Home Assistant beginners

[Martynt74]

Man, this definitely is a learning curve. Finally got my Reolink cameras and Sonoff Zigbee co-ordinator installed. Have got a Shelly relay which i'm hoping to wire into the gate switch to control that. Won't have as much control on whether it's open/closed, but should be enough to just have the "switch" input for now.

The timer is also broken on the pool, so debating sticking a relay in for that too with the pump on manual mode. Saves me remembering each morning. Figure a couple relays can be re-used so not wasted cash on the rental.

Can see why some of you guys said to make all the mistakes now and then start from scratch when my actual house is built!

 

[Bluecube]

If it makes you feel better, I tried HA three separate times before I really stuck with it. I found the sheer number of possibilities overwhelming and don’t know where to start mainly down to such an influx of devices as I already had a lot of smart devices. By starting small you’ll find it easier to grasp what can be done

 

[dlockers]

So I've only had proper decent Bluetooth connectivity once, when I was installed on the RPi. The virtual box install had constant dropouts, and now this bare metal install is annoying me. Esphome doesn't seem to be helping or that itself is dropping out too.

Any thoughts on a proper reliable Bluetooth setup? Or do I just bin these govee sensors?

 

[the-evaluator]

RPI installation seems to work best. I'm using a Home Assistant Yellow (so a RPI CM4) and it's working great. There's a few ESP32 bluetooth proxies kicking about which are definitely working.

Before:

After:

Drop in the after is a red herring, the ESP32 was powered off.

Maybe the sensors are the problem. I'm using these and haven't had any problems with them.

 

[Bluecube]

So I've only had proper decent Bluetooth connectivity once, when I was installed on the RPi. The virtual box install had constant dropouts, and now this bare metal install is annoying me. Esphome doesn't seem to be helping or that itself is dropping out too.

Any thoughts on a proper reliable Bluetooth setup? Or do I just bin these govee sensors?

My Govee sensors are extremely reliable and never drop out mainly because I’ve enabled Bluetooth on my ESP32 boards. Are your ESP32 boards connecting ok via WiFi? I wouldn’t rely on the BT connection of your HA server as BT is quite weak

 

[dlockers]

My Govee sensors are extremely reliable and never drop out mainly because I’ve enabled Bluetooth on my ESP32 boards. Are your ESP32 boards connecting ok via WiFi? I wouldn’t rely on the BT connection of your HA server as BT is quite weak

I set the esphome/esp32 up and it seemed to work but it also seems to disappear quite a bit. ATM it's still plugged into the HA box - maybe I'll experiment moving it away.

 

[the-evaluator]

I set the esphome/esp32 up and it seemed to work but it also seems to disappear quite a bit. ATM it's still plugged into the HA box - maybe I'll experiment moving it away.

Where is the ESP32 in relation to the problematic sensor? If I'm reading what you said correctly then it's plugged into whatever hardware HA is running on?

It needs to be physically close to the problematic sensor. The bluetooth range of the ESP32 will be there or thereabouts the same as that of the HA box so you're not actually extending the range right now. You also need to consider the bluetooth range of the sensor - that'll be short too.

The ESP32 shouldn't be dropping out of HA. What's happening that makes you think that's what's going on?

 

[dlockers]

Where is the ESP32 in relation to the problematic sensor? If I'm reading what you said correctly then it's plugged into whatever hardware HA is running on?

It needs to be physically close to the problematic sensor. The bluetooth range of the ESP32 will be there or thereabouts the same as that of the HA box so you're ot actually extending the range right now. You also need to consider the bluetooth range of the sensor - that'll be short too.

The ESP32 shouldn't be dropping out of HA. What's happening that makes you think that's what's going on?

So the govee stuff is generally ok, and with my rasppi I never once had an issue. I'm now on a bare metal core i5 install. I had a range issue with shed, which is understandable as it's some distance and I assumed the RPi sensor would be something mega (mobile device orientated so weapons grade).

Esp was purchased and installed and shed seemed to come back. However I'm now getting drop outs all over the place. I think this is a separate issue though.

The reason I think esp is dropping out is because it often says online..sometimes I click logs and it does something, but more recently:

It's still plugged into the HA appliance from the day I configured, I will move it one day! But it looks fully disconnected now...

 

[the-evaluator]

When you're in ESPHome, click the edit button and you should see the raw ESP32 config. Can you post it? There shouldn't be anything sensitive in there but remove the encryption key if you want. WiFi details likely aren't in there, they're normally sourced from a separate file.

I'm a little surprised to see the mention of USB in that screenshot, it looks like the ESP32 isn't connected to your WiFi.

Most likely the ESP32 isn't actually doing anything right now. Even if it somehow had a mahoosive bluetooth range, the Govee sensor has a low output power so it'd be like you shouting at someone from a distance and them whispering back to you. They'l hear you, but you won't hear them.

 

[Pickers]

So I've only had proper decent Bluetooth connectivity once, when I was installed on the RPi. The virtual box install had constant dropouts, and now this bare metal install is annoying me. Esphome doesn't seem to be helping or that itself is dropping out too.

Any thoughts on a proper reliable Bluetooth setup? Or do I just bin these govee sensors?

I have 2 govee sensors. I was using raspberry pi Bluetooth and did get some drops. Since I've moved to a virtual box (without Bluetooth pass through) I installed esphome as a Bluetooth proxy and it works a treat (touch wood).

 

[dlockers]

When you're in ESPHome, click the edit button and you should see the raw ESP32 config. Can you post it? There shouldn't be anything sensitive in there but remove the encryption key if you want. WiFi details likely aren't in there, they're normally sourced from a separate file.

I'm a little surprised to see the mention of USB in that screenshot, it looks like the ESP32 isn't connected to your WiFi.

Most likely the ESP32 isn't actually doing anything right now. Even if it somehow had a mahoosive bluetooth range, the Govee sensor has a low output power so it'd be like you shouting at someone from a distance and them whispering back to you. They'l hear you, but you won't hear them.

So I clicked logs and wireless and it did return something - so possibly the usb connection has died but WiFi still up! Odd.

Here is the config, sorry my select all wasn't working so it's a print screen;

Here is WiFi log:

I have 2 govee sensors. I was using raspberry pi Bluetooth and did get some drops. Since I've moved to a virtual box (without Bluetooth pass through) I installed esphome as a Bluetooth proxy and it works a treat (touch wood).

Hmm yeah, maybe. I can appreciate that for attic and shed given the distance....maybe I just need to relocate the esp to the attic and see where that leaves me!

 

[the-evaluator]

Ok, that's all looking fine.

Can you check the bluetooth signal strength on the problematic sensor? The entity is likely disabled out of the box so you'll need to enable it. Monitor it for a while and move the ESP32 closer to it, leave it a while and look at the signal strength.

If you can't easily run the ESP32 near the Govee sensor then power it temporarily from a USB powerbank. If it makes a positive difference (and I'd expect that it will) then look to permanently have the ESP32 near the sensor.

 

[Bluecube]

@dlocker you do know the ESP board doesn’t have to be connected to your HA device? You can plug it somewhere nearer your BT sensors and so long as the ESP board has a decent WiFi connection your BT devices should be picked up no problem

 

[the-evaluator]

@dlocker you do know the ESP board doesn’t have to be connected to your HA device? You can plug it somewhere nearer your BT sensors and so long as the ESP board has a decent WiFi connection your BT devices should be picked up no problem

Where is the ESP32 in relation to the problematic sensor? If I'm reading what you said correctly then it's plugged into whatever hardware HA is running on?

It needs to be physically close to the problematic sensor. The bluetooth range of the ESP32 will be there or thereabouts the same as that of the HA box so you're not actually extending the range right now. You also need to consider the bluetooth range of the sensor - that'll be short too.

The ESP32 shouldn't be dropping out of HA. What's happening that makes you think that's what's going on?

There's an echo in here

 

[dlockers]

Ok, that's all looking fine.

Can you check the bluetooth signal strength on the problematic sensor? The entity is likely disabled out of the box so you'll need to enable it. Monitor it for a while and move the ESP32 closer to it, leave it a while and look at the signal strength.

If you can't easily run the ESP32 near the Govee sensor then power it temporarily from a USB powerbank. If it makes a positive difference (and I'd expect that it will) then look to permanently have the ESP32 near the sensor.

How do I check signal strength? Does it report that? Will click around!

@dlocker you do know the ESP board doesn’t have to be connected to your HA device? You can plug it somewhere nearer your BT sensors and so long as the ESP board has a decent WiFi connection your BT devices should be picked up no problem

Yes I know that - I just haven't moved it as once I'd installed it, it seemed to pick up shed just as well as the rpi did. I'm having some larger failure ATM with many rooms dying!

 

[the-evaluator]

How do I check signal strength? Does it report that? Will click around!

My sensors do, I haven't used Govee ones but I would expect they do report.

Go to Settings -> Devices & Services -> Govee. You'll see something like this:

Click where it says '1 device' and you should see diagnostics. In there there's a signal strength entity which is disabled by default. Click it, go to settings (top right of the small window that just opened) and then enable it. In about a minute you'll start seeing data and can add the entity into lovelace.

One of mine for example:

 

[dlockers]

Top man, hadn't realised it had that entity! So yesterday I put my Bluetooth on passive scanning as a fiddle; this seemed to kill everything. I turned that off and did a reboot.

I'm still dead in Living, Shed, Attic, Master Bed, my daughter's room. For the rooms I can see the signal is between -83 and -75.

As writing this the Bathroom sensor went to unavailable

Not sure what's going on, it just seems crazy unreliable!

 

[the-evaluator]

As mentioned, bluetooth is low power so you shouldn't expect much signal range. I've got an ESP32 next to all of my sensors to get around it.

Please move the ESP32 you've already got next to a problematic device and see what difference it makes.

 

[dlockers]

As mentioned, bluetooth is low power so you shouldn't expect much signal range. I've got an ESP32 next to all of my sensors to get around it.

Please move the ESP32 you've already got next to a problematic device and see what difference it makes.

I am listening I just haven't got to it yet. Will move it tomorrow. However, inexplicably, after returning from ~6 days holiday - it is all working now :S

 

[valve90210]

Has anyone had any luck getting Ikea Somrig shortcut buttons working in Home Assistant, I got some the other week but just can't get them to work. I've read threads which have said they are now supported and some people seem to have got them working, some people have them working but only with one of the buttons recognised but I can't event get them that far, they are listed as a device in ZHA but with no entities etc.