Device is requested to turn on

The Device is requested to turn on trigger fires when Home Assistant requests a Samsung TV to turn on. This happens when a turn-on action is called by an automation, a script, or from the UI, targeting a Samsung TV entity.

Use it when the built-in Wake-on-LAN (WoL) support in the Samsung TV integration is not sufficient for your setup. For example, when the TV is connected to a smart strip, when WoL is not supported on the TV model, or when you want to run additional actions alongside the turn-on sequence, such as switching on a connected AV receiver or adjusting the room lighting.

Using this trigger from the user interface

If you prefer building automations visually, Home Assistant walks you through this trigger step by step. You pick what to watch, tweak a few options, and save. No YAML knowledge required.

To use this trigger in an automation:

1. Go to Settings > Automations & scenes.
2. Open an existing automation, or select Create automation > Create new automation.
3. In the When section, select Add trigger.
4. Select the By type tab. Under Generic, select Device.
5. In the Device dropdown list, select your Samsung TV.
6. In the Trigger dropdown list, select Device is requested to turn on.
7. Select Save.

Options in the UI

Using this trigger in YAML

If you work directly in YAML, or you want to know exactly what Home Assistant does under the hood, this section has the technical reference. It lists the field names you use in YAML, their types, and which ones are required. For how an automation is built in YAML, refer to Automations in YAML.

When this trigger starts an automation, it passes data about what happened to the automation. You can use this trigger data in the templates of your conditions and actions. To see which data is available, refer to Trigger data in templates.

In YAML, refer to this trigger as samsungtv.turn_on. A basic example looks like this:

This fires every time Home Assistant requires media_player.samsung_smart_tv to turn on.

Options in YAML

Good to know

• To turn on the TV from this trigger, add an action that can power on the TV, such as Wake-on-LAN, HDMI-CEC, or turning on a connected smart plug.
• This trigger fires when the Turn on media player action is called targeting the TV entity, not when the TV turns on by itself (for example, after a power cut). It represents a request from Home Assistant, not a state change on the TV.
• If the TV supports Wake-on-LAN (WoL) and it is enabled in the integration, Home Assistant will attempt WoL automatically without needing this trigger. Use this trigger only when you need to override or supplement that built-in behavior.
• Set up the Wake-on-LAN integration before using this trigger to send a Wake-on-LAN packet manually.
• The trigger does not include a For at least option or a Trigger when option, which means that it fires immediately on every turn-on request and targets a single device, not a group.
• This trigger is the recommended way to handle Samsung TVs connected to a smart power strip, where the TV cannot be woken by WoL alone and the strip must be switched on first.

Try it yourself

Ready to test this? Go to Settings > Automations & scenes, create a new automation, and add this trigger. Save the automation, and then make the trigger react. For example, change the state of the targeted entityAn entity represents a sensor, actor, or function in Home Assistant. Entities are used to monitor physical properties or to control other entities. An entity is usually part of a device or a service. [Learn more], turn on a light that the trigger monitors, or change its brightness. To check whether the automation ran, open its traces.

More examples

Real scenarios where this trigger fires in automations and scripts. Copy any example and adapt it to your setup. In the visual editor, select the UI options listed in the example when they are available, or paste the YAML code.

Automation: turn on a smart power strip before waking the TV to avoid standby energy waste

When the TV is requested to turn on, this automation first switches on the smart power strip the TV is connected to, then sends a Wake-on-LAN packet. This avoids leaving the strip switched on permanently, which would power all connected devices in standby, while still ensuring the TV receives power before the WoL packet is sent.

• Trigger: Device is requested to turn on
  • Targeted device: my_samsungtv_device_id
• Action: Turn on switch
  • Target: Living room AV strip
• Action: Wait for time to pass (delay)
  • Duration: 5 seconds
• Action: Send magic packet
  • MAC address: AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF

alias: "Turn on AV strip and wake TV on turn-on request"
triggers:
  - trigger: samsungtv.turn_on
    device_id: my_samsungtv_device_id
actions:
  - action: switch.turn_on
    target:
      entity_id: switch.living_room_av_strip
  - delay:
      seconds: 5
  - action: wake_on_lan.send_magic_packet
    data:
      mac: "AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF"

Still stuck?

To find out why the trigger didn’t react, make the change that it should react to, and then open the traces of the automation. If the automation didn’t run, there’s usually no trace, but some triggers record a Did not trigger trace. For details, refer to Testing automations. For common problems and their solutions, refer to Troubleshooting automations.

If that doesn’t help, the Home Assistant community is quick to help: join Discord for real-time chat, post on the community forum with the trigger you’re using and what you expected to happen, or share on our subreddit /r/homeassistant.