support for BLE proxy.

[alexisiglesias1]

Since ESPHome 2023.2.0 currently allow esp32_improv and bluetooth_proxy at the same time, is it possible include this configuration in the stock firmware?, in order to keep the OTA update without using custom configuration

[EverythingSmartHome]

Not currently, there have been a couple of users trialing it and running into disconnection issues with it enabled - will continue to monitor.

[MiChAeLoKGB]

Was there any progress with this? I am expecting a few BLE devices and was hoping to use my EP ones as proxies, since they are advertised on the store page as a BT proxy.

[EverythingSmartHome]

Yes there is quite a few people running the workaround in the Discord without issues AFAIK.

You need to switch to the esp-idf framework in the ESPHome config, then disable captive portal and esp32_improv as those components aren't compatible with esp-idf (but are only needed for initial setup anyways).

Make sure to flash via USB-C cable rather than OTA when switching to esp-idf

[martindinicolino]

Yes there is quite a few people running the workaround in the Discord without issues AFAIK.

You need to switch to the esp-idf framework in the ESPHome config, then disable captive portal and esp32_improv as those components aren't compatible with esp-idf (but are only needed for initial setup anyways).

Make sure to flash via USB-C cable rather than OTA when switching to esp-idf

would it be possible to publish a tutorial for newbies?

[MiChAeLoKGB]

I have checked the discord, just to be sure, and it seems relatively easy to enable, only thing I would probably ask of you is to publish a yaml with captive_portal and esp32_improv disabled, so people do not have to copy the entire config just to comment out those 2 lines. Either have it as a separate file or on a special BLE beta branch if you are not ready to have it in default FW yet.

A bit OT: I think using Discord forum for a support of a device like this is a bad idea. Trying to find any actual solution is almost impossible, especially when you try to use Google to search for it. Discord is nice for a community to discuss things and quickly debug something, but actual issues should be solved on easily searchable place, ideally the same one you get your yaml from (so this GitHub in this case). If you do solve it on Discord due to chat being faster a solution should still be posted to an issue on GitHub. Btw, you do not link to your Discord anywhere on this GitHub.

[EverythingSmartHome]

I have checked the discord, just to be sure, and it seems relatively easy to enable, only thing I would probably ask of you is to publish a yaml with captive_portal and esp32_improv disabled, so people do not have to copy the entire config just to comment out those 2 lines. Either have it as a separate file or on a special BLE beta branch if you are not ready to have it in default FW yet.

A bit OT: I think using Discord forum for a support of a device like this is a bad idea. Trying to find any actual solution is almost impossible, especially when you try to use Google to search for it. Discord is nice for a community to discuss things and quickly debug something, but actual issues should be solved on easily searchable place, ideally the same one you get your yaml from (so this GitHub in this case). If you do solve it on Discord due to chat being faster a solution should still be posted to an issue on GitHub. Btw, you do not link to your Discord anywhere on this GitHub.

Its something I have intentionally not published at the moment since it's still under testing from the community, I don't want to publish something where there could still potentially be disconnection issues. Once that changes and testers are happy with the results we can certainly publish a firmware for it with it enabled.

Understand your point with Discord but for example what about people who send emails for support? Those conversations are in no way searchable. Discord at least is a public space and is easily searchable (through Discord). It's also just much faster to resolve issues since it's instant messaging which most people so far seem to appreciate it. If people want support on GitHub then I'm happy to answer here, and if people want support on Discord then I'm happy to answer there.

[pknaz]

I'm also interested in BLE proxy support.

[nagydavid]

@EverythingSmartHome May I ask, is there any update on this?

[reefland]

@EverythingSmartHome - can you please provide a status on BLE Proxy? Preorder page listed it as a feature...

Been over a year now, and there is no mention of it within the guide if this is supported or not.

Thanks!

[wjdp]

Been trying to get this working today. I've taken the current YAML file from this repo and done the following:

 esp32:
   board: esp32dev
+  framework:
+    type: esp-idf

- captive_portal:
- 
- improv_serial:
- 
- esp32_improv:
-   authorizer: none

+ bluetooth_proxy:
+   active: true
+ 
+ esp32_ble_tracker:
+   scan_parameters:
+     active: true
+
+ text_sensor:
+   - platform: ble_scanner
+     name: "BLE Devices Scanner"

I'm now seeing scan results as a sensor on the device!

[marcinwasilewski]

Thanks @wjdp, I can confirm that the tracker and proxy work with this config Will be testing if there are any issues over the next few days

[m4rkireland]

@marcinwasilewski how did the testing go?

[marcinwasilewski]

I haven't had any issues so far. Ble works and so does everything else it seems

[m4rkireland]

@EverythingSmartHome any chance of making a new release with this included?

[picotrain77]

@EverythingSmartHome any chance of making a new release with this included?

That would be great as I truly don't understand esp or how to edit to add BLE

[joneshf]

You don't actually need to copy/paste the whole config from GitHub in order to modify this handful of objects. ESPHome supports merging config values, and removing values as well. So you can take what @wjdp posted above, and modify it slightly to work while still using this repo as the package. I added this to my config and it was able to start working as a Bluetooth proxy:

bluetooth_proxy:
  active: true

captive_portal: !remove

esp32:
  framework:
    type: esp-idf

esp32_ble_tracker:
  scan_parameters:
    active: true

esp32_improv: !remove

improv_serial: !remove

text_sensor:
  - platform: ble_scanner
    name: BLE Devices Scanner

The important part is that objects are merged in the way that most people would expect (e.g. esp32.framework.type getting merged into the config from this repo), and !remove can get rid of objects you don't want (in this case captive_portal, esp32_improv, and improv_serial).

In any case, I couldn't get the Bluetooth proxy to stay alive for more than a few seconds, so I disabled it. But the point of this comment is that you don't have to copy/paste the entirety of the config.

[marcinwasilewski]

I suspect one of the latest esphome releases breaks the esp-idf compatibility. One of my EPO that I updated to 2023.12.8 goes into bootloop, so I had to change esp-idf back to arduino (and remove BLE).

The other one is still at 2023.11.2 and esp-idf works fine as well as the bluetooth proxy

[townsmcp]

@marcinwasilewski i wonder if it’s possible to downgrade esphome back to 2023.11.2?

[marcinwasilewski]

I'm sorry, it looks like I jumped the gun. The bluetooth proxy does not actually work on the other device which is still on 2023.11.2, and I'm not sure if it ever worked because I always had both devices running.

Since I do need bluetooth proxy to operate my switchbot curtains, I'm going to investigate how I can downgrade and see if it helps, hopefully it's not a hardware issue.

Edit: as I am now digging into this, I noticed that I did not account for the fact that with each esphome update I was also updating with the latest from this repository because it was linked dynamically to github in the yaml file. Again, my bad. I now suspect this is the most likely culprit. Unfortunately there are no historical branches for older versions here so I will try to download an older commit and link it locally in the yaml file.

[marcinwasilewski]

So I solved the issue, and now my device is no longer bootlooping and BLE works. I didn't downgrade esphome, sourcing the config locally from an earlier commit of this repository solved the issue. I explained here: https://github.com/EverythingSmartHome/everything-presence-one/issues/141#issuecomment-1902626067

[townsmcp]

@marcinwasilewski excellent news that you have it working again. So are you on ESPHome 2023.12.8? Can you also confirm if you did the following (I’m pretty new to ESPHome so don’t really understand how it all works):

1. Browse into ESPHome
2. Click ‘Edit’ on the EPO device you want to fix
3. Edit line 5 FROM Everything_Smart_Technology.Everything_Presence_One: github://everythingsmarthome/everything-presence-one/everything-presence-one-beta.yaml@main TO Everything_Smart_Technology.Everything_Presence_One: github://EverythingSmartHome/everything-presence-one/blob/b56b71f2ae924af0ee2145df2d8a4864d0bb702b/everything-presence-one.yaml@main
4. Save changes
5. Install updates to device and update wirelessly

[marcinwasilewski]

Yes I'm on ESPHome 2023.12.8 I didn't do the steps you mentioned but I think they could work. I didn't know how to link to a particular version of the yaml file, so I just downloaded the file from this commit, and put it in the esphome folder, and then replaced the github:// link with my local path like this

packages:
  Everything_Smart_Technology.Everything_Presence_One: !include everything-presence-one.yaml

[townsmcp]

Thank you @marcinwasilewski that seems to have worked for me as well :) I have the beta firmware installed on my 3 EPO's so I did the same, but used the beta firmware as the basis from the linked non beta firmware you posted. Saved locally and linked in to each device config. Thank you so much for the help. I needed BLE proxy back for Yale Connexis lock