#Xiaomi Mi Bluetooth Thermometer and Hygrometer

1 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

vale radish
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Hi all! I dunno if this is the right place to ask and I apologize if it isn't, but I bought a couple of these sensors for testing after a colleague recommended them and I haven't managed to flash them with anything useful yet. One of them is even bricked. I've searched a lot and I'm really unsure what to do. My goal is to use it over Bluetooth with Home Assistant on a Raspberry Pi 4, which has working bluetooth. My colleague told me he could flash them OTN without issues, but I can't. Do these support flashing with normal serial or what's the deal? If so, what sort of serial adapter will I need? I know computers and rather a few operating systems well, but I haven't managed to crack this one. I saw there was way to use a Xiaomi Cloud Tokens Extractor, but honestly, I don't want that app on my phone in the first place. Is it possible, like my coworker said, to just flash them as they are?

safe linden
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depending on whether you have a new or an old version of the sensors you need to temporarily register them with the xiaomi cloud to extract the tokens

vale radish
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it said 1.5 on the pcb, but I have no idea what sort of firmware it has

safe linden
vale radish
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I've tried from my mac, but no success

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with google chrome

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and from linux with google chrome

safe linden
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I never tried anything other than my phone because it worked flawlessly

however I have to say that the newer versions are much harder to flash - with the old ones you just connected and installed a new firmware

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but to answer your initial question: you don't have to open the case at all, flashing works OTA

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you're talking abouth this thing, right?

Z.png
vale radish
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indeed

safe linden
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you can connect to both the old and the new version without having to extract any codes
if that doesn't work something is wrong with your bluetooth setup/browser

vale radish
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right, so I just need to use their app to register the sensors to extract those codes and then flash'em with a good firmware?

safe linden
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to verify your setup works you don't have to do that yet

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you will be prompted for the codes in case they are required, if you have a version with the old firmware you can skip that step

your issue exists earlier in the process

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did you do this?

#enable-experimental-web-platform-features may be needed to read MAC (copy link: Chrome, Opera, Edge)

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overall I really love those sensors, they're great
I have 21 of them 🙂

vale radish
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page says it requires registration in mi-home

safe linden
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were you able to connect now?
this will also be indicated by little icon in the upper right of the sensor

vale radish
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the bluetooth icon is there, yes

safe linden
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if you get 3 fields where you have to enter values you need to register the device and extract the tokens

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that process is tedious but it worked well for me

vale radish
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I get those three field, yes

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But nothing happens after I choose activate

safe linden
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then you have a new version
did you extract the tokens and did you enter them?

vale radish
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I guess I have to install that app, then. It wanted a truckload of permissions

safe linden
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yes, and then you need to run the extractor script, the output looks like this:

image.png
vale radish
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using an old Samsung S7 here for the job - it's slow :þ

safe linden
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for extracting the codes you'll need to run a python script, you can't do that on the phone

vale radish
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that's ok

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I first installed my first Linux box back in 1994, so I've done a thing or two with coding as well 😉

safe linden
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it was just a little fiddly to get the depenencies installed but it's entirely manageable

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just two small hints:

  • depending on where you want to install the device you might not need the display and can deactivate it - that'll save power
  • the sensor submits the readings very often (~ every 10 seconds) which will unnecessarily bloat your db, you can tweak how often the sensor sends data by increasing the "advertising Interval" - I've set it from 2500ms to 10000ms

if you only have one sensor you can leave it as is but when you have as many as I do it's significant

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(also I kind of doubt you need a reading every 10s)

vale radish
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right, seems I'm in, now, which firmware should I give it?

safe linden
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Bthome

vale radish
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got a link to that?

safe linden
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Or the non zigbee one I think is what you mean

vale radish
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non-zigbee is the thing

safe linden
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I don't recall what it's called, there are 3 options? Zigbee, original and custom or something

vale radish
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if there'll be a thread firmware, that'd be fine too 😉

safe linden
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You want the custom Bluetooth one

vale radish
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any idea if that's downloadable from somewhere or if I have to build it myself?

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I've already bricked one, so I don't really want to brick another

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…and it works

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Thanks a lot 🙂

safe linden
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You're welcome

limber cairn
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I have a lot of them and I love it also, but the success of the flashing it depends in my case of the device hardware version

safe linden
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I was able to flash all of them so far. 20 of my sensors where the old version where you could just flash, the most recent one I had to get the tokens but then it worked as well

limber cairn
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I'll save this post to do it in some newer devices I have. Thanks again for sharing useful info 😉

vale radish
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Anyone that knows a seller on ali or something that sells the old ones?