# How can I rig my television to turn itself on every night when I'm on travel? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 19, 2005, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-rig-my-television-to-turn-itself-on-every-night-when-im-on-travel/331767 "2005-11-19T04:05:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Carnac\_the\_Magnificent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Carnac\_the\_Magnificent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carnac_the_Magnificent)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2005, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-rig-my-television-to-turn-itself-on-every-night-when-im-on-travel/331767/1 "2005-11-19T04:05:41Z")
I travel overseas too much–maybe twice a month–leaving behind an empty house. I have several lights on timers, but I’d like to have the television turn on at night, to give that lived-in look. But if a television is connected to a timer, will it turn on and off each evening? I thought the power button itself actually has to be pushed to turn on the TV. Merely supplying it power won’t turn it on. Is there some way around this, or am I mistaken? ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2005, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-rig-my-television-to-turn-itself-on-every-night-when-im-on-travel/331767/2 "2005-11-19T04:15:42Z")
Mine works fine on a timer. Well, it works OK on a timer. I have Dish service and every time the timer brings it back on, it takes about two minutes to find the signal. But other than that no problem. ---
**Author:** ![Nanoda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Nanoda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nanoda)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2005, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-rig-my-television-to-turn-itself-on-every-night-when-im-on-travel/331767/3 "2005-11-19T04:20:13Z")
I’d look for a solution involving some special programmable remote control. Alternately, my parent’s TV has a menu where you can set it to come on automatically at a certain time. It didn’t seem to have an option to turn it off automatically afterwards, but yours may be different. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2005, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-rig-my-television-to-turn-itself-on-every-night-when-im-on-travel/331767/4 "2005-11-19T04:23:26Z")
> [@Nanoda](#): > > I’d look for a solution involving some special programmable remote control. Yeah, they’re available. Look for ones with macro programming capability, like [this one](http://www.smarthome.com/8037.html). Bit pricy, but I’m sure you can find them for less if you look. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2005, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-rig-my-television-to-turn-itself-on-every-night-when-im-on-travel/331767/5 "2005-11-19T04:25:29Z")
Most TVs won’t keep the channels in memory either if the power is off very long. Maybe an ir remote controled by the computer can be found. You could look for an old mechanical tuner TV and use the power timer. ---
**Author:** ![Scruloose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@Scruloose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scruloose)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2005, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-rig-my-television-to-turn-itself-on-every-night-when-im-on-travel/331767/6 "2005-11-19T04:50:13Z")
All you need is your regular remote and [one of these.](http://www.thedrinkingbird.com/) ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2005, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-rig-my-television-to-turn-itself-on-every-night-when-im-on-travel/331767/7 "2005-11-19T05:12:40Z")
D\*\*n it! I just realized I click on the links on this board without checking the address. I always check the links before clicking on an external link at other sites. Stupid Birds… mumble mumble… ---
**Author:** ![xash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c6cbf5/32.png) [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2005, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-rig-my-television-to-turn-itself-on-every-night-when-im-on-travel/331767/8 "2005-11-19T06:07:01Z")
You could get a [USB-UIRT cable](http://www.usbuirt.com/), connect it to your computer, load something like [Girder](http://www.promixis.com/), and program your computer to turn your TV on and off. You could even rig your computer to be controlled from across the Internet. This is, of course, assuming you have a PC in the same room as the TV. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2005, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-rig-my-television-to-turn-itself-on-every-night-when-im-on-travel/331767/9 "2005-11-19T14:18:21Z")
Not to get all low-tech on you, but if you had an older TV (I’ve got a 25-year-old color set that works fine, but it’s 13", no remote, etc.), that would work – or you could hook up a radio, perhaps set up to NPR or a talk station, which would give the sound of people talking. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2005, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-rig-my-television-to-turn-itself-on-every-night-when-im-on-travel/331767/10 "2005-11-19T14:40:36Z")
Some years ago I was told by a “reformed” burglar that leaving only lights on is a better move than having TVs or stereos going. He said that it is really easy to tell if someone is actually at home and the fact that you have chosen to disguise your abscence by turning the TV on tells him that you wont be surprising him in the next hour or so. Mind you he was talking Australian suburbia and knowing what to look for it is dead easy to spot places where the lights are on but you know no-one is home. YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tastes_of_chocolate/32/3232_2.png) [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tastes_of_Chocolate)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2005, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-rig-my-television-to-turn-itself-on-every-night-when-im-on-travel/331767/11 "2005-11-21T22:17:34Z")
Does anyone make a timer that is slightly random, for exactly the case of people not being home? Something that would let you say: Turn on some time between 5:30pm and 6:30pm. Turn off some time between 9:00pm and 12:30pm.