Disable hdmi for power saving

Product support
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1

Hello,

Is there a way I can disable the inboard hdmi on a pi3 running balenaOS from within the Fleet variables? I have disabled Bluetooth but don’t know how to disable hdmi (outside of a docker container setup I usually issue - /opt/vc/bin/tvservice -o)

4

Hi there,
Unfortunately we do not currently have a variable that allows you to disable HDMI. Please have a look here to check if this can help with your situation I2C and Other Interfaces - Balena Documentation

6

Hi, thanks for the help,

I can’t see HDMI in any of the options in the raspberry pi section on that website link.

Is there a way I could disable inside a container when it starts running instead?

7

Hi there, some context here might help us figure out the best way to achieve your goal. Why do you want to disable HDMI on your device? Thanks!

8

Hi I’m running the pis as cameras at night installed half way up trees in woodlands.

When running I need them drawing minimal power as users need to strap them with batteries (I’ve got a working setup) up trees.

The cameras without docker can last just under 20 days. Disabling hdmi is one of the best ways to save power on remote projects (alongside WiFi and Bluetooth)

Thanks,
Sam

9

Ah I see, cool use case! I’m not sure how to do this with fleet vars, I’ll look into it for you. If HDMI is going to be permanently disabled, you should still be able to use /opt/vc/bin/tvservice -o in your container - and for example you could use it in the entry file for your container.

14

Thanks so much, ive tested and the command works in one of the containers I’m using so I’ll use that in the entry script for now. Thanks so much for the help

15

great to hear! Thanks :slight_smile:

17

Hi, is there a similar way of disabling wifi, I usually issue the command ‘ifconfig wlan0 down’ but if config does not exist in the container version of Debian

18

I would like to disable wifi after x minutes (for it to restart when the container starts back up). I’ll do this with a bash script but need to know the command to issue (if that is the best way to achieve this).

19

classic, write on the forum, answer appears… I’ve found rfkill in the balenafin docs which seems to serve this purpose balenafinDev

20

Yep - you got it. That’s the way we recommend. :slight_smile: