I use a fairly cheap e-bike, and the capacity display (well voltage really) is just garbage. So I regularly end up measuring the output voltage manually with a multimeter - not great.
So what I did is adding an ESP32C3, which now broadcasts through BLE BTHome voltage and temperature. Works well so far, HA picks it up when I am at home - great, so thanks for the great project and infrastructure (BTHome I mean and HA in general of course)!!
I can also use a generic BLE app on the phone, but there I have to manually decode the data as it only shows the raw data. Not convenient and not doable while I am riding …
Is there any BLE app that I could use on the road? I am not married to BTHome, if any other protocol would work I would consider that too but BTHome worked very well so far so would be my pref … @Ernst might have a quick comment …
Good question. I’m not aware of an app that can do this, neither with BTHome nor with a different protocol. But I didn’t really look into this. Theengs app is able to receive data and forward the processed data to a mqtt server. https://app.theengs.io/ They dont support BTHome, but they have a lot of supported (manufacturer) protocols. Just make a pull request to support the BTHome protocol otherwise. https://community.openmqttgateway.com/
Besides decoding on your phone, forwarding the data via the HA companion app could also be a future development that could solve your problem ( like a mobile Bluetooth proxy)
Ernst: Great, both seem good options, will need to try these. Theengs seems to be the most polished option, I could see the data locally and even log it through mobile data connection/VPN back to my HA instance if I understand right, sounds very cool.
In the short term, you could use another protocol already available in the decoder, like the KKM beacons. I suggest picking one that has what you need and replicating it. This way, you will have it in the app, the gateway, OMG…
Our strategy is to integrate off-the-shelf devices, not to go into support of DIY devices. We can do it if there is an off-the-shelf device with temperature and voltage in the BTHome format. We would need the help of this device manufacturer or a user owning it.