod doesn't look bad at all, especially when you consider this is in a closet and is never actually looked at.

Just curious if it could be a heat issue sending it into standby? Something inside overheats and it shuts itself off.
You say its in a closet so I don't know how good the ventilation is and what temps you're seeing in that closet.

[IVB]

oh, the ventilation is great there, it's not a regular closed-door closet. It's got french doors, and one door was removed, and a curtain put in it's place as the equipment used to stick out too much to close the door.