Bluetooth - using a Shelly instead of USB Dongle - no USB passtrough required anymore

My old Windows setup (HA in VMware) used an

  • Asus BT-500 USB dongle
  • Bluetooth ibeacon (Feasycom 108)
  • and the ibeacon Tracker integration

to track the presence of my car (home/away).

I recently ditched Windows for Linux Mint and ran into some dificulties with the USB passthrough in Virtualbox.

While I was trying to solve that problem, I stumbled across a much easier solution:

  • Shelly mini (2. Generation), that acts as Bluetooth gateway, so no more USB Dongle and no passthrough required
  • My trusty old Bluetooth ibeacon (Feasycom 108)
  • Bermuda BLE Trilateration Integration (HACS)

Works like a treat - very responsive and quite customizable.

All you need to do is

  • activate BT in the Shelly app for a selected Shelly - with firmware version after 1.5.0, the BT gateway is consistently enabled.
  • Add that Shelly as BT devices in your BT integration
  • Install the Bermuda Integration

and you are off to the races :slight_smile:

Very clean solution for people like me who already have a bunch of Shellys in the house.

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It’s mentioned in the Bluetooth integration docs too, in case you missed it. Bluetooth - Home Assistant