Home Assistant beginners

kakarott · 6 Sep 2026 at 00:21

So if I wanted to see the power usage of my home assistant on the dashboard, would I need a zigbee plug for the integration?

NutritioN · 6 Sep 2026 at 10:56

Doesn't have to be ZigBee, as long as there is an integration with HAOS. I have some Meross plugs and they operate over WiFi 2.4GHz.

Note: not all smart plugs measure energy consumption so check first.

Ace Modder · 6 Sep 2026 at 18:56

kakarott said:
So if I wanted to see the power usage of my home assistant on the dashboard, would I need a zigbee plug for the integration?

No, I'm using these:

They run on the 2.4 gHz Wifi network. No need for Zigbee at all.

Subliminal Aura · 6 Sep 2026 at 23:04

Apparently bluetooth speakers are a PITA, anyone have one set up ?

I've got a BT speaker on order and have installed this to see if it eases the pain https://github.com/scyto/ha-bluetooth-audio-manager

BTW reason for this is that I have an old windows 8 tablet that's acting as a squeezlite player but seems to crash once in a while so am looking for something a bit more reliable

Subliminal Aura · 7 Sep 2026 at 10:41

Well this is looking promising....

Popped in an old USB BT Adapter
Shared it to the HA VM in Proxmox
Started the addon and it's picked up the adapter, no need for a reboot or restart either

Semple · 7 Sep 2026 at 10:52

Ace Modder said:
there we go....

The weekly and monthly sensors show 0 still, as I set them up after the last meter reading was taken, the Today sensor I created befoe the latest reading. But eventually they will correct.

Ok now I'm tempted to give this a go, I had a look years ago at trying a camera with OCR but don't think it worked out great.

Subliminal Aura · 7 Sep 2026 at 21:28

Subliminal Aura said:
Well this is looking promising....

Popped in an old USB BT Adapter
Shared it to the HA VM in Proxmox
Started the addon and it's picked up the adapter, no need for a reboot or restart either

Well this didn't go well

GitHub - scyto/ha-bluetooth-audio-manager: Home Assistant add-on for managing Bluetooth audio device connections (A2DP) with persistent pairing, auto-reconnect, and AppArmor security.

Home Assistant add-on for managing Bluetooth audio device connections (A2DP) with persistent pairing, auto-reconnect, and AppArmor security. - scyto/ha-bluetooth-audio-manager

github.com

is a farce depending on decades old MPD to do the lifting ... getting it into HA is a PITA and an unwanted dependency

The future is sendspin this integrates beautifully into HA and music assistant

GitHub - trudenboy/sendspin-bt-bridge: Make any Bluetooth speaker smart. DIY multi-room audio with Music Assistant, Home Assistant AI automations & Sendspin protocol. Docker, HA addon, Raspberry Pi, Proxmox LXC. Free & open-source.

Make any Bluetooth speaker smart. DIY multi-room audio with Music Assistant, Home Assistant AI automations & Sendspin protocol. Docker, HA addon, Raspberry Pi, Proxmox LXC. Free & open-sour...

github.com

nst68 · 7 Sep 2026 at 21:31

Subliminal Aura said:
Well this is looking promising....

Popped in an old USB BT Adapter
Shared it to the HA VM in Proxmox
Started the addon and it's picked up the adapter, no need for a reboot or restart either

Spookily I’ve been trying this today, got the adapter added but the speaker kept disconnecting.
Did you manage that?

AI suggested I should use a usb extension cable to avoid interference, how did you connect yours?

nst68 · 7 Sep 2026 at 21:34

Subliminal Aura said:
Well this didn't go well

GitHub - scyto/ha-bluetooth-audio-manager: Home Assistant add-on for managing Bluetooth audio device connections (A2DP) with persistent pairing, auto-reconnect, and AppArmor security.

Home Assistant add-on for managing Bluetooth audio device connections (A2DP) with persistent pairing, auto-reconnect, and AppArmor security. - scyto/ha-bluetooth-audio-manager

github.com

is a farce depending on decades old MPD to do the lifting ... getting it into HA is a PITA and an unwanted dependency

The future is sendspin this integrates beautifully into HA and music assistant

GitHub - trudenboy/sendspin-bt-bridge: Make any Bluetooth speaker smart. DIY multi-room audio with Music Assistant, Home Assistant AI automations & Sendspin protocol. Docker, HA addon, Raspberry Pi, Proxmox LXC. Free & open-source.

Make any Bluetooth speaker smart. DIY multi-room audio with Music Assistant, Home Assistant AI automations & Sendspin protocol. Docker, HA addon, Raspberry Pi, Proxmox LXC. Free & open-sour...

github.com

I used MPD, will try sendspin a try

Subliminal Aura · 7 Sep 2026 at 21:38

nst68 said:
Spookily I’ve been trying this today, got the adapter added but the speaker kept disconnecting.
Did you manage that?

AI suggested I should use a usb extension cable to avoid interference, how did you connect yours?

Yeah the usb extension is highly recommended... I have everything extended away from the rack - BT dongles, RTL-SDR dongle and the Zigbee dongle - well away from wifi aps and the rack

nst68 · 7 Sep 2026 at 21:58

Subliminal Aura said:
Yeah the usb extension is highly recommended... I have everything extended away from the rack - BT dongles, RTL-SDR dongle and the Zigbee dongle - well away from wifi aps and the rack

What BT dongle are you using?

Subliminal Aura · 7 Sep 2026 at 22:27

nst68 said:
What BT dongle are you using?

An old Chinese knockoff BT 4.0 I believe which doesn't support LE, it must be 10 years old

bcm92045b3 from the image I posted

Subliminal Aura · 8 Sep 2026 at 05:58

@nst68 was reading this note Q4 and totally forgot to mention to also try using usb2 ports

TP-Link Bluetooth USB Adapter Not Working? Troubleshooting Guide

Fix TP-Link Bluetooth USB adapter not working issues. This guide covers driver errors, connection problems, audio issues, and signal range for UB500, UB400, UB4A, and UB5A models.

www.tp-link.com

Q4: What can I do if the Bluetooth adapter has a weak signal? How to improve the Bluetooth range?
1. Change to another USB port or use a USB extension cable

Move the adapter to a front USB port, or use a USB 2.0 extension cable to position it away from the back of the computer. Because there is a lot of random radio noise generated by the processor and system parts, which will cause the short-range and cut-off issue.

An Intel white paper confirmed that poorly shielded USB 3.0 ports will cause radio interference. If your device has range issues when plugged into a USB 3.0 port, a USB extension cable can help.

kakarott · 8 Sep 2026 at 09:47

We have a Worcester Bosh boiler. Is it possible to integrate it to HA so you can turn on/off and control temps?

the-evaluator · 8 Sep 2026 at 09:59

@Subliminal Aura - The fix to my bluetooth issues (lack of range) was a few ESP32's running as bluetooth proxies.

#Chri5# · 8 Sep 2026 at 11:39

I setup the HandyHat HACS integration ages ago when I first messed with HA but with that being abandoned, what's the current best / recommend way to get electric consumption figures in? I expect it's still via some combination of the Glowmarkt API?

I've got some more P110 plugs coming today so I can get specific consumption figures for more devices.

Subliminal Aura · 8 Sep 2026 at 12:47

the-evaluator said:
@Subliminal Aura - The fix to my bluetooth issues (lack of range) was a few ESP32's running as bluetooth proxies.

This is the kind of dependency bought into the chain that I'm trying to avoid, have you ever monitored the uptime of an esp32 ?
The whole point from my original post is to have a rock solid 24/7 solution without any breaks in service

Semple · 8 Sep 2026 at 13:03

#Chri5# said:
I setup the HandyHat HACS integration ages ago when I first messed with HA but with that being abandoned, what's the current best / recommend way to get electric consumption figures in? I expect it's still via some combination of the Glowmarkt API?

I've got some more P110 plugs coming today so I can get specific consumption figures for more devices.

Frankly the easiest would be the octopus mini, but does require you to use Octopus as a provider.

Semple · 8 Sep 2026 at 13:08

Subliminal Aura said:
This is the kind of dependency bought into the chain that I'm trying to avoid, have you ever monitored the uptime of an esp32 ?
The whole point from my original post is to have a rock solid 24/7 solution without any breaks in service

I've never noticed my esp's going offline that frequently, I'm sure they manage weeks of uptime. Annoyingly I updated them all yesterday so that's reset the uptime.

Have you looked at the logs to determine why it's rebooting?

Subliminal Aura · 8 Sep 2026 at 13:16

Semple said:
Frankly the easiest would be the octopus mini, but does require you to use Octopus as a provider.

This assumes you have a smart meter, I don't have a smart meter so use one of them old CT clamp contraptions - they were all the rage around 10 years ago and could be found on the bay for dirt cheap. Cool thing about them is they broadcast at 433mhz so easy to pick up and ship to mqtt

Semple said:
I've never noticed my esp's going offline that frequently, I'm sure they manage weeks of uptime. Annoyingly I updated them all yesterday so that's reset the uptime.

Have you looked at the logs to determine why it's rebooting?

I'm sure you won't notice, I don't but it's there

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Home Assistant beginners

Q4: What can I do if the Bluetooth adapter has a weak signal? How to improve the Bluetooth range?​

Q4: What can I do if the Bluetooth adapter has a weak signal? How to improve the Bluetooth range?