LG On/Off Programing

The design spec I was working with didn’t specify how the displays would be turned on and off. after trying to find the simplest control process, we landed on network control for the display.

A few things I had to keep in mind:
-Was there a network cable run to the display on top of the video line? (yes there was, or worst case we run it)
-Were these all commercial displays that can be remotely controlled over something besides IR? (yes, all commercial LG displays that had the option to be RS-232 or network controlled)
-Does the control processor have the ability to send commands over the network? (yes, Q-Sys Core 110f)
-Do I know how to send commands over the network from the Core? (…Not initially, but I figured it out)

After a bunch of head banging on a wall, I conversation with an LG engineer saved the day and got me the info that got us across the finish line. Steps below on the display as follows:

1. Access the hidden menu, turn on the NIC (Network Interface Card) to all the time
   • Hold down the settings button until the normal menu pops up and goes away and then the input label shows up on the screen
   • Type [1][1][0][5][OK]
   • General>Configuration Setup>PM Mode>[Network Ready]
   • Set the display to a static IP address of your choosing (Network settings in the same hidden menu)
2. Find the right commands
   • Dig through the manual of four different displays for about two days and then email the same engineer and get the right manual.
3. Add a Command Button in your Q-Sys design
   • Set the type of command to [TCP]
   • Set the Command Count to [2]
   • Set the port to “9761” (that’s the command port for LG displays)
4. Set the commands to the buttons for your UCI
   • First button, “On”-“ka 01 01\r” (the “\r” is the carriage return that Q-Sys uses. DON’T copy the CR characters from the manual. This will do nothing but cause headaches until you remember that this is just listed in the manual of the display to tell you to put one there)
   • Second button, “Off”-“ka 01 00\r”
5. Test your buttons
   • Click on the command button once the core is online and on the same network as the display and cross your fingers they are talking right.

Q-Sys is a fantastic control system. if it’s communicating properly with the display, the Command Button has a stats window and lets you know that the display is talking with the Core. I ran into the issue of once the display was on, the “Off” command would give me a “Fault” and then after about 5 seconds I could click it again and it would power off the display.

I’m using some Custom Controls as a Trigger Button turning On/Off five displays at the same time. I turned the control pins on for the trigger and the Command Button, drew the lines to the pins, and tried to get those to control the displays. After some trial and error, I added a Control Delay and Trigger Combiner (see image) to get the Off command to get past my fault and get the display to turn off at the button press.