For a cheap case to contain a generic ESP32 board, I use a cheap travel soap box from "Wally World". I cut a slot in one end for the power cable. Costs about $0.97 each.
Other than ESPresense monitoring our cell phones to determine room location, I've never found a Bluetooth device to connect to HA. What BT devices do you have?
I showed the devices and discussed them in the video (August/Yale locks). As mentioned, my next video will be about adding them to HA. Thanks for watching!
I use a Govee Bluetooth Hygrometer Thermometer to monitor the temperature of my chest freezer in the garage. I have automation set to alert me if the temperature exceeds a set threshold.
Thanks for the video. Just ordered 2 devices to play with. I run HAOS as a VM in Proxmox on a mini PC. Bluetooth breaks every time HAOS or Proxmox release a new kernel version since they're not in sync. I'm hoping your solution will resolve this issue for good.
Yep, that's a GREAT use case for these little things! Be sure to report back once you get them and set them up, I'm always interested to hear real-world feedback. Thanks for watching!!
Things did not work for me as shown in your video. I plugged the Atom Lite to my PC via USB and was able to flash it and configure the wireless network successfully, however, it never showed up in the ESPHome dashboard. I was able to add the Atom Lite manually as an ESPHome integration by using it's IP address. Once added, it immediately connected to my Govee temperature sensor and have been rock solid since. I suspect this is because the way my Home Assistant and network is configured. Here is my setup in case you're interested: I run the Home Assistant OS as a VM in a Proxmox Virtual Environment. Proxmox is the host OS on a dedicated mini PC. I use TP-Link Omada gear and my network is segregated using VLANs for added security and ease of management. I have dedicated VLANs and wireless networks for my network devices (router, switches, access points), PCs, wireless clients and wireless IoT devices.
Sounds to me like things worked exactly as they were supposed to. If you are knowledgeable enough to configure a complicated network, you're probably knowledgeable enough to understand broadcast domains and mDNS and why you have to manually add devices... ;) Glad to hear you figured it out and that they are working for you though!!
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.
Be mindful where you place them in rooms as bluetooth signals go through walls. Keep distance low enough to see when seated on sofa or chairs in lounge etc.
@@fasthowto Thanks very much for the confirmation, I could have asked the question in a simpler way, but yes I just wanted to know if you can connect multiple devices :) The BMS (battery managment system) is just a device for balancing the multiple cells of a diy solar system I have, it only has bluetooth).
Hopefully you have better luck with them than I did. I ended up changing to the cheap ones with no case. Maybe I just got a bad one, but mine kept falling off the network about every day or so. Cheap ones make it 8-10 days. Here's hoping a firmware update resolves it?? Mean time, I put it in a smart switch and wrote an automation to reboot it. Lol
Thanks for the informative tutorial. I followed your step by step tutorial, however the device keeps going offline. I can see it in ESPHome but it goes offline. Any advise ? Thanks
I think that's likely due to a breaking change made in 2024.6 one of my devices is doing the same thing - shows offline in esphome, even though it works and I'm able to use it still. I haven't had time to dig into what the fix is just yet, though. Hopefully this info is enough to get you pointed in the right direction. Thanks for watching!
Been a minute! How about - Automation - How To. More specific but keeps a link to your old channel name. Got a couple of these M5s. Will go try this. I'm told the BT person presense sensor approach is very finicky.
Thank you for the suggestion! I've added that to the potential list. :) Yeah, I've read the person detection can be finicky as well. I suspect it's much like everything else, where the devil is in the details (config). I've already found some configuration specifics that I needed to set for my August locks with just the regular BT that I covered in this video. I'll get into those in the next one. If and when I do the BLE presence detection, I'll do the same thing I always do - fight with it until I'm happy with it, and then make a video, or scrap the whole thing and never speak of it again. LOL
@@fasthowto Well I have a Adaproxy that came with my fingerbot which worked to connect to the BLE Tuya lock, and it showed up within HA but it has no controles in it; so I’m thinking it’s not compatible with HA. But I was thinking of making my own gateway as mentioned in the video would make it compatible with HA. 🤔
Received my Atom Lite and everything went fine until I tried to input password for my Wifi. Apparently it will not allow using / in the password. Not going to change all my devices so I will need another plan for this. Any thoughts? Thanks!
Interesting. I'm not using that character in my password. My first thought would be to create an SSID for just those devices? Not sure if your equipment has that capability, but that's what I'd do.
On a search for another device as I am not able to change the SSID for the M5 Stack so need to find another device that doesn't mind my / in the password.
For some reason when I go to flash the board at the esphome site I get an error saying "Your ESP32-S3 board is not supported". I've tried Chrome and Edge on both my Mac and Windows machine. Has anyone seen this before?
" Home Automation By Jeff " would be a name I would put forward 😊
Thank you for the suggestion! That does have a nice ring to it, I'll add it to the list of possibilities. Thanks for watching! :)
@@fasthowto anytime 😊 like the size of your videos
@@MartinHiggs84thank you! 😊
For a cheap case to contain a generic ESP32 board, I use a cheap travel soap box from "Wally World". I cut a slot in one end for the power cable. Costs about $0.97 each.
That's actually a pretty great idea for a device that will be out of sight. I may just adopt that, if you don't mind. :)
Thanks for watching!
thanks, follow you guide - in the end I get this proxy 'discoverd' on the new devices' should I configure it again from there?
Other than ESPresense monitoring our cell phones to determine room location, I've never found a Bluetooth device to connect to HA. What BT devices do you have?
I showed the devices and discussed them in the video (August/Yale locks). As mentioned, my next video will be about adding them to HA.
Thanks for watching!
I use a Govee Bluetooth Hygrometer Thermometer to monitor the temperature of my chest freezer in the garage. I have automation set to alert me if the temperature exceeds a set threshold.
Thanks for the video. Just ordered 2 devices to play with. I run HAOS as a VM in Proxmox on a mini PC. Bluetooth breaks every time HAOS or Proxmox release a new kernel version since they're not in sync. I'm hoping your solution will resolve this issue for good.
Yep, that's a GREAT use case for these little things! Be sure to report back once you get them and set them up, I'm always interested to hear real-world feedback.
Thanks for watching!!
Things did not work for me as shown in your video. I plugged the Atom Lite to my PC via USB and was able to flash it and configure the wireless network successfully, however, it never showed up in the ESPHome dashboard. I was able to add the Atom Lite manually as an ESPHome integration by using it's IP address. Once added, it immediately connected to my Govee temperature sensor and have been rock solid since.
I suspect this is because the way my Home Assistant and network is configured. Here is my setup in case you're interested:
I run the Home Assistant OS as a VM in a Proxmox Virtual Environment. Proxmox is the host OS on a dedicated mini PC.
I use TP-Link Omada gear and my network is segregated using VLANs for added security and ease of management. I have dedicated VLANs and wireless networks for my network devices (router, switches, access points), PCs, wireless clients and wireless IoT devices.
Sounds to me like things worked exactly as they were supposed to. If you are knowledgeable enough to configure a complicated network, you're probably knowledgeable enough to understand broadcast domains and mDNS and why you have to manually add devices... ;)
Glad to hear you figured it out and that they are working for you though!!
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.
You're most welcome! Sorry, I don't use wifi extenders so I have no idea what you would need to do with it.
Thanks for watching!
Be mindful where you place them in rooms as bluetooth signals go through walls. Keep distance low enough to see when seated on sofa or chairs in lounge etc.
great thanks for this, so can 1 m5 stack connect/show to 2 different bms bld balancers... Or can only one be connected at a time? Thanks
I have no idea what that is, but I have three different Bluetooth devices connected to the same proxy currently.
@@fasthowto Thanks very much for the confirmation, I could have asked the question in a simpler way, but yes I just wanted to know if you can connect multiple devices :) The BMS (battery managment system) is just a device for balancing the multiple cells of a diy solar system I have, it only has bluetooth).
Another great video! Just ordered a couple of M5Stacks. I believe they are just what I need.
Hopefully you have better luck with them than I did. I ended up changing to the cheap ones with no case. Maybe I just got a bad one, but mine kept falling off the network about every day or so. Cheap ones make it 8-10 days. Here's hoping a firmware update resolves it?? Mean time, I put it in a smart switch and wrote an automation to reboot it. Lol
@@fasthowto I shall keep you posted once I get them. You have great videos and I have learned a lot for which I thank you!
@@Slimhaven1 you are most welcome, thanks for watching!!
@@Slimhaven1 would love an update!
@@nateF888 will do waiting on that slow boat from china
My atom lite's came with a light showing (on first power up), after flashing, the light no longer comes on?
Thanks for the informative tutorial. I followed your step by step tutorial, however the device keeps going offline. I can see it in ESPHome but it goes offline. Any advise ? Thanks
I think that's likely due to a breaking change made in 2024.6 one of my devices is doing the same thing - shows offline in esphome, even though it works and I'm able to use it still. I haven't had time to dig into what the fix is just yet, though. Hopefully this info is enough to get you pointed in the right direction. Thanks for watching!
Been a minute! How about - Automation - How To. More specific but keeps a link to your old channel name.
Got a couple of these M5s. Will go try this. I'm told the BT person presense sensor approach is very finicky.
Thank you for the suggestion! I've added that to the potential list. :)
Yeah, I've read the person detection can be finicky as well. I suspect it's much like everything else, where the devil is in the details (config). I've already found some configuration specifics that I needed to set for my August locks with just the regular BT that I covered in this video. I'll get into those in the next one.
If and when I do the BLE presence detection, I'll do the same thing I always do - fight with it until I'm happy with it, and then make a video, or scrap the whole thing and never speak of it again. LOL
Does m5stack nano c6 works?
If I have a Tuya BLE smart lock that would this work as a BLE gateway to have it connect to HA and control the lock that way?
If there's an integration for it, I would imagine so. Try it out and let me know! I'm always looking to earn about new stuff. Which lock do you have?
@@fasthowto Well I have a Adaproxy that came with my fingerbot which worked to connect to the BLE Tuya lock, and it showed up within HA but it has no controles in it; so I’m thinking it’s not compatible with HA. But I was thinking of making my own gateway as mentioned in the video would make it compatible with HA. 🤔
Received my Atom Lite and everything went fine until I tried to input password for my Wifi. Apparently it will not allow using / in the password. Not going to change all my devices so I will need another plan for this. Any thoughts? Thanks!
Interesting. I'm not using that character in my password. My first thought would be to create an SSID for just those devices? Not sure if your equipment has that capability, but that's what I'd do.
@@fasthowto Thanks I will give it a whirl! Never saw it before when it would not even allowto type it in!
On a search for another device as I am not able to change the SSID for the M5 Stack so need to find another device that doesn't mind my / in the password.
For some reason when I go to flash the board at the esphome site I get an error saying "Your ESP32-S3 board is not supported". I've tried Chrome and Edge on both my Mac and Windows machine. Has anyone seen this before?
I am having the same issue. Were you able to figure out why and how to fix?
@@angiethompson9013 no I ended up switching to just the generic esp32 board and flashing it with the esp32 option instead of Atom