diff --git a/config/dot/quickshell/modules/quicksettings/BrightnessControl.qml b/config/dot/quickshell/modules/quicksettings/BrightnessControl.qml
index bf70cef..ce038a1 100644
--- a/config/dot/quickshell/modules/quicksettings/BrightnessControl.qml
+++ b/config/dot/quickshell/modules/quicksettings/BrightnessControl.qml
@@ -34,11 +34,23 @@ Item {
     visible: root.rowCount > 0
     implicitHeight: rows.implicitHeight
 
-    // Probing I2C takes on the order of a second, so it waits until the panel
-    // is actually on screen rather than running at shell startup. Monitors do
-    // not come and go, so once is enough.
-    onVisibleChanged: if (visible && !Brightness.scanned) Brightness.refresh()
-    Component.onCompleted: if (root.visible && !Brightness.scanned) Brightness.refresh()
+    // Probing I2C takes on the order of a second, so it waits until the quick
+    // settings panel is actually on screen rather than running at shell
+    // startup. Monitors do not come and go, so once is enough.
+    //
+    // The trigger is the panel opening, not this item becoming visible: on a
+    // machine with no backlight, `visible` stays false until a scan has found
+    // a DDC display, so keying the scan off it would never scan at all.
+    Connections {
+        target: ShellState
+        function onQuickSettingsOpenChanged(): void { root.scanIfOpen(); }
+    }
+    Component.onCompleted: root.scanIfOpen()
+
+    function scanIfOpen(): void {
+        if (ShellState.quickSettingsOpen && !Brightness.scanned)
+            Brightness.refresh();
+    }
 
     // `-m` is the machine-readable form: name,class,current,percent,max
     Process {