Hello there. | Home Assistant | Page 1

swift mason May 30, 2024, 4:33 PM

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I found something which I think hints at it being a HA problem.
I connected to SSH 22222 before the Containers were up and connected to bluetoothctl.
And there I observed the hci0 go offline once HA was done booting:

# hciconfig
hci0:    Type: Primary  Bus: UART
    BD Address: D8:3A:DD:DB:14:24  ACL MTU: 1021:8  SCO MTU: 64:1
    UP RUNNING
    RX bytes:3715 acl:0 sco:0 events:390 errors:0
    TX bytes:67184 acl:0 sco:0 commands:390 errors:0

# bluetoothctl
Agent registeredct to bluetoothd...
hci0 new_settings: powered bondable ssp br/edr le secure-conn
[CHG] Controller D8:3A:DD:DB:14:24 Pairable: yes
AdvertisementMonitor path registered
[bluetooth]# list
Controller D8:3A:DD:DB:14:24 homeassistant [default]
[bluetooth]# power on
Changing power on succeeded
hci0 class of device changed: 0x000000
hci0 new_settings: bondable ssp br/edr le secure-conn
hci0 removed
[CHG] Controller D8:3A:DD:DB:14:24 Class: 0x00000000 (0)
[CHG] Controller D8:3A:DD:DB:14:24 Powered: no
[CHG] Controller D8:3A:DD:DB:14:24 Discovering: no
[CHG] Controller D8:3A:DD:DB:14:24 PowerState: on
[DEL] Media /org/bluez/hci0
[bluetooSupportedUUIDs: 0000110a-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb
[bluetooSupportedUUIDs: 0000110b-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb
[DEL] Controller D8:3A:DD:DB:14:24 homeassistant [default]
[bluetooth]# list
[bluetooth]# list
[bluetooth]# exit

Am I missing something? Do you know where I could look for help? Should I create an issue?

btw: I tried using BT Gateways (ESPHome), but the advertisement doesn't reach HA)

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  OS Version:               Home Assistant OS 12.3
  Home Assistant Core:      2024.5.5

final spruce May 30, 2024, 7:12 PM

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So it’s fairly common for some Bluetooth hardware to be unstable under Linux, especially for IoT which is more demanding than a mouse or keyboard or even audio headset.

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For example, Realtek based Bluetooth dongles crash every few minutes. The best work around we have is to try and get the usb subsystem to reset the socket. But it takes a while to notice there is a problem and fix it, so it makes for a really janky setup.

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If you are using pi internal Bluetooth, well it seems to work ok for some people but not for others. And it’s not connected by usb so we can’t fix it when it does crash.

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The range also tends to suck

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In some cases it barely manages a metre

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If it’s unstable in bluez there’s not much we can do

swift mason May 30, 2024, 8:27 PM

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I understand.
But crashing every few minutes is a lot better than what I have now.
My HA hasn't made a single bt connection or discovery for weeks.

The BT gateway also doesn't create any discoveries.
(My suspicion is that because the BT integration doesn't have an active controller, the gateway can't forward the messages to it)

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What is a recommended setup then?
Get a cheap bt dongle just for HA to have the BT integration responsive enough to process the gateway messages?

final spruce May 31, 2024, 5:44 AM

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Bluetooth dongle isn’t needed for proxies if you want to go that route

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Otherwise there’s a list of good dongles on the HA site. You want a CSR or Broadcom chipset

swift mason May 31, 2024, 7:03 AM

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I don't need an initialized BT integration for proxies to work?
I have an esphome BT gateway and a Shelly 1pm gen3 with bt gateway enabled.
And I still don't get any BT discoveries.

final spruce May 31, 2024, 8:37 AM

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No you don’t

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Lots of us run it that way (because usb Bluetooth is so bad)

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Need to know which esp device you are using, how you set it up, what device you are hoping to be discovered, what integration you think that device will work with.

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Common problems - interference or lack of antennae reducing effective range, or just been out of range generally. (I have proxies with large antennae and they still struggle to cover 2 rooms next to each other.

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It’s not always clear to new users what Bluetooth devices are supported (it’s far from all), so lack of discoveries can just mean a device isn’t supported yet.

#Hello there.