#bluetooth-archived

1 messages · Page 3 of 1

late jasper
#

I see thanks. Since I don’t have any experience on esphome base on this and my goal of extending the reach of my Bluetooth coverage what are my options?

cosmic raptor
#

Add more bluetooth proxies

rotund sail
#

You don't need experience

#

You get experience by doing

cosmic raptor
#

As of currently you have no proxies

#

Your ha server is not a proxy

late jasper
#

And for Bluetooth proxies its not something unique to esphome? What hardware do I need?

cosmic raptor
#

It is unique

fallow viper
#

it's also easy

rotund sail
#

I'd almost say idiot proof

cosmic raptor
#

You are in the open source space, no manufacturer bothers creating these devices so thats your option. Esphome.

fallow viper
cosmic raptor
#

You can also go batshit crazy and install a second ha installation integrated with remote ha on your original installation. Just so you can use shite bt usb sticks

late jasper
#

Okay thanks for all your inputs and I will check esphome later today

#

Just a quick question. How much do I need to spend in the hardwares to get started in esphome for this purpose?

cosmic raptor
#

I had to spend around 7 euro money on a batch order for esp32devkits

late jasper
#

Okay! That’s pretty all right. I thought I also need to buy a central device to control all esphome things

cosmic raptor
#

Ethernet connected esps are preffered by now btw

fallow viper
#

That atom lite is an option though. and a cheap one. and not a bare circuit board 😉

#

the Olimex ESP32 is going to be better (wired network connection) but requires a cable to where it's going and you also need to get a case.

#

(also can have an antenna with the right version)

late jasper
#

I don’t seem to find oilmex ESP32 on amazon will check other places

#

I don’t live in US

#

And which version should I get for the devkit here?

cosmic raptor
late jasper
#

Thanks

#

And is this price fair?

cosmic raptor
#

Thats the price for what I‘d say the „best“ you can get

#

If you want cheap you can get away with a bunch of wifi devkits also

fallow viper
#

the atom lite is a significantly cheaper unit. and is supported by their bluetooth proxy installer page. the only other thing you need for it is a usb power supply (going to usb c. but it's just for power)

#

it is wifi though. which has its downsides.

late jasper
#

Thanks

#

I will check all the options later today and hopefully today I can make a decision

cosmic raptor
#

If you want small the wemos lolin c3 pico also just needs usb and I think is a little cheaper than the atoms, the atoms have their plug system which is also nice if you don‘t need the boards exposed

#

But yeah, wifi and bluetooth on small devices is another topic

fallow viper
#

The name is appropriate.

cosmic raptor
#

It even has a battery charging curcuit

shell mural
#

There is a option RF TX POWER

oblique oak
#

Also more proxies is almost always better. Trying to boost signal is usually a waste of time since it’s two way and whoever has the worst side of the connection is the limiting factor

shell mural
atomic moss
#

lol, well at least you don't get a cold

shell mural
#

I think I need to change the advertisement back to C

neat magnet
#

I heard door sensors can be used in a million different diy mods, and I'm good with a soldering iron

fiery timber
#

Anyone able to give me some help regarding some issues im having with HA OS 10 + ?

spark cairnBOT
#

Don't ask to ask, just ask your question. Then people can answer when they're around.

When you do ask a question, try to provide as much background detail as possible. Ask yourself these questions first so that others don't have to:

  1. What version of the Home Assistant are you running? (remember, last isn't a version)
  2. What exactly are you trying to do that won't work?
  3. Is the problem uniform or erratic?
  4. What's the exact error message?
  5. When did it arise?
  6. What exactly don't you "get"?
  7. Can you share sample code, ideally with line errors where the error occurs?
fiery timber
#

My issue is that i have a switchbot bot and when i update to any HA OS version above 10 that i loose functionality of the device. So when i press the bot nothing happens until i reload the bluetooth integration then the bluetooth command will be sent and the bot will be pressed.

This happens on all versions above 10 because as soon as I roll back to HA OS 9.5 the functionality comes back and works as it should.

Im running a Rpi 4 8GB with boot from usb SSD. Using the onboard bluetooth of the Rpi but I don’t see the being the issue as it works with 9.5.

I get no errors in the log

I have to reload the integration every time I want the bot to be pressed

fringe field
sharp radish
oblique oak
#

Usually you want active to discover new devices

#

Once you have all your devices configured you can usually change to passive scans

sharp radish
#

in both locations?

oblique oak
#

Some devices require active all the time though

#

Just the scanner

sharp radish
#

ok so leave the BLE tracker at active

oblique oak
#

The tracker is the scanner

sharp radish
#

ok sorry so dumb.... then under bluetooth_procy? should that be active or passive?

oblique oak
#

Proxy should always be active

sharp radish
#

ok coo! thanks. One other thing - so I only have one BT lock... but sometimes (usually after firmware update), I will get the error that all of the connection slots are full

#

eventually it fixes itself, but is this expected?

oblique oak
#

That error means all the connection slots are full for all scanners in range of the device

#

If there are no scanners that can see the device than you’ll get that error as well in some cases

#

So you may have a range issue

sharp radish
#

hm - ok the proxy is about 1m from the lock with unobstructed view. I'll keep messing with it - does a reboot clear the connections?

oblique oak
#

Yes reload and reboot clear connections

#

It’s also always good to deploy proxies in pairs

#

Since when one is connecting it can’t be listening for advertisements

sharp radish
#

got it - thanks!

silk bone
#

Been using 3 esp32 for ESPresense. But after the new ha update i added one of them as BT proxy and they can see BT distance i see? So what to do with the other 2 esp now 😛 Is it possible to use 3 esp32 as BTproxy ?

faint eagle
#

You can (and should) use multiple proxies

#

Ensure coverage, reduce missed advertisements, and if pairing - have open connection slots

silk bone
untold ermine
#

Has anyone else used BTHome with the Shelly BLU Button1? It seems to eat through the battery really fast

fringe field
#

I’ve heard people say that before, but no resolution that I’m aware of.

tame wharf
untold ermine
#

Yeah there don't seem to be any updates. Just checked

#

It's pretty disappointing how they touted this BTHome open standard as being so great but these are the results

tame wharf
#

Haven't tried their BT stuff yet, but wasn't impressed with their battery powered devices yet. Early adopters are more or less beta testers.

urban edge
#

Hey everyone, trying to install ESPHome Bluetooth proxy... anyone successful doing this with a mac? using the generic ESP32 Board, website shows connect but it doesnt seem to actually be abe to connect

fringe field
#

Are you using chrome?

urban edge
river tapir
#

Could someone tell me if I'm barking up the wrong tree with a project I'm working on.
I've built out an arduino on an adafruit feather 2040 that detects when a button has been pressed. I elected to go with a BLE SPI add on, rather than a wifi so that 1) It would save battery 2) It wouldn't have to wait for the device to fully wake up and reconnect to the wifi connection.
I've been able to send a UART string that indicates the button has been pressed that my BLE app on my phone can see.
I thought I'd be able to use an M5Atom to act as a Bluetooth Proxy to ESPHome and have ESPHome pick it up, but either I've done it all wrong, or the device the BLE Proxy picks up needs to have an existing ESPHome or HomeAssistant integration, as the device doesn't show up in ESPHome, even when transmitting.
Should I try emulating an existing supported BLE item and fudge what value is being sent, or should I dig into stuff and and try building something that is directly supported under BLE?

faint eagle
#

Maybe not a direct answer. But have you heard of the BThome standard?

river tapir
# faint eagle Maybe not a direct answer. But have you heard of the BThome standard?

I did see that, but it was my understanding that it is being phased out as bluetooth devices began getting 'native' HA support. But, now that I say that I can't find that post that I read that so it may habe been a DIFFERENt service doing that. But looking at it closer, it supports Shelly Buttons, I could bust open a shelly button and wire it in to mine. I'm using a giant 'arcade' button for my dog to press when he wants outside. When its completed, it will trigger an event in HomeAssistant that broadcasts over our smart speakers to let the dog out, if it doesn't detect the backdoor open within 3 minutes, it will turn off the kid TVs and computers and lock out their smart phones

#

This grew out of a "Goggle Home has gone to crap, time to reignite the homeassistant project, followed by I'm old and I need a hobby, let's pick up arduino and electronics"

#

I think the problem I had with BTHomes format was that the work is done in the advertising payload, great idea, but changing packet components isn't just a simple var for most things.

faint eagle
#

I have seen some reports of short battery life in the Shelly buttons. May want to research that a bit if you head that way. There are 2 versions of the BThome protocol but I'm not sure of the differences.

gaunt berry
#

Hello everyone, I'm using a xiaomi mi scale on the ESP32 Bluetooth proxy via esphome. Since the ha 2023.7 update, ha has no longer received any data from the scale. Anyone have an idea why?

lusty briar
river tapir
oblique oak
river tapir
#

Petro31 says that removing the proxy portion fixed his issue. That's weird because the proxy doc says

The Bluetooth proxy depends on ESP32 Bluetooth Low Energy Tracker Hub so make sure to add that to your configuration.

Or is that why there is an upcoming fix?

oblique oak
#

if you want to give it a try

#

I have no way to test if it fixes it

river tapir
#

I appreciate you sharing that, I haven't gotten mine to the 'i'm probably the reason mine doesn't work' phase. 🙂

fringe field
# river tapir Could someone tell me if I'm barking up the wrong tree with a project I'm workin...

Some of these questions would be better in the dev Bluetooth channel. But you are right - Bluetooth proxies only extend the range of stuff supported by HA integrations. And all the existing integrations are GATT or advertisement based, I don’t think I’ve seen a UART one? Basically, can you make a client for it with the python bleak library. If you can, you can write an integration for it that uses proxies. If you can’t, you can’t.

fringe field
#

Proxies also have a limited number of active 2 way connection slots, so avoiding needing persistent connections is important

#

Advertisements carrying events isn’t a novel or unusual idea, it’s the most common way of doing this stuff. Eg homekit does a 2 way handshake to agree an encryption key but then sends all its state updates encrypted in the advertising payload. Inkbird, xiamoi, gove etc use advertising too

river tapir
fringe field
#

Lol

timber meadow
#

following up again

oblique oak
#

the olimex board relays are just spliced into the up and down manual controls

#

and its got a POE adapter

#

harmony turns on and it triggers the up relay

#

harmony turns off and it triggers the down relay after 30s

timber meadow
#

i was hoping for a bit more. - i dont have experience using servos to move things, especially not heavy things. i am comfortable with esphome and some templates / editing a bit of that yaml plus wiring with various wled projects

#

can you expand on the manual controls of X part?

wild sinew
#

could someone recommend a bluetooth range extender that is pretty much turn-key from within HA

oblique oak
#

Olimex ESP32 Power-over-Ethernet ISO

oblique oak
timber meadow
#

i'll just have to go down that rabbit hole then

#

thanks

oblique oak
#

There are lots of vendors that make them. Mono price has them for 250$ all the way up to a vendor that will make the cabinet as well

#

That one has a nexus21 lift. https://www.tvlift.com/ there are much cheaper options though as that was just what the local wood craftsman uses

untold ermine
#

@oblique oak Is there a reason the iBeacon integration doesn't honor the "Enable newly added entities" integration system option?

oblique oak
#

No specific reason

untold ermine
#

How does that option actually work? Should it prevent devices from being added or does it still allow devices to be added but it disables all of the newly added devices entities?

oblique oak
#

Never used it before so would have to dig through the code

untold ermine
#

Yeah this is the only integration where I've used it as well

oblique oak
#

Device trackers are still kinda messy. Always complaints about too many or not enough. Probably need some architectural changes. I’ve been quiet on the iBeacons issue in that regard because there are currently mostly bad answers

untold ermine
oblique oak
#

Seems that is the case. Happy to take a PR if you want to fix it

untold ermine
#

I've been up and down the docs for creating a new integration and I didn't see anything about that setting mentioned

oblique oak
#

Might be easiest to find the PR it was added in and work forwards from there

untold ermine
#

Where that system option was added? I imagine that was pretty old

oblique oak
#

I have no idea where though. If you get stuck you could grep the frontend code for the strings, find the PR by looking at blame and look for the linked core Pr

untold ermine
#

Old enough not to have a linked PR though

oblique oak
#

some more advanced archaeology is needed there

untold ermine
#

Interesting that the original description says "If disabled, newly discovered entities will not be automatically added to Home Assistant". Nothing about devices mentioned

#

Maybe something was lost in translation (literally and figuratively lol)

untold ermine
oblique oak
#

you could always open the network panel (in browser) and watch the websocket and mess with the ui

#

it should trigger an api call which should be grep able in the core code

untold ermine
#

Oh yeah good call. I think I found it, but who knows how old this code is so that's probably a more reliable method

untold ermine
#

I'm not seeing one now either. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that it's websocket? But those should still show up

#

All my filters are off and I have "All" selected

#

Or maybe it literally does do nothing lol

oblique oak
#

Right click, inspect, shift/option + reload

#

find websocket

#

look for messages

#

trigger the api call

untold ermine
oblique oak
#

{"type":"config_entries/update","entry_id":"23a9715c3de8dbf0e8fff204d1f4632d","pref_disable_new_entities":true,"pref_disable_polling":false,"id":44}

untold ermine
#

That entry shows up when you hit "update"?

#

I was just able to reproduce the behavior I suspected with the steam_online integration. I first tested adding new friends as entities (which was a little buggy, I think this integration might not kick off a reload properly) as a baseline. Then I removed them and turned off that system option and tried adding them again. It ended up still adding the entity, but it's disabled

#

This integration doesn't add new devices, but I suspect if entities are normally added with devices then those devices are still going to be created

#

From a quick search of that integration, it doesn't look like it's doing any custom implementation of that system option. So that's good news

#

I think we could either make a breaking change that causes that system option to just stop having the entities and devices added altogether, add another option that causes new entities and devices to not be created at all, or what might be the best option for now, to add an options flow to iBeacon that allows users to disable adding of new devices/entities.

#

Thoughts @oblique oak?

oblique oak
#

honestly not sure how the option is supposed to work.

#

it looks like new entities should be added by as disabled

# 
            disabled_by is None
            and config_entry 
            and config_entry is not UNDEFINED
            and config_entry.pref_disable_new_entities 
        ):  
            disabled_by = RegistryEntryDisabler.INTEGRATION
#

homeassistant/helpers/entity_registry.py

untold ermine
#

Yeah exactly

#

But the description says "devices". I don't think that setting has anything to do with devices

untold ermine
#

I think that could be a system option, but at least in the mean time this is a very common complaint I've seen with iBeacons so I think a change to that integration specifically would make sense

oblique oak
#

The answer will generally be that we shouldn't make integration specific options like that as it should be a system option

untold ermine
oblique oak
#

Given the original frontend one you just pointed out had a rejected PR linked to it for that reason, I would say yes

untold ermine
#

Ah you're referring to I assume? 26036

#

Will try to keep this on my radar for a fix. Have been meaning to get more familiar with the frontend and this seems like a good entrance into it

oblique oak
#

yes #26036

wild sinew
#

what do most people use to pwer the m5stack ATOM Lite ESP32

untold ermine
#

usb?

wild sinew
#

I mean more like what kind of usb / power source.

oblique oak
#

Any standard 5v usb brick will likely work. The power requirements are very low

wild sinew
#

so any 5v power cube with a usb a cable on both ends?

river tapir
#

It also has a VIN doesn't it? so depending if you've got it attached to something

modern viper
#

Any chance of getting something like this working with home assistant on a RPi4? Sengled Alexa Light Bulb, S1 Auto Pairing with Alexa Devices, Color Changing Light Bulbs, Smart Light Bulbs that Work with Alexa, Bluetooth Mesh Smart Home Lighting, E26 60W Equivalent,800LM, 10-Pack https://a.co/d/fIUutfU

worn helm
#

Hi guys! Is there a way to find out, if this is going to work with my BT proxy? I need a simple and cheap finger robot, that will be used once in months, so I wanted it to be as cheap as possible. https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005240504102.html?spm=a2g0o.order_list.0.0.3e991802KhEQYK&gps-id=pcOrderListRecommend&scm=1007.38956.333894.0&scm_id=1007.38956.333894.0&scm-url=1007.38956.333894.0&pvid=d2d18c38-5a2e-40e4-a9e5-bd13d1127d02&_t=gps-id:pcOrderListRecommend,scm-url:1007.38956.333894.0,pvid:d2d18c38-5a2e-40e4-a9e5-bd13d1127d02,tpp_buckets:668%232846%238113%231998&pdp_npi=3%40dis!USD!38.09!11.81!!!!!%402101c71a16890996904813032ebae6!12000032328062853!rec!CZ!174465398

earnest ore
#

is it possible to control bluetooth 5.0 lights with HA?

willow solstice
#

Maybe

fringe field
#

Make sure you include the vendor in your searches, as “controlling Bluetooth lights with ha” is not specific enough

solemn hazel
#

Is there a way to make rhasspy work with a Bluetooth combination speaker/microphone? I am getting audio from the speaker, but it isn’t detecting my voice. When I download the wav file, its duration is 0, and testing microphones leads to none of them saying “working”

river tapir
#

Anyone here familiar with the Passive BLE Monitor integration?
It indicates you can use ESPHome BLE Gateway
https://custom-components.github.io/ble_monitor/parse_data
With lots of information on configuring BLE Gateway, but no actual information on "what" this component is.
I want to build a BLE Gateway, but all it has is "here's the configuration."
What file am I attacking with my sharp scalpel of digital 1s and 0s.
I have ESPhome installed as an Add on in HomeAssistant (running HAOS)
I have Passive BLE Monitor installed via the HACS.
I've spent 4 days reading two forum posts, github comments, and am now at the point in time where I have to say "I am a dum, where I go to make work."

river tapir
#

Passive BLE Monitor

devout hearth
#

That could have changed since April, but I'm guessing it hasn't based on your experience.

late jasper
#

For homkit bluetooth devices added to HA through Homekit Device integration, is there a way to control how often a sensor reading is pulled?

fringe field
#

Its generally pushed based - the device broadcasts when something changes

late jasper
#

So I have a homekit temperature sensor, on device it's showing 26.5 deg for example. But on HA control panel, it still shows as 27. Is this normal behavior? I see other metrics from the same device (for exmaple humidity) is updated more frequently.

#

Is this expected behavior?

fringe field
#

Maybe?

#

So double check the precision HA is using for that sensor, it could be getting rounded by HA

late jasper
#

yeah it's to 1 digit after the decimal point

fringe field
#

But the other thing is the device might not update Ha as frequently as it updates it’s display

late jasper
#

so that shouldn't be the problem

fringe field
#

And that’s not something we can control

#

We’ve seen this with ecobee humidity via homekit which have some bizarre rules about when it actually sends an update

#

We also see it with some xiaomi ble stuff

late jasper
#

okay I see thanks

#

Just a little bit paranoid about whether it actually fired the temp update but my HA did not recieve it properly

fringe field
#

Then it could be also signal quality, if it’s not below -85 it’s possible we could miss push updates.

#

Or if you have a crappy Realtek ble dongle then it’ll probably be broken more than it works

#

Homekit has 3 tiers for ble. In the ideal tier we connect once and get an encryption key, and then we never connect again and we process the current state from broadcasts that are encrypted with that key

#

Iirc, There are failsafes in that so if it misses pushes, it will be able to tell from future pushes

#

The next tier is the state number, which the device increments whenever it thinks no one is connected and there is an event

#

The state number is broadcast often, so if we seen that change we know we need to reconnect and poll.

#

If both of those fail, we do fall back to polling.

#

But if you are relying on polling then you really want to be adding Bluetooth proxies or better ble dongles to your setup - polling is slow, needs a strong signal to be reliable and is the worst for battery

late jasper
#

I have a 'premium' dongle according to the list on the HA bluetooth page. But I am not happy about the signal quality I get.

#

In total I have 2 bluetooth homekit devices. Both are roughly 2-3 meters from the HA server. 1 is in the same room and the other is in the hallway so separeted by a conrete wall

#

And the signal quality for both are around -80 - -75. That's pretty bad to me

fringe field
#

Yeah, ideally for 2 way stuff I’d want to see it stay below -80 but it should be “ok”

late jasper
#

For now for active things (it's a motion sensor so I mean triggers like if someone is detected or cleared) are always pickup by HA but since the signal strength is pretty low and the temperature is not updated very often (sometimes it takes a few hours to update the number) I'm not sure if every update from the device is picked up by HA

#

And also unfortunately I don't know which tier my homekit devices belong to

icy gale
#

Hi folks, I have given a friend some Xiaomi BLE thermometers (standard firmware, not linked to any Home Assistant installation). Purely being used visually at this point. Now they are asking if they can see the readings on their phone, but are not yet ready for a HomeAssistant installation. Which leads me to ask whether there are any mobile apps for viewing BTHome broadcasts? The family is iOS-focused. And yes, I realise that I could just tell them to install the Xiaomi app to receive the broadcasts.

earnest ore
#

I have Bluetooth 5.0 LED Lights that use the BRMesh phone app. Is there a way to connect to HA.

fringe field
#

Not aware of any other BTHome clients

#

I hope they don’t have to use the offices xiaomi apps 🤢

fringe field
icy gale
ember finch
#

Apologies if this has already been asked a million times... all the BT adapters i've seen listed as supported are 4.0/5.0/5.1... are any of the 5.3 adapters known working well? seems a waste to not just get one with the latest long range / low power options

idle basin
#

It is a waste to get one of the new ones.

#

The sena 4.0 will outrange any 5.x

ember finch
#

okay thanks! just ordered the sena

idle basin
#

Sena is great though. I added a 9db antenna for it

#

If you want insane range. Lol

#

Up to a 1000m is pretty good. Lol

ember finch
#

it may end up being too much range, depending on whether it makes my zigbee network less reliable 😉

#

the only wires we have in the walls besides power are security system cat3 and worse wiring from the 80s

#

eventually i may change course and grab some of the esphome proxies

late jasper
#

If you already have a cable there it's pretty straightforward to replace with with a new one

iron frost
#

Even HA devs recommend proxies over dongles

late jasper
#

Just to share my experience on this. I was running HA on my rpi and I was having issues that occasionally the event of the bluetooth sensor can't be picked up by HA. Then i bought a recommended USB dongle, now the problem is gone

#

Since it's recommended, the dongle is plug and play so 0 effort there.

ember finch
idle basin
#

I don't believe it

late jasper
#

It's mentioned, on the bluetooth integration description page

ember finch
#

in fact the remote devices section specifically says that proxies are for devices that don't need an active connection, implying reduced functionality... and it then goes on to contradict itself a few lines later by saying esphome proxies support active connections

late jasper
#

I can't find it there anymore. But for sure somewhre on their website I saw a form comparing different ways of using bluetooth and the most reliable way is the proxy

#

Found it, it's at almost the bottom of the page

#

search IMPROVING CONNECTION TIMES on the page

#

So actually if you can enable passive scanning for the usb dongle it's not that bad

ember finch
#

the recommendations are on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying ‘Beware of the Leopard.”

#

😉

late jasper
#

yeah gotta say the HA docs are definitely not for the faint heart..

ember finch
#

but also thanks for the pointers, i've now canceled the sena order and ordered some esp32s to make into esphome proxies. (i've had far too much fun trying to get zigbee and zwave to reliably work from a single location)

late jasper
#

NP

devout hearth
iron frost
#

Documentation has an edit button to add and correct everything discussed here

idle basin
late jasper
#

Just enabled passive scanning on the bluetooth dongle hopefully it will be faster

idle basin
#

@iron frost thanks for the reminder to update the simplisafe docs, i forgot to do tihs weeeknd

hidden oasis
#

hi I wanted to ask about home assistant with raspberry how to use bluetooth to connect a speaker

ember finch
oblique oak
#

The WiFi based ESPHome ones might be less latent than the local ones with BlueZ + DBus on 2023.8.x, but YMMV greatly based on the quality of your wifi.

mint summit
#

Hey there, I have a light that uses BLE mesh communication Where there is no integration available yet 😱 so I thought I can write one myself. While I’m use to python i have no idea about BLE and BLE mesh. What would I need to connect to such a network. Does Someone have an example or guide at hand how to handle BLE mesh with python?

wild sinew
#

So now that I can see my little bluetooth proxy in HA do I just put it in the house where I need to get the extra BT range?

indigo kindle
wild sinew
#

how do I know if it is actually working?

#

I don't see the little green light anymore

iron frost
#

supported devices appear in HA

#

or rather, notification to add them does

wild sinew
#

yep I added it in but I don't see the little green light anymore is there a way to turn that on/off

iron frost
#

i don't know what little green light you're referring to

wild sinew
#

oh on the atom lite

iron frost
#

the RGB LED is not configured in the bluetooth proxy yaml so I wouldn't expect any kind of lights

wild sinew
#

Will HA show it as offline?

iron frost
#

did you even add the bt proxy esphome device to ha?

wild sinew
#

yes

iron frost
#

then you'll know if its avaiable or not by going to the device card

wild sinew
#

plugged it in and in the log it showed safe mode boot

iron frost
#

you don't want that, you want the normal mode boot

#

" If for some reason your node gets into a boot loop, ESPHome will automatically try to detect this and will go over into a safe mode after the configured unsuccessful boot attempts (Defaults to 10). In that mode, all components are disabled and only Serial Logging + Network(WiFi or Ethernet) + OTA are initialized"

wild sinew
#

then it showed atom-bluetooth-proxy-9d0dec was detected at home

#

does that mean it is functioning properly?

iron frost
#

no

wild sinew
#

It does not appear to be looping in the boot mode or anything

iron frost
#

open the device from the esphome dashboard and look at the logs, then you'll know how its functioning and whether its properly

wild sinew
#

I am looking at the log

devout hearth
#

I think the UI is confusing here. See #bluetooth-archived message I mention this because I think I also originally thought mine was booting to safe mode even though it wasn't. Maybe yours is, or maybe you caused it to by hitting that button, but otherwise, following from that link might help you confirm it is working.

#

Or maybe the logs will be way more helpful and I should have tried that 🤷‍♂️

iron frost
#

when in doubt check the logs

dreamy monolith
#

hey, sorry if this was asked 1000 times, but how to actually pair BLE sensors to HA? I configured the dongle, but can't find a way to scan for devices

fringe field
dreamy monolith
#

and if it doesn't?

#

my phone can see it

fringe field
#

So many reasons

#

Crap dongle

#

Interference

#

Range

#

Not actually supported

dreamy monolith
#

how soon should it appear ?

fringe field
#

Depends on the device

dreamy monolith
#

the sensor is supported

#

not sure about the dongle, it's something generic, but didn't have issues with the config

fringe field
#

Check it against the documentation

#

There is a list of known broken devices

#

And a list of devices that work well

#

If it’s realtek, replace it

dreamy monolith
#

I am not sure how to identify the chipset, but I'll google around

fringe field
#

Make sure it’s on a usb extension to get it away from other usb3 devices

#

Usb3 will kill your range

#

Without knowing exact hardware of everything all we can do is guess. Eg contact sensors and motion sensors might only broadcast when they detect a door opening or motion.

#

And iirc Inkbird only works if your Bluetooth integration is in active mode - passive mode does not.

#

Homekit devices can only be paired to one device at once

#

So won’t be shown

dreamy monolith
#

it's a mmwave presence sensor, I've seen many videos of it being used with HA, and the phone sees it, so I guess the issue is with the dongle, I'll put it on an extensions but if it doesn't work it's probably unsupported

fringe field
#

Realtek ones look like they work but then they crash, and they can not have the usb reset pin wired up so HA can’t recover them.

#

So unplugging and replugging can unstick things

#

At least for a few minutes

dreamy monolith
#

hmmm, I think it's the dongle, I unplugged it, put it on an extension and now it gives an error

#

deleted it and now won't show up

#

killed my RDP too for some reason o.O

wild sinew
#

So the proxy doesn't listen to bluetooth signals from devices, and transmit it to HA is that correct?

#

It only sends out bluetooth commands to devices like say say a switchbot switch or curtain?

random hinge
#

Hi, I just purchased some M5Stack Atom Lite modules to act as bluetooth proxies. Issue I'm having when configuring via: https://esphome.github.io/bluetooth-proxies/ is at the "Configure Wi-Fi" step. It error with "Unable to connect". In case it is relevant: my IOT wifi network is hidden. I'm doing this on a Windows 10 laptop via Google Chrome Web Browser. Does anyone have a solution for this?

wild sinew
#

You may have to unhide the the network temporarily.

#

I just got a few of those and put the first one to use last night and it seems that I went from devices responding very slowly or not at all to almost instant.

#

for whatever that is worth 🙂

random hinge
#

Thanks, I did just that, and it worked while the IOT network wasn't hidden. Once I hid it again the Atom Lite devices became "Unavailable". Strange since I have regular ESP32 boards acting as bluetooth proxies with no issues when the IOT network is hidden. So I'll do it the old fashioned way. 🤷‍♂️

fallow viper
#

the config which is in use is on the page. so you can just use it directly through esphome. which will probably get round your issue. just add fast_connect:on to your wifi settings.

#

fast_connect (Optional, boolean): If enabled, directly connects to WiFi network without doing a full scan first. This is required for hidden networks and can significantly improve connection times. Defaults to off. The downside is that this option connects to the first network the ESP sees, even if that network is very far away and better ones are available.

fringe field
# wild sinew So the proxy doesn't listen to bluetooth signals from devices, and transmit it t...

It forwards all BLE advertisements to HA, which decodes them and decides if they should trigger a discovery or whether it should forward them to an existing integration that you already set up. That integration might be able to extract sensor data without every establishing a full BLE 2-way connection (which is slow and bad for battery). Most BLE sensors in HA are able to use advertisements partially or fully, so are quite efficient.

#

Not all proxies are able to open connections and send commands and are only useful for this advertisement data. Shelly is an example of that

rough sierra
#

Hi, does anyone knows how can I use a beacon in my car to trigger an automation (with device_tracker.see) with my iphone?

atomic mica
#

I'm having problems with my HA build not finding the bluetooth adaptor on my Rasberry PI 4 Model B. Does anyone know how to find/turn it on?

fringe field
#

And are you using haos? Or Ubuntu / Debian / rasbian / etc

atomic mica
#

The one built in to the PI 4. I’m using the build from the home assistant website, not sure if that helps.

fringe field
fringe field
atomic mica
fringe field
#

So that’s probably home assistant OS.

#

Did you install it recently? If not, are you up to date with updates?

atomic mica
#

I installed it about a week or 2 ago and did an update today.

fringe field
atomic mica
#

Nope, when trying to add the bluetooth integrations I get 'No unconfigured Bluetooth adapters found. There are 0 ignored adapters.'

fringe field
#

So that sounds like HAOS can’t see the Bluetooth chip at all.

#

Try a power cycle

atomic mica
#

That was my thinking, I have restarted a few times but nothing.

fringe field
#

You might need to cut power to reset the chip

atomic mica
#

I will shut it down and pull the power now.

fringe field
#

If that doesn’t work, make sure your power supply is good enough. You need 3A minimum.

atomic mica
#

I got the starter kit so I got a 5V 3A power supply.

fringe field
#

Oh one more check, when you looked at integrations did you look to see if Bluetooth was already configured or did you just go straight to adding a new one?

#

Because I get the exact same error as you if I try to add a new Bluetooth integration when i already have one

#

You wouldn’t believe how often it’s actually working but people miss that it’s there or it’s been set to ignored.

atomic mica
#

I can't see any other integrations for bluetooth.

fringe field
#

Short of standing over your shoulder and watching for pebkacs, i can only think you have a hardware problem then. Check it works in another os, or just get an external usb dongle.

atomic mica
#

I'm happy to screenshare in the hangout lobby if you want. I'm hoping it isn't a pebkac issue being the tech and built a few rigs in my days, just new to HA and PI's

#

I am starting to think a hardware issue, but wanted to elimate that.

fringe field
#

It’s 1am here so I’m going to have to bow out

#

You do want a usb dongle on an extension anyway - for range and for the auto restart

atomic mica
#

I will look into getting one, it is 1am here as well, I'm in rainy Wales, so not much else to do but play with tech inside, lol

fringe field
#

Seriously Linux Bluetooth bites, not having Bluetooth that ha can reset will make you sad very quickly

#

In the beta I had a realtek chip and it would crash once an hour minimum

atomic mica
#

It has been frustrating me for a bit. I was hoping to avoid spending more, but I may have to, to get it working, I might ask my wife to throw it on her prime and get it running soon.

fringe field
#

If you have some esp32s kicking around they are meant to be on par with usb when running the Bluetooth proxy esphome firmware

#

Anyway nn

atomic mica
#

Goodnight and thanks for the help Jc2k.

random hinge
south stone
#

Is it possible to send data using the bluetooth proxy? I am using a script to control a fan and have been using a plug in bluetooth dongle to send the command but it has stopped working. I have a bunch of ESPHome bluetooth proxies setup. Is it possible to send commands from them? If so, how? I can't find anything using search.

#

Im using an atom lite

oblique oak
#

If you write your integration using bleak it will just work and use the proxies when you use it under HA

south stone
#

Is there another way? I'm not intelligent enough for that

bronze thistle
#

I feel this is something obvious:

  • RaspberryPI 4 / HASS running. Current version (Home Assistant 2023.7.3, Supervisor 2023.07.1,Operating System 10.3).
  • using the RPi4 built in BT - I need just a single BT LE device to work that's nearby for the temperature outside.
  • Trying to get a Govee H5074 working.
  • If I have bluetoothctl running in a shell and do "scan le" then Govee is discoverable and data updates in HA.
  • If I quit bluetoothctl it stops any data transfering.
  • starting bluetoothctl again works fine.

I'm sure there's something super obvious I need to do but can't quite get my google-fu to find.

fringe field
fringe field
#

I had similar troubles a year with my Bluetooth (Realtek) and switching to a better dongle fixed pretty much exactly the behaviour you described. The pi Bluetooth should be better than that, but it does seem to really struggle for some people. And when the chip does eventually crash, HA can’t recover it without a full power cycle. The usb dongles can be reset electronically.

#

I would try turning it off and on again to see if that helps.

south stone
#

Thanks for your advice

bronze thistle
hollow torrent
rotund sail
#

You'd have to develop an integration to support them

hollow torrent
#

I understand @rotund sail but any how to on where to start or use BLE monitor or something?

fringe field
hollow torrent
#

Yes, we have all the advertisements and read and write characteristics

fringe field
#

If you know that stuff, probably start with bleak, which is the library we use in Ha for ble, and get that working first.

hollow torrent
#

Do you have a link for that?

fringe field
#

I don’t think there is a blind already supported over Bluetooth (other than homekit), so there isn’t a good integration to crib from but we normally point to led_ble as an example of an integration that reads and writes

#

I have to google it every time

#

Python bleak should do the job

#

Sorry on phone right now

hollow torrent
#

You mean this?

fringe field
#

Yeah

hollow torrent
#

Ok great will look into that.

fringe field
#

HA has its own wrappers around bleak so that we can transparently support the esp32 Bluetooth proxies. But it’s still easier to start with plain bleak to get a feel for the api

hollow torrent
#

Also what do you think about controlling. Don't want to drain the batteries to fast. Is there a way to set poll interval or what would you recommend?

fringe field
#

Most good Bluetooth devices we’ve seen have some kind of push scheme based on advertisements, so if this device relies on polling and is battery powered… it’s a bit of an exception unfortunately.

hollow torrent
#

Ok, will see how it goes than

fringe field
#

Eg homekit encrypts state updates in its advertisements so sensors never need to be polled

#

And I’d that feels it has a simple counter in the advertising data - if it goes up you know to poll.

hollow torrent
#

Not sure if it is polling. But typically you are not connected constantly with the roller. Once you connect you get position and battery percentage

fringe field
#

The xiaomi coin cell sensors last ages and they also just blast sensor data in the advertisement field, never needing polling

hollow torrent
#

Is looking at Bluetooth curtain maybe a good idea?

#

Like switchbot?

fringe field
#

Ah that might be a good one to look at yes

hollow torrent
#

Any idea where to search for such a integration?

fringe field
#

If you look in the Ha repo and gif grep bluetooth_adaptor you should be able to find all of them

hollow torrent
#

Ok good but what should i ask there 🤣

#

Did not think I should post there 😂

#

Just for your info we have made it possible to control the blinds with python.

#

So hopefully it wont be to hard to get it to work with bleak

#

Will dive into it more tomorrow. Time to go to sleep. Thanks for the help

warm surge
#

hello, I bought an esp32 because of some sensors and now I had a farther led controller and I thought it would control it too, am I wrong or is it a bad configuration

sinful pawn
#

I'm working with espresense and I'm trying to dial in the settings. I pull up my beacon in the companion app to get the current distance. I can have my phone about 2-3ft from the espresense and I'm getting distances in the 4-5 range (meters). I have default values for Calibration. In the companion App: Advertise Mode: Balanced, Transmitter Power: Low It's just odd that my phone distance doesn't go <2m or even <1m

hardy pawn
#

Hello evryone, i am looking for evrywhere but cannot find a solution, i have HA install on rasperry and add correctly a usb bluetooth. now i need some addon to pair with a bluetooth device and comnuicate with spp (serial port profile) just read and write message over bluetooth, is it possible?

fringe field
hardy pawn
#

ok thanks @fringe field

warm surge
#

anyone to help install an esp32 atom? just the doubt of how to add there a tape that does not seem to read

lime timber
#

Anyone recommend a good BT stick for HA ? and do i need an usb extension cord for it , like with zigbee ?

spark cairnBOT
rotund sail
#

Look at the list there

#

(also, consider using Bluetooth proxies instead)

lime timber
#

BT proxy , you mean an ESP32 flashed .. ?

rotund sail
#

Yes

lime timber
#

TY , those are better eh

#

bt over wifi lol

rotund sail
#

If the device you're trying to connect is supported, yes

lime timber
#

so no need for a bt usb dongle , an esp32 should do ? for presence sensing etc

#

or connecting my OBD bt car dongle

rotund sail
#

For things that proxies are supported for, yes

#

I'm sure the experts can answer if you provide details

lime timber
#

want to make a car presence sensor based on the OBD2 car monitor BT dongle in my car , maybe by pinging it at intervals ...

fringe field
#

HA's bluetooth integration is a framework for other integrations to build on, theres no user consumable features there.

#

most of the integrations in HA that use it are for a particular vendor's products (govee, inkbird, etc)

#

the closest to what you want is probably the ble tracker integration

#

However, its fairly common for BLE devices to randomize their MAC address for privacy

#

e.g. imagine a speed trap that tracked your car's BLE every mile of a highway

#

it should work with bluetooth proxies, though

#

otherwise, especially if you wanted to e.g. parse out data the ODB2 dongle was broadcasting, you'd need to make a custom component on top of the bluetooth integration

iron frost
#

You can just drop an ibeacon device in your car for presence

fringe field
fallow viper
#

esppresense may be worth looking at too.

edgy heath
#

Question for you folks. I've set up an esp32 as a bluetooth proxy. It comes online and all, but I can't install the bluetooth integration in HA because HA doesn't see bluetooth hardware. Is there something I need to do to get HA to use the bluetooth proxy?

#

Interestingly, on my old HA (I'm in the process of moving to a new VM in a new VM host) which does have the bluetooth integration added (from an old dongle that's no longer present), it also can see the esp32 proxy and does detect bluetooth devices using it

devout hearth
#

From what I've read and/or been told, you shouldn't need the bluetooth integration. HA should automatically detect it using the ESPHome home integration, but if it didn't, you may be able to manually add it via that integration.

edgy heath
#

if so I haven't figured out how yet

idle basin
#

Correct, you won't see Bluetooth integrations. You will just discover devices with proxy

edgy heath
#

ok, I've got something missing somewhere then. I'll dig deeper

rough sierra
#

Hi all, does anyone can share a recent guide to use ibeacon in car for tracking (parking mostly)?

inner bison
#

What is currently the best BT dongle for HA? I have been through the list, but most are copies. is it worth with antenna, or other brands that is good and PnP (no extra driver needed)

iron frost
#

copies of what?

spark cairnBOT
#

There is no universal best anything. There's always trade-offs, you need to explain:

  • Your priorities/desired features
  • Where in the world you are
  • Your budget
  • Any protocols that you'd prefer (eg Zigbee) or want to avoid (eg Zigbee)
willow solstice
#

😛

faint eagle
inner bison
#

I have some poe esp32 I use as proxies

#

and they are doing well now at least

warm surge
#

does anyone here use theAtomLite m5 ?

iron frost
#

did you mean M5Stack Atom Lite?

heavy shell
#

Hi guys! I'm developing an integration for a BLE device and I see connection attempts often fail with a timeout.
I noticed some integrations use bleak-retry-connector library to deal with that. Unfortunately its docs don't provide problem context so I decided to ask here. I want to understand why such connection issue happens and why bleak itself cannot handle it so a separate lib exists. Thanks in advance!

warm surge
iron frost
#

you will need to put more context on that question/statement

warm surge
iron frost
#

does Universal Light Controller work with BT proxies?

warm surge
#

I don't have this information

iron frost
#

once you get it you can proceed

warm surge
#

I've been reading the pagination and it doesn't have that information.
is there any known rgb controller addon that works with the proxies?

fringe field
fringe field
# warm surge I've been reading the pagination and it doesn't have that information. is there ...

If you have a BLE integration for HA that uses the bleak library and references the Bluetooth or bluetooth_adaptors integrations in its manifest, it should work with the proxies. If it doesn’t use bleak, then there is no chance of it working. You can find both of these things in it’s manifest.json. The led_ble integration in code is probably the most tested led lighting controller but I don’t know if it covers anything like what you need.

inner bison
#

Im looking for a good bluetooth adapter for my new server, one that is supported and can hold on at least 7 devices. Need to stay connected to the endpoint for yale doorman to not use forever to unlock

#

any suggestions

#

other than that can the proxy bind to end units?

#

and dongles are no needed more?

oblique oak
oblique oak
#

and most adapters get unstable past 5 devices

#

so I wouldn't bother looking for something more than 5

#

thats what I use on my production

#

but the ESPHome ethernet based proxies are faster

#

the ESPHome wifi proxies might be actually be faster than the local adapters as well in 2023.8.x depending on your wifi and distance

#

I use Olimex ESP32 Power-over-Ethernet ISO and the GL.iNet GL-S10 for my production as well to expand range. I would drop the local adapters if I didn't need them for development testing

willow solstice
#

do you find that they are a bit too powerful?

willow solstice
timber meadow
oblique oak
#

I wire everything I can

timber meadow
#

i have a strong zigbee and zwave mesh and 4 wifi APs throughout the house so intentionally choosing bluetooth seems wrong in most scenarios

oblique oak
#

Bluetooth is great for battery powered devices though

timber meadow
#

sorry i meant wifi not wired above, autocorrect got me

timber meadow
oblique oak
#

If zigbee works well for you than it’s a good option

timber meadow
#

well due to hardware choices i went with zigbee bulbs and zwave light switches which makes me very reliant on home assistant to be the middleman

oblique oak
#

I don’t have much luck with it due to congestion on zigbee bands

#

All my switches are Insteon

timber meadow
#

i just wanted to see if you could pinpoint use cases specific to bt/ble

timber meadow
oblique oak
#

Basically. But it’s rock solid. No issues ever

timber meadow
#

yeah

oblique oak
#

And it scales

#

Better than Lutron

timber meadow
#

personally i consider zwave or zigbee a better option in that case due to mains devices becoming repeaters for all zigbee or zwave devices

#

i'm also personally not a fan of the insteon on/off/up/down dimmers all on a single gang vs decora up/down style but that's just opinion

oblique oak
#

Zwave is probably a better choice to deploy today but zero issue ever is a hard to beat proposition

timber meadow
#

yeah

#

well to be honest as much as i like zwave-js, and al calzone, and co, the fact that basically one guy is manning the entire ship is not a positive look for it re-home assistant and zwave-js

#

but i suppose technically one could not use zwave-js and still integrate with hass another way with zwave

idle basin
#

Isn't it close to being officially zwave certified? That should help too, right?

timber meadow
#

So just to summarize you don’t suggest any specific bt devices over other protocols unless battery life for end devices is concerned?

inner bison
oblique oak
#

the proxy replaces the functionality of the local adapter

#

I use all my yale locks on one of my setups with no local adapters at all

#

it all goes over the proxy

inner bison
#

hm strange

#

I have a proxy active right now and no luck

oblique oak
#

check the diagnostics

#

also which integration are you using it with ?

inner bison
#

esp32-poe-iso - I just installed the default one from the official website

#

I will try to reflash it, but probably will get a new one

frank trout
#

I haven't seen a way to use homeassistant (raspberry/yellow) as bluetooth speaker, using the devices audio port. Is there a way or is an integration planned?

inner bison
#

In the docs it say running both passive and active helps on a good BT environment. Is it suggested having two dongles (or proxies), one running in active and one in passive mode?

#

or does it exist ones that can run in both?

fringe field
#

It is suggested to run pairs of proxies. The esp radio isn’t magic, and when you are running wifi traffic you aren’t doing Bluetooth traffic. I think also when you are connecting to a device you can miss adverts. Pairs mitigate that.

#

I don’t think I’ve seen an esp that has multiple Bluetooth radios.

#

I don’t know if this is the reason behind the advice but some devices need active Bluetooth otherwise they don’t transmit. But some devices broadcast every time they see a device in active scanning mode (anecdotally). So minimising your number of active scanners is code if you have those sorts of devices.

inner bison
#

so you are saying one proxy in active and one in passive?

fringe field
#

I’m saying you could

#

I run a single proxy in active and it’s fine for my particular setup

#

I believe bdraco runs pairs? My memory might be failing me there.

fringe field
# timber meadow So just to summarize you don’t suggest any specific bt devices over other protoc...

I use BLE sensors. Originally because I’m a dev and want to dog food stuff in my integrations. Sensors that broadcast (don’t need a connection) work great. At this stage, I’d happily mix and match between my zigbee and ble, rather than putting my eggs in one basket. I do find BLE easier to debug than zigbee simply because it’s simpler (there’s no tea leaves working out why an Aqara sensor won’t mesh with whatever brand router). And at this point I’m more interested in the BLE mode of my Wemo Stage than the thread mode.

#

If I was building from scratch, not a dev and interference wasn’t an issue, I’d go zigbee as much as possible.

timber meadow
#

I’m pretty invested in both zigbee and zwave with 4x cheap bt xaiomi temp/hum sensors flashed to bthome or w/e that atc flasher does. I’m happy with them but wondered what devices I might add to a bt mesh

#

I’ve seen a lot of switchbot bt stuff like automated blinds coming out lately

inner bison
#

im just so tired of zigbee is so hit and miss, especially the contast between v 1.2 and 3. The transision everyone lied and said it was v3 when it was not. I dont even know if thats fixed now

timber meadow
#

I stick to hue for most of my zigbee stuff with z2m and it’s been pretty flawless

idle basin
#

I had an igrill3 built into my grill, There was a pretty cool ESP32 module to take that signal and plug right into home assistant

timber meadow
#

Never heard of that

#

Sonoff?

idle basin
#

Because I had an Igrill already, if I didn't I would buy an Inkbird probably

timber meadow
#

For a smoker or just regular grill?

idle basin
#

That is just my regular grill, it came built in when we got it from costco, but Inkbird sells smoker ones, but then I need a smoker

#

which I want,

#

I think our Sous Vide has Bluetooth too. Its cool when existing BT stuff I have can suddenly be smart

timber meadow
idle basin
#

monitoring the internal temp of the food. depending on the type of meat I can know when its done

#

not for burgers or anything, but like a larger steak,

timber meadow
#

Oh

#

It’s a probe not a temp sensor

idle basin
#

Yea, thats what I have built into my grill, I wouldn't buy that model again, but nice it works

timber meadow
#

Cool

idle basin
#

openmqttgateway has a list of devices (mostly bt) that they work with, if you are looking for BT things to buy

#

likely they are supported elsewhere too, (if you need inspiration and are bored)

timber meadow
oblique oak
# fringe field I believe bdraco runs pairs? My memory might be failing me there.

I used to deploy two in the same room but I found as long as there is one in the room next to it the passive range is so much more than the active range that the on in the next room will pickup advertising data when the one in the first room is connecting. So in most cases you avoid needing a second one in the same room as long as there is a second one in an adjacent room that doesn't have the signal blocked by a metal wall

#

But its good to deploy two in the same room if all your bluetooth devices are in the same room

dull vault
#

Not sure what kind of esp32 to look for

dawn coral
#

I’m looking to setup SwitchBot blind tilts on a HA Docker install. They need Bluetooth. Right now I’m using the SwitchBot Hub Mini. Is there anyway to get this to work on the Docker install? It works great on the OS install.

stable panther
#

I must be so stupid that I can't get this to work. I bought two Bluecharms Beacons that I can't get to show up in Home Assistant. My Minisforum that HA is running on has BT as does the olimex esp bluetooth proxy. I know they both work because the olimex connects to Airthings BLE and the Minisforum controls switchbots. I have the bluetooth integration set up as well as ibeacon tracker and I've turned on passive scanning and checked all the checkmarks. I know the bluecharms work because I can see them with the KBeacon app. Any chance anyone can help me with whatever incredibly dumb thing I'm doing wrong?

fringe field
stable panther
#

Probably not, do you by chance have a link I can look at?

fringe field
#

It looks like you need to make sure you have an iBeacon slot, and you probably want to make sure “trigger only advertisement” is off

#

I don’t have one so guessing

timber meadow
oblique oak
#

its all device and manufacturer specific. Generally if it just a sensor its usually passive (if they designed it well). If its some thing like a lock or light its active

hollow torrent
supple notch
#

hi all. i've got a couple of yale locks that i control using the excellent august (cloud) integration [1]. i've noticed that i - sometimes - need to manually launch the yale app for its cloud services to manually fetch the latest state of the locks, which in its turn seems to push a state update to the HA integration so that its eventually in sync with the doors' open/closed and locked/unlocked states. in an attempt to rely less on the cloud, i've been playing around with the idea of running esphome on a couple of shelly 1 plus pm devices, and having these act as a bluetooth proxies for the locks. is this a decent path? i've tried setting this up but i've stumbled upon challenges in having wi-fi and ble coexist properly, and it seems i'm not alone:

fringe field
#

It might be easier to use an esphome Bluetooth proxy

fringe field
# supple notch hi all. i've got a couple of yale locks that i control using the excellent augus...

ESPHome is probably the best path. Can’t comment on the precise esp hardware. Ethernet is best if possible. Things should improve with latest esphome and Ha (lot of work to reduce WiFi airtime by coalescing advertisement data and offloading parsing to HA instance). This should improve experience with WiFi esps. I think there are further performance enhancements dropping in august HA release.

#

If you have a particular error in your logs you probably are best taking it to GitHub

hollow torrent
safe hawk
#

Hi, I am trying to add Bluetooth integration.

It automatically discovered the integration once. Then disappeared. Since then have tried multiple times but it just doesn’t show up. Tried in built Bluetooth and Bluetooth dongle with pass through.

My setup is
Windows 11 NUC
Virtualbox
HA OS
Bluetooth dongle with 2m cable extension
USB pass through in virtual box

#

Can someone please help?

idle basin
#

May I ask a dumb question?

rotund sail
#

On this server... it's required 😛

idle basin
#

Why windows 11? Why not just install HAOS

#

BTW tink, thank you for your site. You reminded me I have a harmony hub. And holy crap they for for real money now. Remotes especially

safe hawk
safe hawk
idle basin
#

@safe hawk sorry, but what other purposes?

#

Bluetooth is finicky, windows 11 is finicky, VirtualBox is finicky, home assistant is finicky

#

I know I'm not really helping, but my guess is it's windows drivers related

#

You can also just get a Bluetooth Proxy and call it a day?

safe hawk
#

Media server

idle basin
#

On windows 11 :(

safe hawk
safe hawk
idle basin
#

Yea, you buy a little ESP32 chip. Or pre assembled. Ethernet preferred. Wifi works too. It takes the ble signal and sends it to home assistant

#

It just works.

#

If you bought a Bluetooth dongle, just return it.

tranquil shuttle
#

my wife just got me a reclining chair that has bluetooth speakers and built in controls. I don't really plan to use the speakers, but I'd love to be able to use the controls to control my TV. Basically, have a device that connects as an audio device to the chair but never plays any music, and intercepts the controls to then do something with home assistant (or just roku directly). anyone know if something like this exists or should I look into doing it myself with an esp32?

lime timber
#

have an ESP32 flashed with WLED , how can i reset it so i can flash bluetooth proxy on it ?

digital pike
#

Hi, I have a Beurer TL 100 bluetooth lamp, that I used with https://github.com/Deadolus/ha-beurer until yesterday. Since the latest update of core, that no longer finishes registration. Since I am completely lost in that async setup code, is there an overview what changed in the API recently? The actual issue is TypeError: homeassistant.helpers.device_registry.DeviceRegistry.async_get_or_create() got multiple values for keyword argument 'config_entry_id'

fringe field
#

That integration is using BleakScanner directly. It probably needs overhauling to use the new Bluetooth integration properly

#

Using BleakScanner has been discouraged since native Bluetooth support landed in ha

#

So it was probably working by accident before

safe hawk
barren cliff
#

I know the service IDs and GATT characteristics and how they work, so should be fairly straightforward, but I was hoping there's a similar integration I can copy to save learning the ins and outs of HA's BLE stack

digital pike
lime timber
#

esp bluetooth proxy needs to work together with a BT stick ? will not detect on its own ?

#

while scanning on my phone it detects my TV, car obd etc , but esp proxy in HA , nothing...

fringe field
fringe field
#

Bluetooth isn’t a universal protocol like matter or homekit or zigbee. You need a integration that supports those specific devices. We don’t show devices we don’t support.

#

Eg the Inkbird integration uses the bluetooth, esphome or Shelby integrations to support Inkbird

#

Note that the bluetooth integration you see in HA is for usb/internal Bluetooth. If you have a Bluetooth proxy connected via the esphome integration and no Bluetooth integration, Inkbird devices would still be discovered by the Inkbird integration

#

For presence detection of generic devices there is the ble_tracker integration

lime timber
#

ah thanks for clearing it up

#

think i need that one

fringe field
#

Most of our sensors are advertisement based - this is much more more efficient and doesn’t require a persistent connection. BLE on Linux can only handle 5 concurrent connections, with the best BLE adaptor. So being able to collect data via advertisements is best as it doesn’t count towards that total.

barren cliff
#

I was kind of hoping I could run standalone Bleak through the proxy actually

fringe field
#

Not yet

#

Work has started to pull it out but it’s a long term goal

#

In which case directly in HA is probably the best

barren cliff
#

Thanks, I'll take a look

solar sluice
# digital pike Thats the solution, thank you

Hey, did you get your Beurer to work again? If so, what bluetooth "state" do you have the lamp in to be discovered ? I tried just "trusted" as well as "connected", pairing does not seem to work but I would expect that to be done via the discovery?

wet tangle
#

It seems like i have an issue with my RaspberryPi-4 HCI0 component. It doesn't load from the integration page

fringe field
wet tangle
#

Still trying a lot of things. Will update you later

fringe field
#

The internal Bluetooth module on a pi is connected by onboard UART, so if it crashes there is nothing HA can do to recover it. That’s one of the reasons we prefer external usb devices - most (but not all) can be reset in software if they crash (by simulating a hot plug)

#

Assuming you are using HAOS and are up to date with HAOS updates there’s no reason why it shouldn’t work. It works on lots of other pi 4s. So I’d be suspicious of power brick not being up to it (which is apparently the cause of looooots of random haos problems) or some other kind of hardware problem.

#

Not the cause of your issue right now but something to watch out for. The pi internal ble range is compromised by interference from the pi. Usb 3 devices and ssds in particular. A dongle on a cable can greatly increase your range. Just don’t get one with a Realtek chip.

#

(I’m assuming you see a Bluetooth integration on your integrations page that is stuck “Retrying”, if that’s not post a link to a screenshot of what you mean)

fringe field
wet tangle
wary perch
fringe field
#

I'd expect the firmware to be included in HASSIO tbh

wet tangle
#

One more thing I should mention, before installing this firmware, my hci0 was appearing in HA with this MAC address: AA:AA:AA:AA:AA:AA, now I have a normal MAC address.

fringe field
#

(HAOS does ship the firmware out of the box, so you have a different problem)

wary perch
#

ah ok, probably not a FW issue then since I have a MAC address but I have a reload/init setup issue

wet tangle
fringe field
#

AIUI, it feels like you are getting more control than with HAOS, but in reality you are getting a shit version of HAOS where it breaks a lot because there is a tension between your own personal customisations and the management supervised is trying to do for you

#

Did it make you install the faster version of dbus?

wet tangle
fringe field
#

It certainly explains why you don't have the right firmware out the box

#

I would also avoid thread completely

#

Your version of NetworkManager will be completely incompatible with it

wet tangle
#

About the faster version of dbus, I'm not sure what you are referring to.

fringe field
#

So theres a piece of software called the "dbus broker"

#

HAOS has the modern version. Debian based distros have the slooooow version.

#

It is documented on the bluetooth page, but i don't know if its part of the stock supervised setup

#

It's alongside the other requirements (bluez and kernel versions)

#

i ended up backporting bluez packages by hand on my debian box to try and make things not suck

#

the modern one is called dbus-broker

#

iirc, there was a sizeable cpu usage reduction with that

wet tangle
#

I will check everything you said to make sure my system is up-to-date

wet tangle
#

I've just upgraded to dbus broker. Thanks @fringe field

#

Quick question, when you configure a Bluetooth Proxy node, can you add more code (services) on that microcontroller? Or should the ESP32 with the Bluetooth Proxy code only run the code for that Bluetooth Proxy?? I'm asking this question because I'm thinking of adding a LD2410 radar on an existing BT-Proxy node

fringe field
#

Isn’t the ld2410 Bluetooth

#

Like isn’t there an integration in ha for it

#

Without having to reconfigure the esp

wet tangle
fringe field
#

Has anyone raised a bug for that? Is it a limitation of the device? Or our bug?

#

Anyway the answer is as ever, “it depends”

#

All I can say is try it and see if it’s stable

#

I personally have seperate proxies

wet tangle
#

Yeah, I'll go ahead and give it a try. The worst that can happen is that I reverse back to a simple BT-Proxy

wet tangle
#

Quick update, it works like a charm. I had to first clean the build files and start from fresh, but it worked.

silk oyster
#

I recently ordered an nRF52840 dongle to use for thread and bluetooth. However i cantr figure out how to use its bluetooth capabilities. does someone here have some experience with it?

fringe field
#

I am not aware of a combo Bluetooth/thread dongle working with HA

#

But look out for bluez support

#

That’s the important bit

silk oyster
#

Oh thats a little disappointing. Is this a limitation of HA or the dongle? I took "multiprotocol support" for being able to use both concurrently

fringe field
#

Just because I’ve never heard of it doesn’t mean it’s a think

#

HA uses bluez on Linux

#

If you want Bluetooth to work your dongle needs to support bluez

#

If it does, you plug it in and it should be discovered (on haos, you might need to do some manual steps from the docs to let the container access bluez otherwise)

fringe field
#

And it doesn’t sound like it’s both at the same time

#

I suggest searching for nrf52840 and bluez

silk oyster
#

Thanks for your help, will do 👍

novel onyx
#

Anyone here is running the ESPresense detection with mqtt_room? I'm having issues with randomized MAC address of my Galaxy watch 5. I wonder if there's a workaround.

mossy scroll
#

Hey guys - has anyone run into the error that keeps cycling the Bluetooth adapter?

candid stump
gritty viper
#

Does anyone use a NUC and bluetooth? Do I need to install a driver or set up something in the BIOS?

fringe field
gritty viper
#

Sure, I'm using an Intel NUC7CJYH. HA is running on alpine on a docker (default method I think)

#

and if I add the bluetooth integration within HA, I find an adaptater named "Bluetooth adapter hci0"

#

but no devices are being discovered

#

I'm not sure if I need to start a scan or if it's automatic

fringe field
#

Unless you have accidentally enabled passive mode (it’s not the default) then compatible devices should be discovered automatically

#

Key word is compatible - a lot of people are confused that all devices don’t show up. We only show it if there’s an integration that supports it

gritty viper
#

Is there a way to discover my phone if the companion app is installed? I'd like to make sure that it's working properly before buying a compatible device

fringe field
#

No

#

In general we recommend getting a Bluetooth adapter that’s on the list of supported ones in the doc

#

As there’s a lot of variance in quality

#

Usb and on an extension cord - usb 3 can cause too much interference on internal boards

gritty viper
#

alright, thanks for the help

fringe field
#

And you could look at the diagnostic report for the Bluetooth adapter

#

It will at least tell you the MAC addresses it can see and the signal strength

#

But that’s not really actually reliable to answer your question

#

Can have a great signal quality but won’t show if your adapter is resetting itself left right and center

#

Or a myriad of other things that won’t surface until you have the actual device to test

frank vortex
#

I have a question that I havent been able to find the answer to. I have ESP32 Bluetooth proxies around my house and have been using physical iBeacons as well as Software iBeacons on Linux devices to determine which room a device is in and run automations accordingly. I have some new uses where I would like to have a beacon on some of my ESP32 projects (ESPHome).

I configured an esp32_ble_beacon with a uuid, major, and minor on an ESP32, then configured a binary_sensor using ble_presence on another ESP32. This works fine, but it just shows the boolean value of the binary_sensor on the particular ESP. Now I could set this up on each proxy, but I'd rather use HAs iBeacon functionality so it works just like my other beacons.

Nearest I can tell, this doesn't work. I found some claiming its because there is no way to set a name on the beacon ESP and HA rejects it due to a decision made during the iBeacon development. Is this possible and am I missing something? Thanks

alpine grove
#

What is the recommended practice for setting up BLE trackers? I use ESPHome on a bunch of Switchbot plugs that are esp32c3 and have a few tracker devices (Nut keyfob). How do I go about getting them into HA?

#

Right now I have ```

BLE Tracking

device_tracker:

  • platform: bluetooth_le_tracker
fringe field
alpine grove
#

I got them in but my wife left and came back with one but it’s not fully updating status. How do I troubleshoot that?

faint eagle
#

So those integrations use the new ble implementation with ble esp32 proxies?

fringe field
#

Ble tracker should yes

alpine grove
#

When you setup your BLE device tracker platform and have turned off " track_new_devices" how do you ADD a device for tracking? I saw the note about known_devices being depreciated but it still seems to be there.

#

I also don't want to kill my DB by having those unknown added.

muted merlin
#

Hello I am a beginner in domotic with home assistant and to try home assistant I created a VM with HAOS on VMware. When I installed it everything was correct after that I decided to add Bluetooth extension. To try it I used the integrated Bluetooth on my intel computer and when I want to use this it show this.

#

It is detected as hci0

fringe field
fringe field
tall summit
stiff elm
#

hello
i am having a problem with setting up my new xiaomi plant care sensor, and Making this work. https://github.com/Olen/homeassistant-plant
home assistant did ad the new xiaomi sensor alright, no issues with that does messure and logg,
but after ading the custom compoment and the card
the custom compoment does not messure any sensor (Says unknow)
and the normal The Xiaomi BLE integration does not work anymore (but reading that github page) that is normal...
This makes zero sense ,

fringe field
#

I wrote the current xiaomi plant care sensor support in home assistant core, but I can’t help you with custom integrations. It seems unlikely that adding this custom integration would break things. I kinda wonder if it’s a coincidence and it’s actually a problem with your Bluetooth (eg Realtek Bluetooth is very crashy). But if it really is that integration your best bet is really to contact them directly for help, unless they say they frequent here.

stiff elm
#

i am using a Edimax Realtek stick, so u might be rigt,
hmm i would get rid of the custom one and use the standard plant card,
but that one i could not setup either with the xiaomi
might some one have a idea with that one?

fringe field
#

Tbh I didn’t bother using the plant entity for any of mine

stiff elm
#

Got it working.
i re added everything.......
and reset the sensors.
anoying but thank u for ur responds 🙂

dapper slate
#

Can anyone help.me?
I have some tuya BT lights which work as expected through the tuya smart app do I need to have a tuya gateway so I can use tuya local (I have uuids and local keys)

iron frost
#

yes

dapper slate
# iron frost yes

Thanks for the reply,
So I guess the tuya gateway assigns i.p to each of the Bluetooth lights so they are accessible via tuya.local on the internal network?
Is this how it works.

willow solstice
#

not exactly but you can think of it like that

dapper slate
wet tangle
#

While casting a dashboard to a Chromecast devices, it seems the casting will not work for more than 5 minutes... The chromecast puts itself in screen saver mode and show pictures after 5minutes. Is there a way to avoid this from happening?

tame wharf
#

But I've seen a blueprint, which prevents that.

wet tangle
wet tangle
wet tangle
iron frost
#

That's why there's a SAFE mode button in the default configuration

wet tangle
fringe field
wet tangle
fringe field
#

Probably

fringe field
wet tangle
#

Ok, I get it

wet tangle
# fringe field The theory is that you have added too much code to your esphome config (Bluetoot...

While trying to add the safe button in the BT Proxy node, it shows the same message as when I was trying to update it:

Failed config

ld2410: [source /config/esphome/esp32-bluetooth-proxy-8bd0a4.yaml:24]

The 'timeout' option has been moved to the 'timeout' number component.
timeout: 120s

The 'max_move_distance' option has been moved to the 'max_move_distance' number component.
max_move_distance: 5.25m

The 'max_still_distance' option has been moved to the 'max_still_distance' number component.
max_still_distance: 5.25m

(there are more for each gate, but I removed it so it can fit in a Discord message.

fringe field
#

Ok that’s new information

#

To me it just looks like your config is wrong

iron frost
#

esphome is telling you what changed in the config

wet tangle
fringe field
#

The LD2410 component has had a massive upgrade thanks to regevbr! It now supports settings most if not all configuration parameters via switches / numbers and selects and exposes more data via various sensors. This includes breaking changes that mean the existing gate configuration options have been moved to the number platform.

#

If you get an error telling you a setting has moved, and this happens when you are installing an upgrade, the setting has moved. And that means your config is wrong. Maybe it used to be right. But it is now wrong.

#

In this case the release notes say there is a breaking change at the top of the page for the LD2410 component

#

But you probably need to ask in the esphome community in that case

#

Hope that helps!

heavy vigil
#

Good day,

Where can I get started on adding a new BLE device?

I have an Elektra Body Composition Smart Scale that works with the Feelfit Mobile app - All info is sent via BLE and I would like to get this info into HA.

Happy to write a custom integration, I just need a pointer as to where to start

solid vale
#

Hey all - first time I am looking into BlueTooth for HA. I have a lot of Shelly devices around the house that are BT enabled. Is there anything cool I could be doing, say tracking presence or anything else handy to start implementing into HA?

fringe field
# heavy vigil Good day, Where can I get started on adding a new BLE device? I have an Elektr...

For dev questions, #devs_bluetooth-archived is the place to go. but the first step is to figure out how the mobile app works, because we can't tell you which integration is best to look at for clues without that. for example, xiaomi_ble primarily works off data that things broadcast. every time you weigh yourself, it just blasts your weight onto 2.4ghz and our integration can just listen for it. we have lots of helpers for that, and you'll probably be able to take one of the existing integrations and do lots of find and replace. but some integrations require a persistent 2-way bluetooth connection and do "GATT". these kinda suck, especially for battery powered devices and for range also (2 way connections require a more stable signal quality). and its a completely different set of integrations we'd point you at. those use GATT, so we'd probably say prototype the API you've found in bleak and prove you can read the values with that first.

fringe field
# solid vale Hey all - first time I am looking into BlueTooth for HA. I have a lot of Shelly ...

if the shelly devices are already bt enabled and installed in HA, then any compatible devices with an integration in core would be found automatically and shown as a discovery in the HA UI. The only exceptions to that that spring to mind are ibeacons (https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/ibeacon) and the generic BLE tracker (https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/bluetooth_le_tracker/). The generic tracker is kind of annoying because BLE devices sometimes rotate their MAC address for privacy reasons (typically no good for your phone etc).

#

Sorry I can't really answer whats "cool" - 20 years in the industry; im jaded and think its cool if something even manages to turn on without crashing.

solid vale
#

right, so assuming ibeacons run off your iphone, that would have to be set up manually?

fringe field
solid vale
#

ah cool

#

and any advice on active vs passive bt?

fringe field
solid vale
#

yeah did some reading into it, looks like you want active if you want to know exactly where devices are?

fringe field
#

scanning doesn't need 2 way connections, its just looking for "advertisement data" that is broadcast to anyone thats listening

solid vale
#

oh right

fringe field
#

some devices are always sending advertisement data

solid vale
#

and devices like phone broadcast advertisement data?

fringe field
#

some send it when an event happens (like a motion sensor)

#

those can be found through passive scanning alone

#

some devices will only broadcast when they see a broadcast that says someone is listening

#

they need active scanning

#

the "active" part is that HA (well, linux really) is constantly broadcasting scan requests, to get things to send us data

#

this uses less battery power than something thats holding open a full 2-way connection (which would hurt your battery) - testing shows for some devices it has no real effect on battery life vs passive. though there are always exceptions.

#

so my stuff is all set to active

#

(also, "passive scanning" is considered experimental on Linux/BlueZ)

#

sometimes when we talk about "active" BLE we might mean GATT, rather than broadcasts

#

so an "Active Connection" is not the same thing as "active scanning"

#

thats an actual 1 to 1 connection that is held open, requires devices to have a good signal to each other (i.e. in both directions), and we ask the device something and it replies

#

shelly's don't support active connections so thats not a problem for you

solid vale
fringe field
#

sort of

#

GATT is a bit more lightweight than a bluetooth headset

#

but i guess in principal

solid vale
#

starting to make sense, thanks so much for explaining things to me

wet tangle
alpine shadow
#

Regarding the iBeacon integration...how do I get it to stop adding new devices?

I already tried un-checking "Enable newly added entities", but it still keeps adding them. Every week I have to go and clean out devices that aren't mine.

Apparently I live very close to the Rivian factory because I keep racking up dozens of Rivian keys lol.

fringe field
alpine shadow
#

Well that sucks. I guess I'll just disable the integration for now since I don't really use it anyway. I was hoping it would work well with Tile trackers or Apple Tags, but it doesn't.

fringe field
#

Apple tags are way more tricky than iBeacon, would be nice though.

molten dawn
#

Any recommendations on 'half mini' wlan+bt modules for NUC type system? Intel? other oem? bgn, bgn+ac, BT 3.0, 4.0, 5.0?
Won't be using the WiFi for anything, just want solid BT presence detection.
Sorry for the double post in the hardware section

devout hearth
#

With the latest HA update recommending a newer bluetooth proxy firmware, I started researching how to update these "ota" (technically otw in my case). I found the esp32home add-on and installed it, which allowed me to adopt my proxy and updated it during that process, but it also told me I would need the encryption key to add it to HA. HA had previously detected and added it, and picked up the firmware version entity from this process. This leaves me with two bluetooth proxy questions that may or may not be better suited in an esp channel, but I don't see one, so I'm going to try asking here:

  1. Is that message just old and defunct, or will having the add-on change how I add new bluetooth proxies in the future?

  2. Now that I have the add-on, and since I'm using ethernet (vs wireless), can I just plug the next olimex proxy I acquire into the network and adopt it, or will I still need to do the initial install over serial?

devout hearth
iron frost
modest oriole
#

anyone manage to this working?

fringe field
modest oriole
#

been google all day for this topic

fringe field
# modest oriole no wonder i couldnt find anything related to ble mesh

The version of ble mesh that bluez supports is not compatible with normal BLE - you can only have one or the other. So enabling it would break all the existing Bluetooth integrations we have unless you had multiple Bluetooth dongles. But AIUI there are also multiple mesh implementations. It sounds like a bit of a mess.

modest oriole
#

wanted this presence sensor for the bathroom.... i dont want to run extra wires in there

fringe field
#

I think more than 10% of HA users use normal xiaomi ble sensors. Their range have motion sensors. Might be worth a look.

modest oriole
#

using this integration?

fringe field
fringe field
#

I have Phillips hue motion sensors and an Aqara p1. All connected to a SkyConnect (which is made by the company that backs home assistant and employs the core devs)

modest oriole
#

skyconnect looks need....im using sonoff.....i guess they more or less works the same.....i have p1 but having trouble controlling the automation to turn off

versed crescent
#

morning all, if I have a zimaboard, do I need to install a Bluetooth adapter in order for HA to find integrations like Flic or switchbot hub mini?

iron frost
#

yes for bluetooth devices, switchbot hub mini is already a bluetooth gateway. alternatively you can use bluetooth proxies

versed crescent
#

sorry, new to HA and single boards, need it spelled out exactly what I should do ha sorry mate

iron frost
#

then you need to state what exactly you want to do

versed crescent
#

I need to get Flic and switchbot integrated into HA so I can run automations between the two

#

Zimaboard doesnt come with a bluetooth module so wondering if that is what I need for HA to recognize those integrations

iron frost
#

flic uses an add-on which requires access to the bluetooth dongle so you need one for that

#

if you're running flic switchbot devices will require another dongle or a bluetooth proxy

versed crescent
#

so I need two separate dongles, one for each integration?

#

can I hardwire either of them?

iron frost
#

dongles are by default hardwired since they're plugged into the USB port

#

you need a separate dongle for the flic add-on

versed crescent
#

sorry I meant hardwire one of the hubs

#

to the zimaboard

iron frost
#

one of which hubs?

versed crescent
#

switchbot or flic, well flic really

iron frost
#

no, you don't need either for integrating with home assistant

versed crescent
#

would it make it easier though, likely not is what im guessign

iron frost
#

if it would i wouldn't mention dongles and proxies and addons

versed crescent
#

haha fair enough

#

so buy two USB dongles, then install addon through HACS?

rotund sail
#

HACS has no add-ons

iron frost
#

if i were you i'd buy a sinlge dongle to see if you can even install what's required for flic

rotund sail
#

Their docs make that very clear, and you have to confirm you know that as part of the install 😛

versed crescent
#

🤦‍♂️ sorry fellas, im learning slowly

iron frost
#

then don't try to do all the things at once

versed crescent
#

well I have everything else I need running so this is last automation im trying to complete. but the others were simple autodetected integrations

#

accept Aqara, need to do that too after

iron frost
#

switchbot devices will be as well as soon as you get a BT device that can interpret their signals

versed crescent
#

cool

#

is there a wiki for flic addon?

iron frost
#

have you tried searching for one?

versed crescent
#

ah ya, sorry, being annoying noob now, my bad, thanks for help

fringe field
#

(The flic buttons have to be the most over engineered thing I’ve ever seen. I don’t think they could have made the protocol any more needlessly complicated if they tried. I have given up on mine).

buoyant badger
#

Does anybody know if the Shelly BLU Button will support distance information in the future to determine the distance to the nearest Bluetooth adapter?

solid vale
#

do I need a BT 'coordinator' for lack of better words, like a hub, to track BT around the house?

iron frost
#

You need BT proxies if you want to track 'around the house'

solid vale
iron frost
#

Yes

solid vale
#

hmm how do I set them up for that?

iron frost
#

You activate the feature in firmware

solid vale
#

I have 7 installed so far (slowly changing out the Gen 1 devices) so its starting to build a decent area of coverage

#

Yeah so I turned Active scanner mode on in the config

#

and is there some other integration I need? essentially, how do I track something like a phone kicking around the house?

iron frost
#

You need to make the phone visible to the proxy by turning it into an iBeacon

solid vale
#

ah sweet will look that up, have already added the ibeacon integration

#

wait, you have to make your own app to run in the background of the phone? (iOS iPhone here)

fringe field
#

its designed for things that already are ibeacons

#

if you have an app that can make your iphone an ibeacon, thats great

#

otherwise, its not

#

bluetooth_le_tracker is also useless here because the iphone mac address rotates every 15 mins or so (might be faster than that now)

#

when i've gotten the IRK out of my phone i think i can whip something up, but it'll be a few releases before its PR-able probably.

wraith quartz
#

Hi all, i've just received my first Switchbot and trying to get it to work with a Shelly Plus 2 PM using bluetooth proxy which is in the same room. The shelly web interface has 'enable blueooth' 'enable RPC' and 'enable bluetooth gateway' all ticked, and the HA integration config is set to Active. However nothing is showing up in HA's integrations page even when trying to add the Switchbot integration manually. I'm getting conflicting results when searching the forums so hoping someone has had any luck with this specific combination of hardware?

fringe field
#

Shellys can forward Bluetooth packets to HA, but unless something has changed recently you can’t use them to control other devices.

#

ESPhome can do this.

wraith quartz
#

Ah that's a shame. So do you believe if I reflashed the Shelly with ESP home then it could work?

fringe field
#

But if you choose to do that, then maybe? It’s just an esp32 at the end of the day.

#

Whether the antennae will be good enough for your needs is a whole other kettle of fish

#

There’s no absolutes or guarantees with BLE 🤷‍♀️

wraith quartz
grave raven
#

Hey all, I’m looking at getting a SwitchBot Bot but I realised it’s Bluetooth and not Zigbee. My OptiPlex has Bluetooth, will that work with HA? Or do I need some kind of external Bluetooth usb or something?

tame wharf
#

The most reliable would be an ESP BT proxy

true holly
#

@grave raven should work fine. I got dell3060 w/bt and connects up fine with new switchbot temperature/humidity sensor

fringe field
# grave raven Hey all, I’m looking at getting a SwitchBot Bot but I realised it’s Bluetooth an...

Look at the docs for the Bluetooth integration. There’s a list of Bluetooth devices that have been tested. You really want a “high performance” one from that list with a good antennae, or an ESPhome proxy. You don’t have to look far in here or GitHub to find random instabilities with some intel and most Realtek chips. Also, make sure you are using HAOS. It had patches to fix recent kernel regressions, and better dbus (used by Bluetooth stack) than stock Linux.

grave raven
#

Thanks all - appreciate the advice 🙂 I’ll see if I can get the built in one working and if not I’ll try a Bluetooth device I have, if that doesn’t work I’ll get one of the recommended ones.

fringe field
subtle snow
#

Can someone help with ORICO BTA-403 (CSR8510A10) its a recomend usb controler but i cant get it working in ha im runnig the latest version of ha

# 
dankata@HomeLab:~$ lsusb
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 8087:8000 Intel Corp.
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 0a12:0001 Cambridge Silicon Radio, Ltd Bluetooth Dongle (HCI mode)
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
dankata@HomeLab:~$ ls /dev/bus/usb/002
001  002
dankata@HomeLab:~$ bluetoothctl
Agent registered
[CHG] Controller 00:1A:7D:DA:71:13 Pairable: yes
#

Button when i go and open a shell in to the docker container

# 
home_assistant:/config# lsusb
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 8087:8000
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 0a12:0001
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002
home_assistant:/config# bluetoothctl
Waiting to connect to bluetoothd...dbus[116]: arguments to dbus_connection_get_object_path_data() were incorrect, assertion "connection != NULL" failed in file dbus-connection.c line 5969.
This is normally a bug in some application using the D-Bus library.

  D-Bus not compiled with backtrace support so unable to print a backtrace
Aborted (core dumped)
home_assistant:/config#
#

Any help will be aprichiated

#

Nvm just clicked recreate inside portainer at magicly now it works i shoud have tried that erlier

fringe field
#

(i ask because you are likely to have a worse time on anything thats not HAOS with this stuff - HAOS is now carry kernel patches for kernel regressions that aren't anywhere else AFAIK; and most distros have a slow version of dbus that can't really handle heavy bluetooth use out of the box - you will likely wasting CPU by quite a bit)

shy narwhal
#

can the bluetooth device on the pi4 actually be used for anything?

#

i want to passively detect nearby devices

#

i see that the bluetooth device is set up under devices

#

and i also have the ibeacon tracker there, but i'm unsure how to proceed here

fringe field
# shy narwhal can the bluetooth device on the pi4 actually be used for anything?

It can actually be used for something. For some people the range can be too small. But for other people it’s fine. So how it normally works is, you have a device that has a dedicated integration. Like xiaomi_ble or govee_ble. If there is a device compatible with that integration, we show it as a discovery in the integration panel. Then you add it like a normal device.

fringe field
fringe field
#

It can’t handle devices that randomise their Mac address for privacy. Hoping to have something for that in place in October.

shy narwhal
#

but if i want to use it for presence detection.. i'm not really interested in who is there, but rather that someone is there

#

so i should look for a bluetooth le tracker integration?

fringe field
#

The, not a

fringe field
#

I was going to create an “Anyone” person and add both mine and wife’s trackers to it. But I haven’t got that far yet, maybe there’s a better way.

#

If you are looking for room presence, that’s a whole other kettle of fish

shy narwhal
#

Could not cycle the Bluetooth adapter hci0 [DC:A6:32:A9:D7:F3]: [Errno 110] Operation timed out
Bluetooth adapter hci0 [DC:A6:32:A9:D7:F3] could not be reset:

#

the logs are filled with this

fringe field
#

So yeah, pi4 Bluetooth is not going to work for you

#

The biggest downside to it is that it’s not connected by usb

#

So HA can’t reset it when the chip crashes

shy narwhal
#

so no one has gotten bluetooth working on pi4?

fringe field
#

Oh no plenty have

shy narwhal
#

then what's the difference here, then? i have a bad bluetooth device?

fringe field
#

Maybe?

#

If you power cycle the whole thing it will work for a while

#

But right now it’s not in a state where the OS can recover it

#

Hence “could not reset”

#

Are you running HAOS?

shy narwhal
#

so this is a known problem?

#

yes

fringe field
#

It’s a known problem that some chips crash and can’t be recovered without unplugging them first (which you can’t do for internal)

#

Lots of firmware bugs, kernel bugs, bluez bugs.

#

Why some peoples pis are fine and others aren’t, no idea if anyone is working on that.

#

I started off with a Realtek device and it crashed every few minutes. Got a Broadcom usb dongle from the documentation list and never looked back.

#

The recent kernel updates broken Bluetooth while trying to improve mesh support (linux wide bug, not just HA). So haos has to carry patches to revert upstream regressions.

shy narwhal
#

which broadcom dongle?

fringe field
#

On my phone and not near it so all o can say is one from the high performance list

shy narwhal
#

this list?

#

maybe that should be pinned in here?

cosmic raptor
#

most people work with proxies

shy narwhal
#

what do you mean with proxies?

cosmic raptor
#

esp32 bt proxies

fringe field
#

I believe that’s also in the docs

#

It covers what order you should try them in

cosmic raptor
#

but thats not for tracking

fringe field
#

Etc

#

Bluetooth_le_tracker does work with proxies

cosmic raptor
#

oh ok

fringe field
#

Bluetooth_tracker does not

shy narwhal
#

what is then those used for? if not work tracking?

fringe field
#

Sensors

#

Locks

#

Lights

cosmic raptor
#

I mean, the le tracking is kind of useless with modern smartphone imo

shy narwhal
#

well, i'm not interested in who, but just someone

cosmic raptor
#

they randomize their address right?

fringe field
#

Just got that working perfectly with my iPhone

#

You need an AES key so you can hash all the nearby MAC addresses and resolve which one is your phone

#

But it’s pretty easy to get it

#

Now I even know which proxy my phone is near

cosmic raptor
#

show me senpai

shy narwhal
#

so you got presence detection working through proxies?

#

ah, bluetooth_le_tracker works

#

but i see shelly supports it.. that was interesting

#

as i have quite a few shelly devices spread around

fringe field
# cosmic raptor show me senpai

Soon. Just trying to wrangle a sensible value for tx_power so I can include a distance estimate then I’ll be throwing up a PR for October release

shy narwhal
#

can i use passive scanning mode to detect if someone is near?

#

or do i have to use active for that?

fringe field
#

It depends

#

So like iPhones spam constantly

#

Passive scanning will spot them no bother

#

Some devices will only broadcast when you are scanning

#

If the device was designed to be tracked then it should work passively

#

Some devices won’t broadcast if they are paired (fitness watches)

#

Shelly was last time I looked only a partial proxy solution - fine for tracking and some sensors but not a complete proxy.

#

Esphome proxies can control switchbot, homekit, led lighting and more.

shy narwhal
#

i guess i need to enable bluetooth on the shelly to begin with?