GL-E750 Standby Mode depending on charging

ZeroZorro · 2022-07-14T20:43:59.405Z

Hi there,

One of my user cases is that I have this router in my car charged by the cigarette lighter and using the ethernet cable connected to my Android Car Stereo for internet access. It all works, but I would like to make sure the GL-E750 goes into Standby when I leave the car (and the charging stops).
That way I or my girlfriend don’t need to physically put it on and off everytime.

ZeroZorro · 2022-07-20T17:51:37.629Z

Or if above is too complicated I would like to vote for a firmware feature request:

Option to set when 0 users are connected for xx minutes then router will power off

This way when key is inserted in case the GL-E750 will reboot (and start charging)

Blobbie01 · 2022-07-20T18:40:08.425Z

OpenWRT does have a command build in, for a “sort of” standby mode. Basically turning off wireless.

“uci set wireless.radioNumber.disabled=‘1’” - no more wifi.
“uci set wireless.radioNumber.disabled=‘0’” - wifi back online.

An easy way to make this happen is through scripting on your phone. On iOS you can use shortcuts to do this, on android I’m not sure.

I don’t think there’s much else you can do. You also might have a problem turning it on again without having an ethernet cable to access SSH after taking it offline.

Of course you could setup a remote access terminal, but then you’d need at least a little bit of mobile data to access the remote ssh🤷‍♂️

Blobbie01 · 2022-07-21T16:56:24.251Z

@ZeroZorro I looked into the possibilities of this a bit further. There does appear to be a powersave state:

image1170×1234 131 KB

It appears to be enabled by default on the GL-AX1800, not sure about your device. You can find more info in the archives here: OpenWrt Forum Archive

There’s not much information about it, so I do not know how effective it will be, but it’s worth a try I suppose

ZeroZorro · 2022-07-21T17:02:11.443Z

Okay, thanks for sharing, I will do further research and testing and will report my findings!

ZeroZorro · 2022-07-21T17:32:14.068Z

Screenshot_20220721-193035801~21080×1052 48 KB

So on E-750 it seems OFF by default

Blobbie01 · 2022-07-21T17:37:07.995Z

Interesting, I’m running beta V4.0.1, so maybe it’s changed there.

But in this case, I’d say turn it on & see how it goes😄

ZeroZorro · 2022-07-21T17:44:24.075Z

Yeah but…

Screenshot_20220721-194318348~21073×681 19.4 KB

So probably another firmware needed…easy is no fun

Blobbie01 · 2022-07-21T17:48:30.838Z

You could try the snapshot if you’re up for it😄

https://dl.gl-inet.com/?model=e750&type=snapshot

However I have no confirmation if power save is supported there. If it’s not & you run into stability issues you can always downgrade. Just be sure to make a backup in Luci before upgrading then

~Edit: There is also an OpenWRT image available, you’ll have to flash through uboot: https://downloads.openwrt.org/releases/21.02.3/targets/ath79/nand/openwrt-21.02.3-ath79-nand-glinet_gl-e750-squashfs-factory.img

However this does require some knowledge about OpenWRT & you will no longer have the GL-inet admin panel.

You can find more information about this here: https://openwrt.org/toh/gl.inet/gl-e750

ZeroZorro · 2022-07-21T18:01:05.016Z

Did install the snapshot when you were typing it
But no difference, same default state, command still not allowed.

I will read and dive into OpenWRT image but hat has to wait untill this weekend.

Blobbie01 · 2022-07-21T18:05:09.959Z

Alright, goodluck😄

I personally would stay on GL.iNet’s firmware, especially since they got some cool features coming

@yuxin.zou might be able to review your suggestion, a low power mode would indeed be a neat feature for the travel routers👏

ZeroZorro · 2022-07-21T18:17:41.118Z

I would prefer too to stay with this firmware.
Maybe developers are reading this too and will consider adding some option to power down device using a SSH command.
That way I could try something like Tasker (android) to sent such command.

Something like:
IF phone disconnects from Car Radio (Bluetooth trigger)
THEN SSH [power_down] command
to 192.168.8.1

When car is started (or carkey turned) again, the router will start charging and as a result start booting.
I read somewhere that auto booting when charging is not what some people like so that is considered to be optional in feature firmware release.

But: This kind of IFTTT solution can be a difficult job when there are more users (like my girlfriend using the car too, or worse, driving together and one leaving the car)

yuxin.zou · 2022-07-22T07:27:48.484Z

The E750 already has standby mode, you can switch to Standby mode by pressing the power button and hold for 3 seconds.

I think maybe it might be helpful to add the shutdown and standby mode toggle to the firmware Web and App (which can be operated remotely via DDNS/GoodCloud) first?

Then maybe we could allow to set on the UI whether to abort the standby state when charging. But for now I can’t find a better condition for automatically going into standby.

We’ll discuss these when the E750 is ready to be officially updated for version 4.x.

ZeroZorro · 2022-07-22T10:24:15.688Z

Okay, nice.
I will wait for things to happen.
Can I somewhere follow beta 4.x for the E750 development?

ZeroZorro · 2022-07-22T12:00:22.236Z

Would it be too much hassle to toggle those modes with a SSH command so I could kind of automate the process?
Underlying reason is that I am not the only one using the router and some are total noobs

yuxin.zou · 2022-07-22T13:21:07.946Z

ZeroZorro:

Can I somewhere follow beta 4.x for the E750 development?

Homepage - GL.iNet Docs (gl-inet.com)
GL.iNet API will come soon.
No specific timeline has been set for the development of the E750, but you can see it here when the beta version is available.

ZeroZorro:

Would it be too much hassle to toggle those modes with a SSH command

We will not provide a CLI. But if we eventually decide to add these features on the firmware Web, you should be able to use our API to toggle those with SSH.

ZeroZorro · 2022-07-22T14:34:12.979Z

Thanks for the info, I will keep an interested eye on it and I am ready for testing ;-)!

yuxin.zou · 2022-09-27T10:42:44.182Z

Hi, we recently discussed the standby state for the E750 on 4.x firmware. The developers confirmed that the E750’s standby actually turns off Wi-Fi and Cellular networks to save power.
So there’s nothing special about them, you can just turn them off remotely via the App or via the script above to achieve the same standby mode.

ZeroZorro · 2022-09-29T02:12:41.583Z

Thank you, I will look for the 4.x Firmware for the E750 and try to figure out how to run the standby-script before the radio goes into sleeping mode

yuxin.zou · 2022-09-29T02:23:42.574Z

Sorry, I may not have expressed myself clearly. Let me explain again.

standby mode just turns off Wi-Fi and Cellular networks
There is no difference in this feature between 3.x and 4.x firmware
You can automate this directly by scripts to change the UCI configuration, no need to wait for new firmware.