Start Raspberry Pi with remote control over USB

1st Official Post
    • Official Post

    There are HAT boards that exploit the ability to power an RPi via the GPIO pins. Basically you power the HAT board not the main board, and this means the IR sensor remains powered and able to recieve a power-on command when the main board is powered off. Have a look in some of the larger Pi reseller catalogues online and you'll find them.

    • Official Post

    Cheapest and easiest solution: Install a power button instead of using RC.

    If you really want to turn it on by RC, then you definitely need additional electronic parts. There is no way to use an attached USB IR receiver after the RPi 4B has been turned off.

    You could use an Arduino (or other micro controller) with an attached IR receiver, which:

    • is permanently listening for the right IR code
    • triggers RPi's GPIO 03 when it receives the right IR code to turn the RPi on

    Problem: This micro controller has to be an always-on device. It just consumes less power then an RPi while it's on.

    I actually had this same want for my raspberry pi 4 and did a lot of research. I really wanted an easy way to turn on and turn off my raspberry via remote control after watching videos on Kodi. With it completely shutting down properly and booting up properly when turned on. Chewitt & Da Flex are exactly spot on needing addition reseller hardware.

    I found this was best solution. It's called a "RemotePi Board for Pi 4"

    RemotePi Board for Pi 4 – MSL Digital Solutions

    Also, a Raspberry Pi 40-pin GPIO 1 to 2 Expansion Board.

    Amazon.com: Micro Connectors Raspberry Pi 40-pin GPIO 1 to 2 Expansion Board (RAS-GP02): Computers & Accessories

    It's super easy to setup and configure the software with provided instructions. Works with any IR remote.
    It's the greatest thing added with my JustBoom Digi Hat audio board. Making my Raspberry Pi 4 ideal for Kodi entertainment.


    Hope this helps. Happy Days!:)

    Edited once, last by vtsteez243 (February 2, 2020 at 4:00 AM).

    OK THX,

    On my remote control, the power button can be programmed to turn ON/OFF the TV. I have don this.

    Now i can turn OFF the RPI4 and the TV turns also OFF over HDMI-CEC.

    But if I turn on the TV, the RPI4 is not turning ON. No HDMI-CEC turn ON function, only turn OFF.

    My TV is old, maybe a new TV can be turned ON over HDMI-CEC, but i cant try it.

    Can somebody test this for me?

    THX

    • Official Post

    PS:

    It's important to understand that power-off on RPi doesn't lead to a stand-by mode, as you know it from other devices.

    The RPi can wake up other devices, but not vice versa.

    USB and HDMI ports will not respond to any signals after power-off.

    Your only option to power-on while connected to power supply is to use the GPIO.

    vtsteez243 offered the best solution, go for it.

    Just to provide somewhat different view. I want all of my systems to run 24/7 without any intervention. So, I connected key devices to Smart Switches run by Tasmota fw and my programs. Occasionally, LE will hang for no good reason which prompted me to connect them to independent external Smart Power on/off switches.

    As I already have IR blasters connected into my SmartHome system to control heating, cooling, shutters... it is quite simple for them to shutdown / turn the RPi power off and back on with the corresponding remote command. Now my RPis work just like any other remote control appliance for anyone using them. Plus, I can use my regular remote to powercycle RPi off/on when LE hangs.

    A psychical RPi switch may not be convenient. Try explaining it to your wife :) A random IR receiver connected to GPIO will react to any or too many signals. Hats and similar add-ons cost too much and still need good visibility.

    What I did is not a solution for everyone but is an excellent solution costing next to nothing.

    Lets assume basic computer literacy. If I did write a complete SmartHome program, handling all the above things, I am likely computer literate. It does not matter if I wrote a Computer sciencex master thesis at Cambridge :)

    We should all know we must never just kill the RPi by taking its power out. There are 2 ways to power down Rpi:

    1) simple way: send IR command PowefOff to RPI and grab that same IR signal to kill its power 10 second later. This is useless since my LE9 hangs daily and then Kodi does not respond to any IR commands and I must pull out the power plug anyway.

    2) good way: IR two-way blaster (a micro controller) as any other Tasmota Smart device can have two way communication with the controlling computer. Amateurs mostly use MQTT, but that is quite bad as it needs several other programs to handle the data. I had to fight almost 20 bugs in Tasmota alone - please, no more add-on programs than this one! So, when needed, all my Tasmotas can send the data directly to my SmartHome computer - an RPi Zero. It takes entire 2 lines of code to enable this :) with no MQTT installed.

    My RPi4 LE is unaware of RpiOn and RpiOff signals. When my IR blaster receives an RpiOff IR code, it simply calls my SmartHome program. There is some complicated code (literary copy - paste here) activated by that call:

    ssh [email protected].${Subnet}.9 "shutdown now"

    SendHttp "44" "Backlog Delay 100; Power2 Off"

    Meaning: shutdown my RPi at .9 politely and orderly. Afterwards, kill its power supply 10 seconds later. SendHttp is a tiny function making sure http request is well formed, and it sends it to .44 computer which kills the RPi4 power supply.

    No, it will never break any file system .)

    As for the "fun fact" about costs: RPi in question is at Relay 2. of 4 relays Smart Switch costing about 20€ delivered. I connected RPi4 to it since LE9 hangs almost daily. So, in essence, it is free.

    But, say its share is 5€. You can buy a remote controlled RPi power On/Off switch for 5€? 20€? My SmartHome IR blaster is already there as it has to manage above mentioned things: heating and cooling. If not, its complete costs are probably less than 5€.

    So, you can do better and with less money? Less than 10€? It can not be functionally better. Nor more eco as I use the same Smart Devices to manage several others.

    Fun fact: sciencex without an x at the end is censored here and I can not write it!