Turn Display off and on using console/ script?

[markus-hsk]

If I type vcgencmd display_power 0, the display signal is gone as expected, but the display itself stays on with a blue screen, saying that there is no signal:

Is it possible to switch the screen off completely to save power?

[goodtft]

there's no way to turn off backlight by using console, but you can turn off backlight by long press(3 seconds) the backlight key

[mtraves]

Where might this "backlight key" be?

Won't the screen become damaged by staying online indefinitely?

[cstodd]

Would love it if it had a “backlight key”, but it doesn’t. Have the 3.5 model. Is there really no way to turn off the backlight via software or otherwise?? If so, returning this immediately and leaving a negative review. That’s basic functionality.

[withakay]

@goodtft is there is any way to turn of the back light on the 3.5" display?

[cechevarne]

@goodtft is there is any way to turn of the back light on the 3.5" display?

[wixaw]

Hello I just bought the "3.5inch_RPi_Display". How can I turn off the backlight and turn it on when I touch the screen If only I had knowledge of this git before....

[dioro-zz]

I have the same question... Can I turn off the backlight and turn on via command script or tourchscreen ?

[Vertigo1206]

On the display with "backlight switch" maybe you can try to use a transistor, optocoupler or similar parallel and switch this one with GPIO.

[andreas-globi]

I was struggling with this too. Using vcgencmd to turn the display off leaves the LCD on and bright blue (yuck).

I found a good cheat though. Since the display is getting it's power from the Pi's USB ports, you can simply turn off the USB power on the Pi using uhubctl (https://github.com/mvp/uhubctl)

To turn off: sudo /home/pi/uhubctl/uhubctl -l 1-1 -p 2 -a 0 And back on: sudo /home/pi/uhubctl/uhubctl -l 1-1 -p 2 -a 1