how smart has your home gone?

[dlockers]

Another option to extend Bluetooth coverage in Home Assistant is use an ESP32 as a Bluetooth proxy.

Recently I bought some Bluetooth LE sensors to keep track on temperatures in both the fridge freezers. Bluetooth signal was very iffy for one set and non existent for the other but that's all sorted with a couple of ESP32's.

Total cost for 2 ESP32's and 2 3D printed cases was < £20.

What are they exactly? Can a normal human buy them?

 

[the-evaluator]

What are they exactly? Can a normal human buy them?

They're little single board modules with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth built in. The ones I bought are powered by USB-C.

I'm sure a mere mortal could buy them

ESP32 modules, pack of 2
Cases for ESP32 modules, pack of 2

Once setup and added into Home Assistant connect to bluetooth devices near by and send that connection back to HA over Wi-Fi.

 

[dlockers]

They're little single board modules with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth built in. The ones I bought are powered by USB-C.

I'm sure a mere mortal could buy them

ESP32 modules, pack of 2
Cases for ESP32 modules, pack of 2

Once setup and added into Home Assistant connect to bluetooth devices near by and send that connection back to HA over Wi-Fi.

Legend thank you. Will give them a go!

 

[Bluecube]

I use a couple of ESP32 boards with presence sensors in two locations around the house. I added the Bluetooth proxy option to them and that sorted out the Bluetooth issues I was having with my room temperature sensors.

ESPHome is what’s required and is a Home Assistant add on and very tightly integrated with HA. A bit of research may be required but it’s straight forward with lots of documentation

 

[katie279]

What are they exactly? Can a normal human buy them?

They're amazing! I did a video that touches on them, seriously worth a look and look at esphome while you're there, super easy and gives you super powers!

The Seven FREE Wonders that make the Modern Smart Home

Discover my favourite open-source solutions that I use to make my home 'smart'. I'll reveal the "The Seven Wonders of the Modern Smart Home" that could no...

youtu.be

 

[D3K]

They're amazing! I did a video that touches on them, seriously worth a look and look at esphome while you're there, super easy and gives you super powers!

The Seven FREE Wonders that make the Modern Smart Home

Discover my favourite open-source solutions that I use to make my home 'smart'. I'll reveal the "The Seven Wonders of the Modern Smart Home" that could no...

youtu.be

Thanks for the video, I found it quite useful. What's your suggestion to replacing voice activated systems? Can see how using all the sensors and RFID will solve the majority of it, but I still rely on voice for changing lighting on the fly, setting timers, even asking what time it is if my hands are full.

 

[katie279]

Thanks for the video, I found it quite useful. What's your suggestion to replacing voice activated systems? Can see how using all the sensors and RFID will solve the majority of it, but I still rely on voice for changing lighting on the fly, setting timers, even asking what time it is if my hands are full.

Yes totally - the secret is building an array of approaches to suit YOU - ie voice is terrible for quick actions - 'hey google, turn the master bedroom lights off' - took a millisecond to click previously and was 100% reliable, but it's great for more complex queries.

But for voice HA, has ....er voice...: https://www.home-assistant.io/voice_control/

I've actually been really impressed by a lot of it - two examples, it can be context aware - so I can just say 'lights off' and it knows where I am, so will switch the lights off for the room I'm in, this massively simplifies your reliability and makes it so much easier to remember commands.

The other thing is you can integrate chatgpt and the like into it - this is waaaaay more powerful than the pretty dumb google assistant/siri style interfaces - it's miles better at understanding human speech/syntax variance and you can really converse with it. I've played with this in my workshop and it's super handy for asking complex questions whilst my hands are busy! ('calculate the cubic area of these dimensions, what's the width of a X allen key, torque strength of X etc)

Loads still to develop on these things, but it's pretty nifty already. Finally you can also bounce onto Google, Siri etc, so there's nothing stopping you continuing to use them too! Whatever suits!

 

[the-evaluator]

I'm yet to try the voice stuff in HA, I do have a couple of these to play with but just haven't had the time yet.

 

[dlockers]

They're little single board modules with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth built in. The ones I bought are powered by USB-C.

I'm sure a mere mortal could buy them

ESP32 modules, pack of 2
Cases for ESP32 modules, pack of 2

Once setup and added into Home Assistant connect to bluetooth devices near by and send that connection back to HA over Wi-Fi.

They're amazing! I did a video that touches on them, seriously worth a look and look at esphome while you're there, super easy and gives you super powers!

The Seven FREE Wonders that make the Modern Smart Home

Discover my favourite open-source solutions that I use to make my home 'smart'. I'll reveal the "The Seven Wonders of the Modern Smart Home" that could no...

youtu.be

Ok so your compelling sell meant me and my 3/yo assembled the ESP32 earlier. I then plugged it in but I am still not sure what it is.

I think the config just gave it away tho, it is basically a WiFi endpoint with bluetooth? So once configured I plug it into a power plug and it'll relay bluetooth signals over WiFi?

Spoiler: ESP32

 

[Bluecube]

Did you install ESPhome and configure the ESP32 board to actually do something? Think of the ESP32 board as a wee computer that needs to be programmed. It’s not hard - if I can do it then anyone can

 

[dlockers]

Yeah kept clicking next and it seemed to connect to WiFi. Is there an easy way to get it to communicate with my Bluetooth devices now?

 

[the-evaluator]

Is there an easy way to get it to communicate with my Bluetooth devices now?

If you installed the Bluetooth Proxy project I linked to yesterday then it's already doing it's stuff. No further configuration needed.

What Bluetooth devices have you got? See if they'll show you the Bluetooth signal level, generally it's a disabled sensor in HA so they need enabling. Turn the ESP32 off then wait a few minues and see what signal is reported. Put the ESP32 back into play and see if the signal level changes.

 

[dlockers]

If you installed the Bluetooth Proxy project I linked to yesterday then it's already doing it's stuff. No further configuration needed.

What Bluetooth devices have you got? See if they'll show you the Bluetooth signal level, generally it's a disabled sensor in HA so they need enabling. Turn the ESP32 off then wait a few minues and see what signal is reported. Put the ESP32 back into play and see if the signal level changes.

I have updated the yaml with the bits you mentioned -- am I expecting to see another BT device in Settings/Integrations? I go to add one and it says nothing is there.

So far so good though! Thanks

 

[the-evaluator]

am I expecting to see another BT device in Settings/Integrations? I go to add one and it says nothing is there.

Nope. Everything is done through ESPHome so if the ESP32 is showing as online in ESPHome then it's doing it's thing.

 

[dlockers]

Nope. Everything is done through ESPHome so if the ESP32 is showing as online in ESPHome then it's doing it's thing.

Mega thank you sir! Shed temp has come online which means it must be working as that was out of range for the crappy in built BT. Thank you!

 

[Semple]

Another option to extend Bluetooth coverage in Home Assistant is use an ESP32 as a Bluetooth proxy.

Recently I bought some Bluetooth LE sensors to keep track on temperatures in both the fridge freezers. Bluetooth signal was very iffy for one set and non existent for the other but that's all sorted with a couple of ESP32's.

Total cost for 2 ESP32's and 2 3D printed cases was < £20.

Do you run the Bluetooth proxy right next to the fridge freezer? - curious of the range. Also can you connect multiple Bluetooth sensors to a single esp32?

Contemplating doing this with our new fridge freezer. Previously I just built an esp32 with 2x ds18b20 sensors along with contact sensors. Once you cut away the sheath on the ds18b20 wires they're thin enough that they don't disrupt the seal, but they look a little bit messy.

 

[Semple]

What are they exactly? Can a normal human buy them?

It's a real black hole for IoT. You can pretty much add a sensor or motor to absolutely anything with these little boards, and they're as cheap as chips. Also being tiny means they're easy to hide in things.

 

[the-evaluator]

Do you run the Bluetooth proxy right next to the fridge freezer? - curious of the range. Also can you connect multiple Bluetooth sensors to a single esp32?

Contemplating doing this with our new fridge freezer. Previously I just built an esp32 with 2x ds18b20 sensors along with contact sensors. Once you cut away the sheath on the ds18b20 wires they're thin enough that they don't disrupt the seal, but they look a little bit messy.

Yep, they're both sitting right behind the fridge freezers. I'm not sure on range, I haven't measured it but it'd be a fairly meaningless figure anyway as it's very dependent on the environment - walls in between device and Bluetooth radio for example.

Each of my ESP32's have got 2 sensors attached, 1 in the fridge and 1 in the freezer. I can't find it now but I'm sure I read that the maximum recommended active devices was 3.

 

[Bluecube]

With regards to the range of a ESP32 Bluetooth proxy, I have one on each floor of my house and they provide stable connections to about ten sensors. House is a modern plasterboard build and sensors are on bookcases at worst.

 

[Semple]

Yep, they're both sitting right behind the fridge freezers. I'm not sure on range, I haven't measured it but it'd be a fairly meaningless figure anyway as it's very dependent on the environment - walls in between device and Bluetooth radio for example.

Each of my ESP32's have got 2 sensors attached, 1 in the fridge and 1 in the freezer. I can't find it now but I'm sure I read that the maximum recommended active devices was 3.

That sounds fine, I was more concerned about it penetrating the walls of the fridge/freezer, ours is one of those 50/50 tall units, so will chuck one on top.

Which Bluetooth thermometers do you have?