2nd HA install with BT kills 2.4 wifi on RPi zero W

Configuration
1

Hello

I installed a 2nd copy of HA to use BT as presence detection and it works well but totally kills my 2.4G network. Any idea why please?

this is all I have installed on it

device_tracker:
  - platform: bluetooth_tracker
    track_new_devices: yes
    interval_seconds: 15

this is a ping to a sonoff switch

Reply from 192.168.0.23: bytes=32 time=3888ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.0.23: bytes=32 time=751ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.0.23: bytes=32 time=2831ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.0.23: bytes=32 time=7ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.0.23: bytes=32 time=319ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.0.23: bytes=32 time=8ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.0.23: bytes=32 time=7ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.0.23: bytes=32 time=6ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.0.23: bytes=32 time=5ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.0.23: bytes=32 time=4ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.0.23: bytes=32 time=5ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.0.23: bytes=32 time=3ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.0.23: bytes=32 time=3ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.0.23: bytes=32 time=18ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.0.23: bytes=32 time=5ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.0.23: bytes=32 time=5ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.0.23: bytes=32 time=10ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.0.23: bytes=32 time=6ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.0.23: bytes=32 time=7ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.0.23: bytes=32 time=8ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.0.23: bytes=32 time=2077ms TTL=128
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Reply from 192.168.0.23: bytes=32 time=3019ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.0.23: bytes=32 time=3916ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.0.23: bytes=32 time=1771ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.0.23: bytes=32 time=77ms TTL=128

Cheers
Mark

2

I removed these and still the same… bugger

track_new_devices: yes
interval_seconds: 15
3

You don’t need to install to use the pi zero for presence detection.

5

What do you mean please? BT works well but I needed extra range. Hence the 2nd install

6

I assume you are using monitor? If so you just need to install raspbian and monitor, and point it at your mqtt server.

7

Trying to move away from monitor as it isn’t reliable for what I want. Hence using bluetooth

8

monitor does use bluetooth. How are you using bluetooth?

9

The built in bluetooth and wifi on rPI interfere with one another. It’s best to either use an external USB dongle or run it off ethernet and not wifi.

10

the Pi Zero only has 2.4Ghz wifi. Bluetooth uses 2.4Ghz

Depending on the Wifi Channel your pi is running on, my experience is the when running something like monitor or presence, the wifi performance is dire. Not sure if this is cross talk on the device itself, or just frequency clash, but I gave up using it for that.

11

it was going to be to track devices

  • platform: bluetooth_tracker
12

So I Installed HASSIO on a RPi3 and connected it via RJ45 and it works perfectly with bluetooth tracker. Soon as I turn on the zero, wifi dies across the board. So if I want this to work I need to use LAN not wifi with bluetooth, this is a royal pain in the arse :smiley:

13

Have you tried putting your wifi on a different channel?

14

I did, several channels… some worse than others but all unstable

15

Not sure if i am too late but I have also been struggling recently with a Pi Zero W running Bluetooth. What I found is that if I did a couple of Bluetooth scans (of a non present device) it would wipe out all 2.4 GHz WiFi traffic for about 10 seconds. It seems that the internal WiFi and internal Bluetooth do not work well together but the effects are not limited to within the Pi.
I have provided my experiences and observations in this thread but am finding it difficult to get any traction.
Anyway what worked for me is adding a USB Ethernet or WiFi dongle and turning off the internal WiFi. Impact on WiFi dropped to zero and it started behaving as expected.
Disabling the internal WiFi can be done by adding the line “dtoverlay=pi3-disable-wifi” to “/boot/config.txt”
Let me know if it works for you, good luck.

16

thanks… that is exactly what I ended up doing… and it worked so much better… then I ditched bluetooth and use my orbi wifi instead now :smiley: