Home Assistant 2024 - How To Add Bluetooth Proxy & Sensors

[@PoisonWaffle3]

Thanks for the video, Travis! I've been using ESP32 boards as bluetooth proxies for a while, but I didn't realize that that ESP32 based Shelly devices could act as bluetooth proxies with the stock firmware! I just enabled it on a bunch of my Shelly devices that are still running stock firmware (mainly minis that require soldering to flash, and plugs that are just kind of a pain to open), and it worked like a charm 👍

[@digiblurDIY]

Nice! Little hidden secret for sure. I had to test it myself when I saw it on a test box.

[@jaroslavsimecek8452]

Hi and thank you for excellent video. Is there any way how to connect blue tooth proxy to the WiFi extender? (different SSID, but connected to the same router via WiFi). I can access Home Assistant from my cell phone through the extended WiFi but did not find the way how to configure Blue Tooth Proxy which is in the remote area.

[@digiblurDIY]

Yes. You can put whatever wifi info in you want. If you push your own esphome config you can put multiple networks too.

[@jaroslavsimecek8452]

@@digiblurDIY I had trouble to specify multiple networks in the Home Assistant. Really did not find any yaml files online which would work. So I have changed the extender network name to the same name the main router has. The password is also the same. If the proxy is connected to the main router it works perfect. If I go further where the extender network is only available the proxy can not be accessed and neither are the Blue Tooth Devices connected to that proxy. The strange thing is that if I connect my cell phone to the extender network I can see the Home Assistant Overview. Would you please have an idea where the problem might be? (It is a WiFi extender, not a mesh)

[@digiblurDIY]

@jaroslavsimecek8452 it could be a double nat issue going on and the phone is using the external URL? Any blank ESPHome config would be fine. Just add the few lines for BT proxy.

[@jaroslavsimecek8452]

@@digiblurDIY I have found strange thing. When I connect my computer to the WiFi Extender and type homeassistant.local:8123 it does not find it when I use IP address like 192.168.0.10:8123 the HA log in site shows up and I can log in. Isn't there anything I could add to the yaml of the esp32 what could solve the problem? Also when I look at the IP addresses of connected devices on the main router I can see only IP address of the WiFi extender not the IP addresses of anything connected to it. Thank you very very much for your help. I am totally desperate.

[@naronaroyan323]

If I have a Tuya BLE smart lock, would this work as a BLE gateway to have it connect to HA and control the lock that way?

[@digiblurDIY]

I doubt it unless you can obtain the Bluetooth encryption key

[@naronaroyan323]

@@digiblurDIY It connected to a Adaproxy bridge that had came with my Fingerbot; did the bridge have the key? I thought it would connect to the hub as it does to my phone. I am able to have local Tuya work on HA using their keys, maybe I can get the bluetooth key that way as well?

[@vjrvideo]

Any way to use those shellys like room presence to know who's in the room?

[@digiblurDIY]

Does the person have onboard BLE? :) I'm not away of ESPHome of Shelly exposing that to see which device it came from but then again I haven't dug into the room presence thing since my humans do not have onboard BLE yet.

[@vjrvideo]

@@digiblurDIY With iPhones now days is good to know where people are in the house. Just a sample case, if somebody put clothes on the washer machine I will know who was to message later when ready.

[@BryanWood1]

What about if my Shellly plug is flashed with Tasmota?

[@digiblurDIY]

Nope. Tasmota does not support Esphome Bluetooth proxy at this time.

[@BryanWood1]

@@digiblurDIY okay. thanks

[@Tntdruid]

I do like the *long* videos 👍

[@digiblurDIY]

Someone might have complained saying my 14 min one was too long before so I did a 2 for one. The ones that like the long ones even got a longer video so win win right?

[@passais]

An automatic mailbox emptying droid. Neat! I need to get me one of those!

[@digiblurDIY]

They are expensive! 😂

[@wayne8113]

👍

[@b_snyder]

I still can't understand why HA doesn't support pairing of bluetooth speakers in general. I mean bluetooth is bluetooth right? I can integrate Symfonisk speakers through the Sonos integration or the RaspiAudio Muse Luxe because it's based on es32 but a typical bluetooth speaker isn't even recognized by a supported bluetooth dongle?

[@digiblurDIY]

Not really, you are talking about bluetooth audio stuff. Way different.

[@JohnDoe1999-lg7mh]

Hi. Yes, I would like to see a video that shows the setup/config with the TTGO ESP32 PoE as the BT-Proxy.

[@digiblurDIY]

Will do

[@wapphigh5250]

Thanks for this Digi , you are a gun on this stuff. One day I'll get around to all this! Believe it or not I have a large (but real stable) HA set up since following yr Dell Micro PC build but don't have any of the ESP32 home or bluetooth stuff. Just stable wifi and ZHA. And maybe 8 older Shellies. I don't even have Matter yet! Been so happy! My question is by adding say an ESP32 (which I'd like to get into) and choosing a bluetooth one, am I going to get 2.4 or other wifi interference? I'm not into wireshark and don;t want to screw up a real stable wifi set up or mess around with different channels. Do I need to worry about this? thanks.

[@digiblurDIY]

Nice to hear about the setup! And nawww.... it isn't going to cause any interference really. You probably have a lot bluetooth around already from other things as it is. Bluetooth jumps around with smaller narrow channels as needed.

[@raymiles534]

Enjoyed the video, learned about the newer shellys. My older shellys are wifi only. I have 3 or 4 atom stacks that I use as bt proxies. I'm not a programmer, but I don't know how to see if these proxies are working, how often they transfer data. A tutorial on how to see this in HA would be awesome to me. Thanks

[@digiblurDIY]

You can turn on the logging as verbose and see the logs. It can get crazy depending on traffic of Bluetooth. Other than that it is unplug each and test one by one to see if sensors work or not.

[@blakebowden955]

Love the presentation and information- appreciate the candor and the conversational way you've gone about it

[@digiblurDIY]

Thanks! Old school and real without the script nonsense.

[@langelguy]

I tried do the Shelly Plug method and everything seems to be set up right (active bluetooth scanner mode, newest software, in HA) but isn't discovering any devices. I have an Intel NUC running HA and turned off the native bluetooth to that and my bluetooth devices wouldn't be discovered with the Shelly. When I turn the NUC bluetooth back on, the bluetooth devices are now discoverable in HA. I am just trying to use an easy device to extend my bluetooth near my Yale smart locks for more reliability.

[@digiblurDIY]

Is it the esp32 model of the plug?

[@langelguy]

@@digiblurDIY Its the Shelly Plus Plug US, the same as in this video (got from your Amazon link).

[@langelguy]

@digiblurDYI any thoughts on this?

[@Ender_Wiggin]

Darn it i had a ESP32-C6 and it did not pop up for me

[@digiblurDIY]

You can manually add Esphome devices. Hit add and hit Esphome then put that IP in.

[@JohnDoe1999-lg7mh]

Thanks for all you do for the community.

[@digiblurDIY]

Many thanks!

[@Johnsormani]

Did you compare Bluetooth proxy to openmqttgateway?

[@digiblurDIY]

No, totally different aspects of things. Bluetooth proxy has Home Assistant do all the processing.

[@Johnsormani]

@@digiblurDIY yes but openmqtt can also handle different signals. I will try both I guess, just for fun

[@thebrentfamily7602]

Any idea if the Shelly plug could be used for Bluetooth proximity too? That would make my life way easier if it could do that vs making cases for esp32 and getting plugs and charger and such

[@digiblurDIY]

Proxy? Yes the Shelly esp32 devices can be enabled

[@thebrentfamily7602]

​@@digiblurDIYfor Bluetooth proximity sensors, to locate devices in your home. I know you can run it on esp32.

[@thebrentfamily7602]

You can use it to configure a dashboard on your device based on the room it's in.

[@digiblurDIY]

No idea there. I would assume it would be the same as other Bluetooth proxies sending data to HA to process.

[@BryanWood1]

I have ha on a Nuc 11. How to use the onboard Bluetooth of the nuc?

[@digiblurDIY]

I assume HAOS? If it isn't popping in then that chipset probably isn't supported.

[@wapphigh5250]

great question!

[@digiblurDIY]

Before you go down the rabbit hole of trying to see if your onboard BLE is supported read the "before you begin section" www.home-assistant.io/integrations/bluetooth/#before-you-begin

[@BryanWood1]

It does show up in HA, but it says there is entities

[@BryanWood1]

It says it is passive

[@terryuland6502]

How often does the Shelly BLU H&T update the sensor readings? Some folks on Amazon have complained the version of that with the e-ink display only updates every 5 minutes and only if the temp has changed by 1 degree or humidity by 2% and that setting is not configurable.

[@digiblurDIY]

I think it is triggered by the delta. I can put it outside and check to see the change if it is driven by time or temp.

[@EmilePolka]

The only Pain in the arse on this thing is once you want to move it to a different SSID any esp32 with bt proxy enabled via wifi have issues accesing the AP mode captive portal. Its very hard to access that you might as well just reflash the entire thing instead if you want to move that thing on different ssid. My other esp32 that doesn't have bt proxy have no problems accessing the AP mode captive portal.

[@digiblurDIY]

You can add more than one wifi ssid on Esphome from what I remember

[@wapphigh5250]

Sorry for all the questions Digi. If somebody like me has a non bluetooth (built in) Dell set up, no ESP home, no new bluetooth shelly's, no bluetooth USB dongle - would you say the best way to "add bluetooth" to HA would be by getting an ESP32 (with bluetooth inbuilt) POE ? what ESP32 board would you recommend to get? Is there an M5Stack that does ESPHome, bluetooth proxy and could also be built as a base for HA local voice? Thanks!

[@digiblurDIY]

No worries, ask away. In my opinion I wouldn't combine all that. Bluetooth can get kind of busy so I wouldn't have it with something else that takes a lot of processing. Trying to save $20 to later potentially give me hours of trouble isn't worth it.

[@michaelmacho1]

Yes do more videos on Bluetooth proxy …. Trying to figure out if a I phone and headphones would work with Bluetooth proxy to avoid Bluetooth range limitations when talking on the phone or listening to music.

[@digiblurDIY]

These aren't Bluetooth repeaters.

[@mindshelfpro]

I have a BT USB dongle connected directly to the HA OS MiniPC, but I don't get the settings that you have. Can you show how to use a BT dongle directly please? thanks!

[@digiblurDIY]

what settings? I know some of those just pop in as the BT device but I know the devs of HA having been saying to just go BT proxy now for stability and such.

[@gadget1968]

Great Video nice content many thanks for the work you put in... Question have you thought about doing a good video about setting up and configuring a Unifi or other network properly ? Just a thought and or idea .....

[@digiblurDIY]

I don't have or use UniFi routers though so it would definitely trip up some folks trying to do full stacks.

[@rasbe6863]

Great video Travis. The question I have is the govee Bluetooth bulbs. Are they auto discovered or do you have to have the govee Bluetooth installed into home assistant. I bought some of those govee bulbs but they were not Auto discovered.

[@digiblurDIY]

Not sure if those are supported by the built in integration of Govee. Have you tried this one? www.home-assistant.io/integrations/govee_light_local/

[@stang70man]

I have problems with the Govee 5178 temperature sensor that they won't stay on Fahrenheit, but go back and forth to Celsius. I contacted Govee and they sent me two more and they did the same thing...

[@digiblurDIY]

Looks like it isn't available on Amazon might be one of the reasons

[@FrankyB295]

I use 3 olimex. Have had problems with them being unstable. Curious on why you are iffy with them. I am thinking about buying new poe BT proxies

[@digiblurDIY]

I had one stop working and then how hot they get compared to others.

[@ugbundominations2007]

Would the Shelly devices allow for connecting up Govee LED strips?

[@digiblurDIY]

If it is supported by the Bluetooth component in HA.

[@jtarangom]

Great video!!! I have follow your instructions for the shelly method and I can control the shelly from HA but I cannot use it as a Bluetooth proxy, Im trying to add the Switchbot lock but when I try to add the integration it says there are no devices to connect to. Any guidance on how to troubleshoot why its not working? Thanks in advance!!

[@digiblurDIY]

Which lock is it? The non pro one? Is it working with other Bluetooth devices?

[@jtarangom]

@@digiblurDIY yes the non pro. I don't have any other Bluetooth to test at the moment. But I looked into the Shelly logs and the Bluetooth mac address of the lock shows as discovered.

[@robbiedenton3752]

Why use AAA batteries in freezer?

[@digiblurDIY]

Because coincells don't work well. They just freeze up.

[@jackipiegg]

26:06 Does it work with aqara locks without the stupid hub now?!

[@digiblurDIY]

Aqara is Thread/Zigbee

[@jackipiegg]

@@digiblurDIY Its locks specifically use bluetooth for some odd reason.

[@ServoSambo]

Bluetooth as a tech needs to go away. Maybe ok of for beacon tracking but that’s about it.

[@digiblurDIY]

What should replace this? It's being implemented in so many more products now.

[@ServoSambo]

@@digiblurDIY a ground up rethink. Not 2.4ghz for a start, standardised and adhered to transmit and receive power and antenna design. Bluetooth was great for its time when it came out 20 years ago but it’s time for something more reliable and standardised.

[@jasonsmathers2361]

I thought the same until I got some Bluetooth devices setup in my camper. It is at remote location to my home assistant instance and I can use wireguard along with Bluetooth proxy on an esp32 device to have them still show up in home assistant. Pretty cool.

[@ServoSambo]

@@jasonsmathers2361 Great to hear they’re working well. I do fear this just reinforces my judgement though. Blue tooth assumes a nice, congestion free 2.4 ghz environment so no residential density and very short distances between gateway. It’s compromised on just so many levels. After 20+ years I would expect a dedicated radio band sub 2ghz for IoT that is NOT licensed and has rigorous standards. As it stands it’s just a sh** show. My opinion is based on having multiple esp32 gateways both wired Poe and wireless and following what is going on with chatter in the logs. It’s a debarkle. Pretty much only useful for one way devices where it doesn’t matter if it takes 1sec or 300 and 20 retransmits for a byte of info to be received. Bluetooth is cheap and nasty. Mostly nasty.

[@jasonsmathers2361]

@@ServoSambo I agree, not the greatest for in a congested environment, but checkout Hubble Network. Bluetooth connection to a satellite.. assuming it ends up happening.

[@SteveJones172pilot]

Awesome video.. New sub earned for biden PiP 🙂

[@digiblurDIY]

Sorry. I was having a bad day. 🤣

[@SteveJones172pilot]

@@digiblurDIY It was perfect!

[@digiblurDIY]

Not literally lol.. Just another shameless quote I keep hearing on news sites.

[@digiblurDIY]

Oh and nice name! The kiddo got to fly one a few years ago. I have some video kzbin.info/www/bejne/roqchHRvaLqXjtE

[@SteveJones172pilot]

@@digiblurDIY That is AWESOME!! I haven't flown in several years.. hope to get back to it! One of my FAVORITE things about flying was to take people for rides like that.. especially kids. Save your money - I bet you're going to be paying for flying lessons soon!! :-) One time, I took a 9 year old girl, and when we were about 300' up, literally still over the runway climbing up, without warning, she yelled "My turn" and stiff-armed the controls and tried to take over.. Luckily it was easy to overpower a small 9 year old girl, and nothing bad happened, but it certainly made me include "dont grab the controls until I let you know!" to my preflight briefing!!

[@Rsm583]

With your 3d print enclosure that filament did you use? If you use pla use something like abs

[@digiblurDIY]

Regular PLA like I used for many other cases. The Olimex just gets smoking hot.

[@Rsm583]

@digiblurDIY Don't use pla for electronic enclosures. Use petg or abs. Pla is brittle and can easily break in time.

[@digiblurDIY]

I have some enclosures that ran for years without issues. But they don't get hot so lesson learned there.