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I have a projector (it's a VOPLLS M10) that’s hooked up to a HomeKit enabled smart outlet, but the projector doesn’t power on when “plugged in” / smart outlet is turned on.

The projector only turns on when you hit the power button on either it, or the one on the remote. There’s no physical or digital setting on it to change this functionality.

I imagine I could buy a smart IR blaster or something (to reproduce the remote's on signal), but that’s less fun and more money considering I already have the "smart" functionality through the outlet. Is there any way I could mod the projector, or more specifically it's power button, to just turn on when plugged in? I don't have a ton of experience with this kind of stuff, just a little from back in high school, but I do have access to a solder station on my uni campus.

I've read some people on similar questions say shorting the power button's connection could work, but if you hold the power button it goes into a reboot cycle on this device, so I'm not sure thats the solution here, but maybe I'm mistaken. Here’s the uppermost board and some angles of the power button which is circled in red if that helps.

Gold contact on button, moves less than .1mm when pressed

Photo of uppermost board on projector after I opened it up

Photo of circled Power Button and board

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Is there any way I could mod the projector to just turn on when plugged in? Not unless you're good at "hacking" into the embedded processor, which are typically read/write protected. \$\endgroup\$
    – Colin
    Commented Nov 11 at 4:57
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    \$\begingroup\$ Are you sure there is no settings menu for what you want? \$\endgroup\$
    – Justme
    Commented Nov 11 at 5:11
  • \$\begingroup\$ Please clarify your specific problem or provide additional details to highlight exactly what you need. As it's currently written, it's hard to tell exactly what you're asking. \$\endgroup\$
    – Community Bot
    Commented Nov 11 at 5:18
  • \$\begingroup\$ You could use a microcontroller like Attiny to press the button for you when it´s plugged in. \$\endgroup\$
    – DMinatto
    Commented Nov 11 at 13:02
  • \$\begingroup\$ Unfortunately no option in settings for it. It’s fairly limited in that regard, can’t even set it to always default to HDMI haha \$\endgroup\$
    – Luck_Duracell
    Commented Nov 11 at 18:40

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
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Easiest would be a time delay relay with a function to briefly close the contacts after a short delay wired in parallel with the existing switch. These can be had at a variety of price points with a corresponding degree of quality.

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If the power button is a momentary switch (e.g., a push-button switch), you may be able to emulate a button press at power up by soldering a capacitor across the switch. The value of the capacitor depends on the circuit: too low, it won't do anything; too high, pressing the button manually may have no effect. Start with 10 nF and go up or down in value from there depending on how the product behaves.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ I see, so I would connect both metal contacts on the button? It looks like when the button is pressed down it moves only barely, as in like far less than one mm so idk if that would make it challenging. Also would I need to solder and unsolder each one until I find what works? Or is there a more temporary way for while testing each value? \$\endgroup\$
    – Luck_Duracell
    Commented Nov 11 at 19:10
  • \$\begingroup\$ "the button" is just a piece of plastic. It's not an electrical component. I think you mean "the switch". The switch is an electrical component with two terminals, yes. \$\endgroup\$
    – Davide Andrea
    Commented Nov 12 at 0:12

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