Enable Bluetooth Sensors for Home Automation: Bluetooth Proxy and Home Assistant (incl. Bermuda)

[@AndreasSpiess]

If you board does not have a "boot" button, connect a wire between GPIO0 and GND. In most cases, this connection does not hurt and can be left permanent.

[@ET44ET]

Thanks! Your work and experience are much appreciated!

[@AndreasSpiess]

Thank you for your support!

[@AshleyGittins]

Thanks for the shout-out on Bermuda! :D I've got some info on the Bermuda wiki about what window/interval timings to use - 290/320 works pretty well for most devices, as long as they aren't doing too many other tasks (especially pwm, display driving etc). The 1100/1100 timings you had in your screencaps are only safe for wired ethernet proxies, as it leaves no window for other processing (although I suspect that esphome might fudge those figures now, because it seems more stable than it used to be with those settings). Right on with the name - a play on triangulation (even though this is actually trilateration) and finally finding out where all those things are that we used to not be able to see 🙂

[@AndreasSpiess]

Cool to see you on the channel! And thank you for the additional info! I read somewhere that also the mm wave sensors are quite "chatty"...

[@AshleyGittins]

@@AndreasSpiess I've been a subscriber for quite a long time! 😁 Re mmWave I'm not sure what you mean - are you referring to their serial port and the extra load that puts on an esp32? I think I've heard similar, if that's the case.

[@AndreasSpiess]

@@AshleyGittins mmWave are the new 24GHz sensors that not only report presence but also the distance and direction. I assume they transmit this data all the time, that you can depend automation on it. But as I said, I do not know; I just heard or read it.

[@smarthomesellout]

@@AndreasSpiess I'm working with Apollo Automation, we sell tiny mmwave sensors such as the MSR-2 (LD2410B inside) and the MTR-1 (LD2450 inside) - they indeed do talk a lot to home assistant with various different entities. We can send you some samples to play with if you'd like, I know you've done some mmWave tests in the past.

[@AshleyGittins]

@@AndreasSpiess yes the mmwave stuff does look amazing! Especially now that some offer the direction and range as you mention. It still will not tell you "who" is there, but their accuracy and detection looks to be very good. As with all things, it depends on the needs of your application. Often a combination is where the real power lies.

[@KeithWeston]

As always, exceptionally helpful and thorough. Thank you, I've been using BLE proxies for a year or two in Home Assistant, but I had not yet come across Bermuda. It's fantastic. So, double thanks.

[@AndreasSpiess]

Thank you for sharing your experience!

[@madwilliamflint]

Perfect timing. I was just sitting down to start messing around with a bluetooth sensor framework to use as a baseline to deploy across a few dozen devices.

[@AndreasSpiess]

Good luck with your project!

[@sambraam2764]

I'm in the middle of rolling out a deployment of Xiaomi BLE sensors (lywsd03mmc) flashed with the PVVX firmware, using Olimex ESP32 POE boards as gateways. The gateways simply listen for advertising packets, compare against a configurable list of known MAC addreses, store the latest measurement data, and present it as a Prometheus metrics endpoint to be scraped. The range is incredible, I have over 150 sensors across three office buildings and three clean-rooms serviced by only 8 gateways. It runs completely stable, and I even have Grafana alerts set up to notify the facility guys when the batteries get low. I'm totally blown away by how well everything works. Open source FTW!

[@AndreasSpiess]

Thanks for the info. Your firmware seems to be a fork of the one I used. Do the Olimex PoE boards run now less hot? And what is your gateway software?

[@yousaf.saleem]

@@AndreasSpiess I also used same hardware but with Homeassiatnt as ingestion server.

[@sambraam2764]

​@@AndreasSpiess Yes, the PVVX firmware has quite a few more features. Particularly important to me is the ability to configure offsets for temp and humidity. I need to be able to calibrate them for use in our clean rooms. Did you know they contain SHT4x sensors from Sensirion? Very good quality and extremely stable for indoor temperatures. The Olimex boards do run hot, this would influence my measurements on locally mounted sensors. The gateway concept does not suffer from this as all sensors are now remote. I wrote the gateway firmware. It's pretty simple, but I ran into a memory leak in the NimBLE library when scanning in active mode. Fortunately the Xiaomi sensors pack their data in the advertisement packet itself, so passive scanning works fine.

[@MartinBengtsson]

Note that the Shelly gen2 built in proxy only works one-way, forwarding incoming messages. It does not work bi-directionally, for example for locks.

[@AndreasSpiess]

Thanks for the info! I only have old ones. So I was not able to test them.

[@edwardsnowden449]

If you apply the alternative atc firmware onto the xiaomi thermometer, homeassistant can decode the humidity and temperature native via bthome protocol

[@AndreasSpiess]

Thank you for the info!

[@joyceblom7373]

Gruezi! Very helpful how you present what you will cover, the benefits and also cover the topics at the end as well.

[@AndreasSpiess]

Glad you like this style!

[@ChrisB...]

I'm extremely excited by that full-featured soil sensor!

[@AndreasSpiess]

We will see how good it is ;-)

[@AndrewBeals]

Are they simply BLE? I have two plants that come indoors for the winter when the overnight temperatures drop to 10C and I know that they could use some extra attention, as could the nascent herb garden in the kitchen.

[@AndreasSpiess]

@@AndrewBeals The new ones are RS485 without any other communication. The Xiaomi sensor is BLE.

[@neongrau81]

@@AndreasSpiess I already have one in my shopping cart and therefore I am super curious how your test will turn out :)

[@dbrgn]

I'm quite interested as well, but I fear that it will not be very precise. Dedicated pH probes are usually expensive, have a limited lifetime and need to be kept moist. Additionally, often you need to calibrate them with a calibration solution. But maybe these china sensors are "good enough"? :) I'm looking forward to a test video! (EC measurements are also very interesting for hydroponics, in order to show when the nutrient solution needs to be refreshed / replaced.)

[@KeithWeston]

Thanks!

[@AndreasSpiess]

Thank you for your support!

[@nrdesign1991]

Another nice trick for ESP based sensors is to build an ESP Now proxy. It is a proprietary technology exclusive to ESP's, but it works extremely well, keeping out the entire WiFi connection process.

[@AndreasSpiess]

Is ist a BLE proxy, too?

[@DanielGoepp]

Thanks for the video, good stuff. I basically run this exact setup and am glad to see it getting seen more. One clarification though, you say Apple doesn't work, but it works just fine for me. As per the docs, you just need to use the "Private BLE Device" integration. You get the IRK (Identity Resolving Key) and enter it in. An extra step sure, but it's not too bad and can be done. I track myself and my wife using both our iPhone and our Apple watches.

[@AndreasSpiess]

Thank you for the info! I referred to this IRK, but so far, only found a reference where I would have needed a MACOS device. Where do I find a link on "How To" (just paste a search term, KZbin deletes all posts with lings).

[@DanielGoepp]

@@AndreasSpiess I'm sorry, perhaps I misunderstood what you were saying, I should go back and watch it again. I thought in the video you said Apple wouldn't work at all. Yes you do need a MacOS device to get the IRK in base64, at least, that is how I did it. They say you can get the IRK in hex from ESPresense. I did that, but it didn't work for me. I have been running ESPresense for a while and have liked it, but recently switched over to Bermuda. The search would be "home assistant private ble device" that should pull up a link to the integration with the instructions. There is a link the Bermuda doc too which I'm sure you saw and hence your comment about needing MacOS. I think I just didn't understand what you were saying by doesn't work.

[@AndreasSpiess]

@@DanielGoepp No problem. Maybe I was not clear enough. As said, for me this topic was not too important as I do not want to carry my Smartphone all the time at home. And indeed, I was referring to this link (I lost it in the meantime, so thank you!).

[@PetrSmrz-qb8gs]

As usual a great video. We had developed this solution for measurement for manufacturers and Quality control 6 years ago and had been updated till now. We call it Gateway (your proxy) and Controler - server - where we have our application. It connects BLE measuring instruments and to add your recommended sensors should be helpful. Thank you

[@AndreasSpiess]

So you were ahead of time!

[@DD0ULQTC]

Moin Andreas, thank you very much for the interesting video. Even though I haven't installed a home assistant (yet?), the number of Bluetooth sensors and actuators is growing. Your video made a few things clear to me. Micha

[@AndreasSpiess]

Hi Micha, thank you. You will like HA very much if you install it, I am sure. It also took me a whiel, but now it is the standard.

[@johnthomas2970]

Yup - had this setup for the last 6 months for the xiaomi temperature and humidity sensor that sits outside to give me outside temps on my dashboard. The intel NUC didn’t have decent enough BLE range to cover my house but one ESP32 in the laundry covers everything perfectly - no more drop outs 👌

[@AndreasSpiess]

Great to hear that it works well for you!

[@envenomator]

Great video, thanks!. I've solved BLE reception a while back, using a ESP32-WROOM-32U on a custom PCB, that I specifically made to fit in a 220v plug housing from Reichelt. The antenna is mounted on top, and I can just plug it in a wall outlet, somewhere in the center of my house. Reception is excellent this way. I'll try the proxy option with it next.

[@AndreasSpiess]

Nice project!

[@atc1441]

Thanks for saying hi! ❤

[@AndreasSpiess]

I am a long-time subscriber. You do a great job!

[@MaxintRD]

@Aaron: Like Andreas, you made many very interesting video's. Great job indeed!

[@ericbwertz]

All of the best to you and Smokey. Sorry again for your loss.

[@AndreasSpiess]

Thank you!

[@jim_condit]

Thanks, Andreas! Really enjoyed this. I have a bunch of ESP32s laying around and you gave me some fun ideas!

[@AndreasSpiess]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@daveys]

Excellent video as always Andreas! Now I need to think about making an integrated home.

[@AndreasSpiess]

As Nike writes: Just do it ;-)

[@zeero4ever]

Perfect timing! I have the topic of BLE proxies on my tinkering schedule since last week. As every window in my house has a Shelly 2 Plus running ESPhome for shutter control, this should be easy. Have to play around with the reaction times you mentioned (switching between WiFi and BLE). Greeting from Germany :)

[@AndreasSpiess]

Indeed a good starting position ;-)

[@zeero4ever]

@AndreasSpiess yeah, sadly I just tried activating the BLE proxy, but the firmware gets too big. Reflashing with altered partition sizes would need me to rip the Shellies out of the walls and reflash them using the debug pins. So that's not gonna happen for a while. :-/

[@AshleyGittins]

The factory shelly firmware can do ble proxy - but only one-way (ie, forwarding advertisements, but not making connections). But it is limited to 3 second advertisement intervals, which is less good for Bermuda, but fine for fowarding temperature sensors etc. That's a shame about the partition sizing, it's an issue with any esphome device first flashed with older firmware, you have to serial-flash them once for the partitioning, as you discovered 😞

[@lollonelollino1549]

Great video! I am glad to know BLE is an option too now

[@AndreasSpiess]

Glad it was helpful!

[@AerialWaviator]

An excellent value packed episode of concise and useful info. Expect to the "comments" will be equally as enlightening.

[@AndreasSpiess]

You can bet on that ;-)

[@berkano_plays]

The Square Xiaomi Temp/Humidity sensor can be flashed to run Zigbee instead...

[@AndreasSpiess]

Interesting! I did not know.

[@yousaf.saleem]

@@AndreasSpiess but it decreased battery life

[@Gottzila84]

​@@AndreasSpiess newer devices are no more supported, try it out! Power consumption can be adjusted by set min max response time

[@peter.stimpel]

Few ears ago I was annoyed enough by not being able to collect data from my BLE sensors (outdoor temperature and light intensity), so I wrote a BLE to MQTT proxy utilizing an ESP32. I found the BLE stuff having kind of a memory leak, so I added a watchdog for the ESP32, an ATTiny. They play ping pong via RS232, and if no pong returns, the ATTiny triggers a relay which interupts the power of the ESP32 ... some might call this overengineered, but it still works as expected ... what is most annoying thingf? The dfferent protocols of BLE sensors. Why can't the industry just negotiate and use standards ... and I was not aware that ESPHome provides such a feature

[@AndreasSpiess]

I also remember that it was hard. Your solution was quite innovative! That is why I made this video. For me, this is a big improvement.

[@AshleyGittins]

Haha nice solution to the stability issue! ESPHome has got a lot better over the last year or so, plus the homeassistant integration also includes a watchdog to tell proxies to restart if it doesn't hear from them for a while.

[@peter.stimpel]

For me, it was always worth a thought if to implement things with or without any dependencies to integrations of HA. I try to avoid the integrations as much as possible ...

[@mrroobarb]

Brilliant as ever Andreas! More Smokey please though, what a lovely looking cat

[@AndreasSpiess]

We love him, too. He came from an employee of my daughter because she moved in a place where he was not allowed to stay...

[@platin2148]

There is also now BLE Audio, also ESP still has the issue with the BLE stacks they need gigantic amounts of memory and storage.

[@AndreasSpiess]

Concerning memory: That seems the biggest difference between the IDF and the Arduino implementation...

[@platin2148]

@@AndreasSpiess Well Arduino Impl of BLE uses even more memory? As they are based on these say BLUEIFY, BLUEDROID, MYNEWT Nimble. And as far as i can see is the default BLE impl the nimble one which is still a lot of memory needed.

[@platin2148]

Actually it seems to use Bluedroid per default which is the one with the biggest footprint.

[@klassichd10]

Thank you! When ESP32 was introduced, I was hoping for this kind of BT gateway. But at that time, zigbee was easier to implement in my home automation. Now, I got a Wilo heat water pump with a BT interface. Unfortunately it uses changing PINs for pairing which will be shown in it's display.

[@AndreasSpiess]

That is a very strange behavior. Paired devices usually keep the pairing also if you switch them off...

[@klassichd10]

@@AndreasSpiess It is even worse: If I want to connect a smartphone directly to the BT of the Wilo pump, it refuses with the note "App required". Connetcing with this app pairs with a changing PIN. The upside of the pump: It shows the flow rate.

[@dfgdfg_]

Perfect timing Andreas! I'm currently fighting my m5stacks3-lite (am a newbie).

[@AndreasSpiess]

It should work as a proxy because it has an -S3 built in.

[@dave_dennis]

I am wondering if presence detection can be enabled using an Apple Watch? I would love to track which room my girlfriend is in and adjust the heat a few degrees in that room to keep her comfortable.

[@dougbas3980]

Tracking girl friend even in your house is a delicate subject. It could get you killed (LOL).

[@AndreasSpiess]

I do not know if it is already implemented. With ESPpresence, it was possible to connect them. Look at espresense.com/beacons/apple .I assume it will be a matter of time till it works with HA (if not already implemented)

[@kenneth_jensen]

It can be done with ESP presence sensore. You put them in each room and more in large rooms 🙂

[@AndreiA-wp6gd]

Possible. Use Private BLE Device(you need to resolve the IKR). I have a watch and two iPhones working in HA using this.

[@audas]

DWM3000 Qorvo

[@davidpizza419]

Díky!

[@AndreasSpiess]

Thank you for your support!

[@ВадимГородов-ф3е]

What about ble in tasmota? AFAIK it also support ble sensors and have great flexibility

[@AndreasSpiess]

I assume that Tasmota does the decoding inside the ESP32 (because it does not have a backend like ESPhome) and therefore is similar to the OpenMQTT concept. I never tried BLE on Tasmota, and I also do not know which sensors they support.

[@jeroenrnl]

​@@AndreasSpiess I have been using Tasmota on an ESP32 with the same two temperature sensors for several years now. It indeed does the decoding on the ESP and sends the data via MQTT.

[@hierichwerda]

Danke für das umfassende und tolle Video

[@AndreasSpiess]

Gern geschehen!

[@dan-nutu]

11:54 Andreas, I don't know why "it was a similar situation for the Zigbee Finberbot" - in my case I added a few of the to HA via the ZHA integration and they work without any issues

[@AndreasSpiess]

If I remember correctly, I had to get a code from their developer page. But maybe things have changed now. Thanks for the info. I have to try it again. The BT one definitively was greyed out.

[@tillbayer7131]

Many (Android?) smartphones have a setting to turn off randomized MAC addresses for trusted wifi networks, like your home one. Find it in the settings for your wifi, where DHCP and Proxy info also is.

[@AndreasSpiess]

Thank you for the additional info!

[@slimhazard]

It triangulates. “Bermuda“ is often associated with a triangle. Logical enough for product branding.

[@AndreasSpiess]

Good explanation!

[@userou-ig1ze]

Seems like Andreas got that part, but I agree with him, the 'logical' part besides association with triangle and triangulation is a bit far fetched

[@slimhazard]

@@userou-ig1ze I agree that it's far fetched, "logical for product branding" is not the same as logically logical.

Hopefully Espressif will create a future module where WiFi and Bluetooth can run simultaenously without having to switch between them on the user code level. Most radios do the interleaving internally as I know.

[@AndreasSpiess]

Maybe the reason these proxies run now without problems is that they improved the interoperability (as you mention).

[@john_hind]

What happened to BLE Mesh? It was supposed to work the same way as Zigbee except that you'd have the radio already in your smartphone so there'd be no need for a gateway. Mains powered BLE nodes such as light bulbs were supposed to act as repeaters in the same way Zigbee nodes can.

[@AndreasSpiess]

I do not know. But 3 dollars for a gateway that works is not too much for me ;-)

[@Tekjunkie6502]

What about Lora and Ble. My shed is too far away from my house for WiFi. So would love to have sensors connected to a Lora proxy or so

[@AndreasSpiess]

I fear you have to build it yourself :-(

[@Tekjunkie6502]

@AndreasSpiess nice project maybe :)

[@db9827]

I was surprised to find the Xiaomis work perfectly at -30C. We had a problem with a big fridge/freezer during the summer, so I put four re-flashed ones inside at different locations, talking to an OpenMQTTgateway outside the fridge. Problem found and solved!

[@AndreasSpiess]

Cool! And these devices are dirt cheap!

[@notsonominal]

Absolutely love the ESPHome Bluetooth proxies, but I am going zigbee for all new devices still

[@AndreasSpiess]

Most of my devices are also Zigbee for the moment. But these proxies open some choice...

[@lesh4357]

Hi @2:48 Energy spelt as Ennergy Proprietary Apps - the biggest problems with BLE is the lock-in. You buy a piece of hardware to find it will only work with their app. Three problems with that, 1 - their app wants to steal your data. 2 - The app is usually rubish, and 3 - they scrap the app rendering your hardware as junk and tell you to go out and buy their latest. We nee to put the authentication in the hands of the owner / user. The authentication should not be locked away in an app.

[@AndreasSpiess]

We have foll control if we want to buy something or not. That is a lot of power in our hands ;-)

[@wjn777]

Thank you, very interesting, and you have a beautiful new cat

[@AndreasSpiess]

You are welcome! Indeed, Smokey is good looking. And nice in addition. His only disadvantage: He is a good hunter :-(

[@wjn777]

@AndreasSpiess In that case a good future project is a compact cat gps tracker

[@AndreasSpiess]

@@wjn777 No. More a "mice detector" that blocks the cat entry if he has a mouse in his mouth ;-)

[@PhG1961]

This is really awesome!

[@AndreasSpiess]

I agree. That was the reason I wanted to share it.

[@MrCWoodhouse]

17:17 Hi Andres. Did you forget, lots of us use Z-Wave with great reliability and convenience. Or is Z-Wave dying?

[@martin_hansen]

@@MrCWoodhouse at least here the selection of z-wave is limited compared to ble and zigbee devices, and also quite more expensive, as i understand due to license cost.

[@AndreasSpiess]

I never used z-wave devices. They suffered from the beginning from the problem of different frequency ranges in different regions and never took off globally. Technically, they seem to work ok, though.

[@leonleon1809]

Maybe an idea for a video: Hi there Recently I bought a transformer for my led strips (12v) and realized that it "whistles" / hums quite loud if I dim the lights. So I returned the transformer and get a new one. Again the same noise. I also have another transformer from a different brand with 5v output but it starts also to hum... Can you give me any advice to not encounter the same thing again? 😅 Is there a brand you can recommend or a special type of transformers that is not susceptible for this behavior?

[@AndreasSpiess]

What do you understand under "transformer"? A real transformer or just a power supply?

[@leonleon1809]

Just a power supply for an esp32 or a led stripe. Or powering a PDB.

[@AndreasSpiess]

@@leonleon1809 These devices usually switch power off and on very fast. So it is possible that, if they are not properly built, that you can hear them. My advice would be to buy a very different device form another supplier, not the same again.

[@TvistoProPro]

The problem with Bluetooth (and wifi) is that it's not a protocol, just a transport layer. Companies then build what ever random protocol they want, and stitch it on top of the transport. How do you turn on a bluetooth switch? There's no "standard" protocol out there. There are a few standard bits, like pairing, audio profiles, and USB over bluetooth. But beyond that each vendor makes up their own protocol, and few of them match. Tuya, Amazon, Philips, and others all use a VERY different protocol to do simple things, like turning lights on/off, dimmer, etc. The strength of Zigbee is that it has a protocol of endpoints documented, not only for pairing and discovery, but for how to switch things, read and write values, and address sub-items. There's a way to make a custom interface on Zigbee if you need to (if your device is so special that it can't behave like one of the 50+ existing profiles). But most vendors (except Tuya) tend to at least try to use the documented endpoints for matching functionality, even if they add their own special protocol for custom settings. I've seen thermostats that look like several separate devices (temp sensor, hydro sensor, switches for fan, switch for heat/cool, etc), but they're at least usable by 3rd party systems once you figure out which endpoint turns what on and off. Also, you're wrong about Fingerbot. Zigbee Fingerbots can be triggered and read easily. What you can't do is change modes (press/hold/invert) or adjust depth of push (start/end/duration), as those config items are using Tuya specific endpoints. Using Zigbee2MQTT, you can still trigger Fingerbots to do a simple press, and tell if they've been triggered. Limited functionality, admittedly, but it can still be used in it's most basic sense. I've been using a Fingerbot to start my coffee maker for about 9 months now without issue. (Also, I'm using FHEM, so maybe something is busted with auto-discovery in HA, but that's a separate issue.)

[@AndreasSpiess]

Thank you for the info. Indeed, Sellers usually want to make their products "unique" to avoid competition and buyers want to get standarized stuff to get competition. That is one of the basic laws of capitalism. Buying power usually tilts this powerplay towards the buyers. I already see this happening with HA because many manufacturers deliver a HA integration to get more market share. In addition, a lot of intelligent people try to integrate devices without manufacturers support. That was my main reason to change to HA (My Huawei Solar plant has an integration made by an individual, for example). I have to try the Zigbee Fingerbot again. Maybe things changed (or it is an issue with the HA integration).

[@EnergyTRE]

The random mac can be found in the developer options in all cell phones. 😉 Easiest to access from Android devices

[@AndreasSpiess]

Thank you for this info!

[@ABnSuItan]

reason i use zigbee is all i need is one hub since each non battery zigbee device work as signel extender and i dont need to scatter Bluetooth proxy all over my place for coverage and most importantly it's easier to pair zigbee device than Bluetooth device

[@AndreasSpiess]

I agree and I also use it a lot. However, some sensors come with BLE and not Zigbee.

[@mattm.l3rs4y]

That's exactly what I had in mind. I had ordered a few new esp32c6 for this purpose and then found out to my dismay that they are not officially supported. Unfortunately, almost a year later, nothing has changed.

[@AndreasSpiess]

The support for the newer boards is not always good. This is why I stick with the old ESP32 if I do not need a particular function of a new chip.

[@michaelthompson657]

Can you use the HA ready made project and also make it active? And enable the web server?

[@AndreasSpiess]

Yes, you can add the two lines. But I did not try.

[@michaelthompson657]

@ thanks! So you’d just add the lines to the bottom? Apologies I’m relatively new with esphome

[@AndreasSpiess]

@@michaelthompson657 Yes.

[@dougbas3980]

Great, I have been using Home-assistant(HA) for many years. This is another tool in the tool box. My Airthings radon detector has not been working well with HA. Maybe more reliable thru this method? Thanks for another great video.

[@AndreasSpiess]

It is well possible that it will work better. At least if somebody will invest the effort for its integration. The base seems to be rather stable.

[@mrab4222]

13:37 Could you put the device and the receiver in a Faraday cage?

[@AndreasSpiess]

Yes. But it is not necessary. And I cannot read the display if my Smartphone is in a Faraday cage ;-) My Faraday cages are too small for me.

[@Diamonddrake]

I have a 2200 sqft house with a home assistant server in the closet in a corner room with a Bluetooth dongle. I use BLE temperature sensors in every room of my house with no issue and no proxies.

[@AndreasSpiess]

Thank you for sharing your experience. May I ask: Do you live in a wooden house? Becahsue here, we use reinforced concrete that reduces range considerably. In your case, Bermuda probably would not work well :-(

[@Diamonddrake]

@@AndreasSpiess I do have a wooden house with one random brick wall. reinforced concrete would certainly pose a challenge with any wireless connection

[@wm6h]

BLE may soon be making it into your Radio Room. New (mid-cost) VHF/UHF radios from BTECH support BLE, the KISS protocol, APRS, and adhere to a published standard that define the BLE Characteristics. Finally, BLE is taking off-everywhere.

[@AndreasSpiess]

I agree. This is one reason for this video...

[@madwilliamflint]

Yeah, this is an awesome video. Do you have a "hello world esp-idf" video someplace? I was trying to get it going a few days ago and it was...cumbersome (read: I couldn't get it to work.) It reminded me of the worst excesses of the 80s compiler tool chains, but worse.

[@AndreasSpiess]

No. Long time ago, I decided to stick with the Arduino IDE on this channel. Precisely because of what you describe.

[@Roobotics]

The licensing and extra 'steps' manufacturers go through, made zigbee/z-wave the flop it's become. I was just recently looking up Sengled as I wanted to grab a zigbee/'hub' based RGB strip. $40+ dollars for a 2M strip, while their wifi 5M version was had for $15 shipped. (Also the zigbee 5M version now seems to sell for $100+ secondhand..) Just an absurd difference. That said I've loved how solid the zigbee stuff performs for all the bulbs I use it on, all of zigbee bulb offerings, seem to be built far superior to their same-name wifi equivalents, you can feel it in the weight for the passive thermal management. They probably want to be sure they will pass certification etc. For a basic external RGB controller though, that price proposition absolutely isn't there!

[@AndreasSpiess]

So far, I had no big issues with Zigbee devices (just getting the code for the Tuya fingerbot. The sensors and switches all paired without an issue. BTW: LED lights are perfect wit hWi-Fi because they are anyway mains powered. So no need for Zigbee for me.

[@edwardsnowden449]

I am looking for a door/window sensor with ble. Any recommendations?

[@AndreasSpiess]

Mine has Zigbee (like many others). So I never searched for one with BLE :-(

[@yousaf.saleem]

Square thermometer works without flashing too with official xiamoi integration

[@AndreasSpiess]

Good to know. Thank you. Maybe with a newer firmware.

[@drmocm]

Looks like it may be time to migrate from FHEM to HA or at least run them parallel until I am sure I can replace everything.

[@AndreasSpiess]

A good plan. There is a lot of power behind HA because suppliers also support it (maybe they want to have an alternative to Apple, Amazon, or Google).

[@dennyfox3139]

I don't see a BOOT button on the ESP32 boards you are recommending, only a RESET button. Is it needed for programming?

[@AndreasSpiess]

You are right. Not all have them. A Dupont wire between GPIO0 and GND does the same job. In my case, the programming quite often did not start using these Webflashers. With this button pressed, it worked all the time. I never investigated the details. Maybe something how the typical programming logic with the two transistors is not properly managed...

[@thisisyourcaptainspeaking2259]

I feel my development projects need to function properly even when internet is unavailable. I'm still looking for ble pressure transducers to integrate into my data collection projects.

[@AndreasSpiess]

That is what many of us want. At least the most important functions. I do not know how much power pressure transducers consume. Maybe they are not good for battery operated devices?

[@virginiaperez8971]

Gracias

[@AndreasSpiess]

De nada

[@pen25]

can you not install the tuya firmware for local on the fingerbot?

[@AndreasSpiess]

I did not change the firmware, I just had to have a code if I remember right. But another viewer wrote that this is no more necessary.

[@wrbrower]

By hitting shy devices, will their battery life be degraded?

[@AndreasSpiess]

Maybe a bit. I never thought about it.

[@jack91522]

So far in 2024, what’s the preferred protocol if you want to add a battery powered wireless device to either HomeKit or home assistant?

[@AndreasSpiess]

Depending on the availability, I use Bluetooth or Zigbee. Both are comparable. Most sensors only support one standard.

[@peterhaugaard2]

Does anyone know if there is a BLE thermometer that can go below 0°C? All the ones I have found can only go down to 0°C.

[@AndreasSpiess]

The square one with hacked firmware went down to -9.9 Celsius. The round one to -5 celsius in the fridge.

[@peterhaugaard2]

@@AndreasSpiess Thanks for the reply. That sounds good for a refrigerator. I would also like to monitor the freezer temperature and I was looking at Inkbird IBS-TH2. It looks like it can go to -20 Celsius.

[@steveyoutube1709]

is it possible to use the arduino boot loader on a Xiaomi thermometer (LYWSD03MMC BLE TLSR8251) and run a custom program ?

[@AndreasSpiess]

I do not think so. But you can ask Christoph...

[@haukeradtki3322]

While having access to all those Bluetooth devices is great, my biggest problem with sensors relying on advertisement packages is, that they not authenticated at all. There is no way to prevent spoofing of sensors, which can become troublesome when automations rely on the data. Would be a pity if some bad actor overwaters your plants, turn on your lights, or impersonates your BLE tags

[@AndreasSpiess]

I agree. But so far, I never heard of such attacks.

[@haukeradtki3322]

@@AndreasSpiess Me neither, but since they are so trivial, and adoption of bluetooth devices is rising it is just a matter of time IMHO. Related: I can't use some battery powered BLE devices here in the city, because they get drained by excessive scan request, some gateway or similar must hammer them. Bluetooth Mesh would actually solve all these problems, as it just works on top of BLE, but I don't think it has gained much traction. And again, Zigbee and Thread solve the radio part more efficiently, so they should be preferred.

[@AndreasSpiess]

@@haukeradtki3322 Meshes usually drain batteries fast because the nodes also have to work for others. I am not sure if it will solve your issues.

[@Merauniquemeethu]

Hey@Andreas spies can you create a device using sim800l and esp32 that call receive in sim inside 800l will direct to esp32 and it will redirect audio call to phone via bluetooth like hfp can you make a video on it

[@AndreasSpiess]

Maybe I could do it. But unfortunately, I have no need for it. So the guy with a need has to do it ;-)

[@macemoneta]

Funny story. I installed the nRF Connect app on my Android phone while watching this video, and when I started it up it found an Apple beacon. I thought someone might have dropped a tracker on us, so I followed the RSSI to our car, a Tesla. Looking through the information from connecting to the beacon, it identified itself as the name of our car, so Tesla is using an Apple branded beacon for its app.

[@AndreasSpiess]

Yea, we have to learn to live with this new tech! A lot of discoveries to make :-)

[@kapucin22]

I didn't get it, so why would I want to switch from OpenMQTTGateway to BLEProxy?

[@AndreasSpiess]

Because it support many more devices. And is integrated into HA. If you use it.

[@felixruiztorrez5192]

Awesome! Greetings from Nicaragua.

[@AndreasSpiess]

Thank you! Greetings back.

[@qkktech]

Is there some non china esp32

[@AndreasSpiess]

I do not think so. I heard Espressif wants (or already did) open a factory in Vietnam.

[@roughwear_tech]

What is the soil sensor?1?!?!

[@AndreasSpiess]

I added a link in the description

[@roughwear_tech]

@ how do you power this?

[@AndreasSpiess]

@@roughwear_tech I have no idea 😞

[@dan-nutu]

12:54 Oh nooo, do you watch yt while in there? 😂

[@AndreasSpiess]

Secret ;-)

[@Herr_Bone]

Advert-iiiii-sing, please.

[@AndreasSpiess]

??

[@Herr_Bone]

@ , du sagst „adv-eee-rtising“, mit der Betonung auf dem „e“. Trotz Swiss Accent ist das kaum auszuhalten. :)

[@martin_hansen]

I have wifi, Zigbee and BLE (with proxies) running in my house. What worries me is that they all run on 2.4Ghz. And i have no real method/tool to tell me how much they interfere/disturb each other. I du see things like sensors always dropping of at night, that indicate that there is some form of interference. Would like videos addressing some of this. 🥺🤓

[@dan-nutu]

You can hear some of the interference affecting BT devices if you get close (e.g. within half a meter) to a microwave oven that's on while listening to audio via BT. Or if you're listening to audio via BT on two close devices simultaneously (e.g. two phones, each with a BT headset)

[@AndreasSpiess]

They have quite short ranges, and transmit often only part of the time. So there should be enough capacity in a home where you only have a few devices. I would not attribute the nightly dropouts to capacity limitation. Usually, used capacity is smaller at night.

[@martin_hansen]

@@AndreasSpiess well it is nit so much about capacity, that would be the case if i had several devices using same protocol, most protols have mechanisms how to share "air tine" in order to utilize the capacity/bandwith. But i don't know of i.e. a zigbee device being able to negotiate "air time" with i.e. a wifi device. So even if my wifi devices only takeup 30% of the "air time", a battery based zigbee device might only wake up once a minutte for a few millis, sending out it's status, how long shall it be blocked by a wifi transmission before it gives up and returns to deep sleep? On the other hand if it keeps re-transmitting until transmission is acknowledged, how much will this affect battery life. Last assuming all the protocols do some kind of retransmission, then the re-transmisions itself takes up capacity and raising the risk of collisions, triggering new re-transmissions a.s.o.

[@AndreasSpiess]

@@martin_hansen Look at the spectrum, and you will see that some channels do not overlap (particularly the BLE advertisement channels) . So, if you encounter problems, it may be necessary to switch the WiFi channel. But if a signal is too strong for a receiver, it cannot receive its intended signal even if it is on a different frequency. This is where I see the problem (and the capacity reduction).

[@KarenNakamura1]

Cries in Z-Wave.

[@AndreasSpiess]

I do not understand :-(

[@KarenNakamura1]

It’s one of the major IOT protocols and you ignored it. Sob sob sob. :)

[@AndreasSpiess]

@@KarenNakamura1 I do not agree. Z-wave was a good thing a few years ago before Zigbee and BLE took over. The problem has always been that the frequencies below 1GHz are not globally standardized. That is why we did not see a lot of them in Europe.

[@mvadu]

I wrote a Python program just to grab these pvvx sensor messages running as a container in raspberry cluster. But then I moved house and the sensor is too far from pi. This is going to be my replacement

[@AndreasSpiess]

I hope it saves you some time ;-)

[@mvadu]

15:21 😮😂

[@AndreasSpiess]

:-)

[@quarteratom]

So most of these BLE "sensors" are closed down and usually only work with useless smartphone apps. But you hack them to receive them with real programmable hardware (usually by exploiting their unencrypted nature). Would be nice if manufacturers designed them with real programmable receivers in mind, and allowed us to use them with our own (secure, known) encryption keys.

[@AndreasSpiess]

Security always comes with the price of a key. And I am not sure if manufacturers want to give out the keys because then, encryption seems to be quite useless if everybody knows the key. And individual keys are logistically much harder...

[@kurtjosemarti6689]

Meow. Greetings from my cat Büsu to your new cat Smokey.

[@AndreasSpiess]

Thank you. I will greet him!

[@schoenepaparillo5902]

…''Deez small nuts''…😂

[@AndreasSpiess]

:-))

[@quarteratom]

Unencrypted communication is insecure.

[@AndreasSpiess]

You are right!

[@edwardsnowden449]

Does not really matter in your home network, or?

[@AndreasSpiess]

@@edwardsnowden449 No. Not for temperature or presence sensors.

[@deterdamel7380]

​@@AndreasSpiess For burglars and thief it may be a good source for information.

[@AndreasSpiess]

@@deterdamel7380 People with this knowledge can earn much more with an ordinary job in our country ;-)

[@MaxintRD]

Again another great video. Very informative! Link to Aarons BLE thermometer video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hImuq3l9a5afhNUsi=AKezaXjWqjHbkIaO

[@AndreasSpiess]

Thanks! I added it to the video description (I should have done it from hte beginning).

[@alws2532]

From my experience, it's unreliable trash. Bluetooth isn’t suitable for smart homes unless you have a cherry-picked devices setup in one room. HASS has very limited Bluetooth support, with almost no preferences and connection quality insights. The Bluetooth proxy sometimes works, but other times it doesn’t, without any warnings or debug hints. And if some nodes like proxy will fail to conenct - gg, it isn't a mesh or any kind of decentralized / has backup plan system. While the price is low, it’s close to Zigbee devices, for example. Overall, you end up with what might be the worst possible wireless system. IMHO, only use that if you want to connect not critical stuff you already own.

[@AndreasSpiess]

Thank you for sharing your experience. So far, I had no issues. And others also report that it is quite stable for them. When did was your last check? I think, quite some work went into this matter recently.

[@alws2532]

@@AndreasSpiess What exactly do you mean by 'quite stable' and 'no issues'? One of the stated in top comment problems is Bluetooth-wireless, easily overwhelmed, unmeshed in this case, with low penetration, short range, and a fragmented standard that isn’t properly enforced. Most devices don’t even come with a decent antenna to handle these limitations. It isn't just my own experience, and Google is full of similar problem reports. For me, that seems like a solid consensus about BT in HA, unlike the other points about HASS BT and BT proxies. Or do we have different Googles?

[@audas]

Just wait until how Swiss Accented Guy discovers NearLink / Green Tooth.

[@AndreasSpiess]

Many good ideas did not grow because they could never reach a critical mass (network effect). I usually wait till it is clear a technology reached this point. At least if something comparable is available. What would be the killer argument for these technologies compared with BLE and Zigbee?