Zigbee vs BLE temperature sensors for Home Assistant

Forums › Gadgets, robotics, home automation, electronics (including wearables) › Zigbee vs BLE temperature sensors for Home Assistant - which is most reliable?

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59 posts

Master Geek

#2958107 23-Aug-2022 10:18

I have a bunch of the SONOFF SNZB-02 sensors, I have been using them for approx 3months now and I am pretty happy with them, two (both the most distant from the USB dongle) of them stopped communicating after a few days, I reset and repaired them put them back in the same place and they have been fine ever since.

I purchased them from Banggood AU warehouse and had them within 8 days at a cost of approx $12.4 per sensor including shipping

Link: 5pcs SONOFF SNZB-02 - ZB Temperature And Humidity Sensor

timmmay

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#2962016 1-Sep-2022 14:28

@eonsim @openmedia @TommySharp @peejayw @rscole86 @eluSiveNZ what's the best way to connect the Xiaomi sensors to HA? I'm trying to use the new Xiaomi BLE plugin in HA 2022.8 but every time I get a bind key and enter it into HA it says "incorrect key".

This tutorial says you can use the Passive BLE Monitor integration, with or without a custom firmware. Is that the right plugin to use, and should I use a custom firmware or stick with stock?

The BLE Monitor Integration says what I've copied below in italics. It says part 1 of the Xiaomi integration is done, but part 2 is still to be done.

Home Assistant 2022.8 has (improved) support for passive BLE devices directly in Home Assistant. For each brand, a core BLE integration will be developed, such that maintanance can be divided over more people, using the latest Bluetooth packages (bleak). I'm working together with the Home Assistant devs to move sensors from BLE Monitor to Home Assistant core integrations. During the transition, BLE monitor will still be available, but it is possible that the core HA Bluetooth integrations will not work niceley parallel to BLE monitor. If it is not working together, try to enable active scan in the BLE Monitor. My advise, when all your sensors are available in Home Assistant, make the move. The aim is to have all sensors moved into Home Assistant as core integration. After the move, BLE monitor will probably be deprecated. If you want to help moving sensors from BLE monitor, feel free to help. Check out the links below.

openmedia

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#2962066 1-Sep-2022 14:43

timmmay:

@eonsim @openmedia @TommySharp @peejayw @rscole86 @eluSiveNZ what's the best way to connect the Xiaomi sensors to HA? I'm trying to use the new Xiaomi BLE plugin in HA 2022.8 but every time I get a bind key and enter it into HA it says "incorrect key".

This tutorial says you can use the Passive BLE Monitor integration, with or without a custom firmware. Is that the right plugin to use, and should I use a custom firmware or stick with stock?

The BLE Monitor Integration says what I've copied below in italics. It says part 1 of the Xiaomi integration is done, but part 2 is still to be done.

Home Assistant 2022.8 has (improved) support for passive BLE devices directly in Home Assistant. For each brand, a core BLE integration will be developed, such that maintanance can be divided over more people, using the latest Bluetooth packages (bleak). I'm working together with the Home Assistant devs to move sensors from BLE Monitor to Home Assistant core integrations. During the transition, BLE monitor will still be available, but it is possible that the core HA Bluetooth integrations will not work niceley parallel to BLE monitor. If it is not working together, try to enable active scan in the BLE Monitor. My advise, when all your sensors are available in Home Assistant, make the move. The aim is to have all sensors moved into Home Assistant as core integration. After the move, BLE monitor will probably be deprecated. If you want to help moving sensors from BLE monitor, feel free to help. Check out the links below.

Are you using the small square Xiaomi sensors? I use an alternative firmware so I don't need the bind key

Generally known online as OpenMedia, now working for Red Hat APAC as a Technology Evangelist and Portfolio Architect. Still playing with MythTV and digital media on the side.

timmmay

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#2962070 1-Sep-2022 14:56

openmedia:

Are you using the small square Xiaomi sensors? I use an alternative firmware so I don't need the bind key

Yes, I'm using the small square ones, LYWSD03MMC.

I'm using the TeLink Flasher to get the bind key, but it doesn't work. Should I just flash it? Does the display look much the same? The screenshot I saw it looked like it didn't even have the % sign after the humidity. If I should do that, any tutorial or process you recommend?

Which HA integration do you use once flashed?

eluSiveNZ

188 posts

Master Geek

#2962082 1-Sep-2022 15:27

timmmay:

Yes, I'm using the small square ones, LYWSD03MMC.

I'm using the TeLink Flasher to get the bind key, but it doesn't work. Should I just flash it? Does the display look much the same? The screenshot I saw it looked like it didn't even have the % sign after the humidity. If I should do that, any tutorial or process you recommend?

Which HA integration do you use once flashed?

I haven't moved over to the HA BLE just yet as its still pretty new.

I'm using an ESP32 with ESPHome firmware to connect via BLE.

I've also moved to https://github.com/pvvx/ATC_MiThermometer seems to be more active development (I also see there's mention of HA BLE too..)

Firmware also allows the screen to be customised with a few options, I've removed the smiley face.

openmedia

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#2962090 1-Sep-2022 15:47

I also use an ESP32 to capture all of the data as I can't real all my sensors from a single location over bluetooth.

https://github.com/pvvx/ATC_MiThermometer

I haven't tried the HA_BLE update yet.

Generally known online as OpenMedia, now working for Red Hat APAC as a Technology Evangelist and Portfolio Architect. Still playing with MythTV and digital media on the side.

rscole86

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#2962096 1-Sep-2022 16:02

@timmmay, sorry I'm using ESP32 boards, as my HA is in a cabinet in one corner of the house and my sensors are sprinkled throughout. I wouldn't get 3/4 from integrated BLE.

I'm running stock firmware, but used a modified Xiaomi app to get the bind keys.

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timmmay

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#2962099 1-Sep-2022 16:06

I've flashed my first sensor, then I'll try the Passive BLE Monitor integration.

Just reading up on what all the config settings are - advertising interval, TX Power and VANT, etc.

I may end up with ESP32 stuff later so I can get distribute the temperature sensors around, but I don't really want to have to bother building them. I have a USB Bluetooth adapter that's meant to be good / long range so I'll try that first.

timmmay

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#2962116 1-Sep-2022 16:32

I have one sensor flashed, Passive BLE Monitor installed, and I configured one sensor in the HA Passive BLE Monitor GUI using the device Mac that I got from the Mi / Xiaomi app. It's been about 10 minutes, no sign of any temperature sensor turning up. I've tried turning on active scanning, but no luck, any tips?

I've just changed from using the USB Bluetooth adapter to the Pi Bluetooth adapter, to see if it's a problem with the USB.

In an ssh session to the pi I run the command below to scan for Bluetooth devices. It finds my phone, but not the flashed temp sensor. Any ideas?

hcitool scan --length=30

timmmay

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#2962138 1-Sep-2022 17:07

Ah... I switched to R.Pi4 built in Bluetooth and the sensor temperatures have appeared in HA. I had a bit of hassle trying to set up the USB Bluetooth adapter, I thought I had it because things could scan, but apparently not. I wrote it up a bit here.

eonsim

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#2962166 1-Sep-2022 20:25

Like the others I primarily use the ESP32 BLE>WIFI function https://esphome.io/components/sensor/xiaomi_ble.html. I have previously had the BLE passive integration running reasonably successfully for sensors within 3-4m of the HA server and a BLE adapter.

timmmay

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#2962168 1-Sep-2022 20:50

Is there an easy way to get a few of the ESP32 BLE -> WiFi things without having to solder / assemble them myself? This Bluetooth thing is really annoying / difficult, I'm having a heck of a job getting the USB Bluetooth adapter going that was listed as compatible with HA.

eluSiveNZ

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#2962184 1-Sep-2022 22:02

timmmay:
Is there an easy way to get a few of the ESP32 BLE -> WiFi things without having to solder / assemble them myself? This Bluetooth thing is really annoying / difficult, I'm having a heck of a job getting the USB Bluetooth adapter going that was listed as compatible with HA.

Just grab a development board. The BLE is built into the ESP it self. You just need to power it - micro USB so nothing to solder.

richms

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#2962190 1-Sep-2022 22:16

timmmay:

Is there an easy way to get a few of the ESP32 BLE -> WiFi things without having to solder / assemble them myself? This Bluetooth thing is really annoying / difficult, I'm having a heck of a job getting the USB Bluetooth adapter going that was listed as compatible with HA.

Any ESP32 development board should do it. There are some newer variants with different cores and hardware on them, so get the old style one with the wroom module on it.

Richard rich.ms

timmmay

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#2962236 2-Sep-2022 07:34

Once I have a ESP32 what are the next steps? Do I need to flash a firmware? Apply some software? Or just plug it in and ignore it? I assume I have to at least pair it with the WiFi, since I don't have ethernet everywhere, how's that done? Do I need to configure it to find my HA instance? There's probably a tutorial but I don't even really know what to search for. Thanks for any suggestions :)

I'm still going to try to get the USB Bluetooth working, but I might do ESP32 as well since it sounds cheap.

<rant>This whole home automation thing is really quite complex. Home Assistant is more like a framework or programming language than a product in some ways, and there's absolutely no way that an average person could get all this stuff working. Yesterday I spent hours trying to find the chipset drivers for my USB Bluetooth controller, today I'm probably learning about embedded systems like ESP32!</rant>

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