Gardena Bluetooth: Connection not stable

Third party integrations
1

Hello,
currently I test the Gardene Bluetooth Integration together with a Raspberry Pi 3 (rpi3-64). The Bluethooth connection is unstable or breaks off completly. The only solotion here is to reboot the Raspberry PI. I tested the internal Bluetooth device and a TP-Link UB500 adapter. Both devices having the same issue, but the TP-Link UB500 adapter seams to be more stable.

Connected are two Gardena Water Control Bluetooth Devices 01889-20.

Is this a know issue? Does anybode have the same experience?

If your setup is stable, what devices are you using.

Many thanks in advance!

Update: Solution ESP32 BT Proxy

2

I would try with the external BT dongle on a 1 meter or so usb cord. or look at an espHome BT Proxy device, or both.

3

Hi @Sir_Goodenough ,

thanks for the tip. A 2m USB cable seems to improve the stability. Test is running since 10h without interruption. I’ll let the test continue and will report back as soon as I know more.

4

Unfortunately Bluetooth signals are affected by so many other devices(which we love). WiFi 2.4GHz, in my opinion, conflicts the most.

Heck, even microwaves and fluorescent lighting emit 2.4GHz frequencies. The dongle is a great suggestion.

I’d also look at the BT device’s dBi. I struggled with BT SwitchBot curtain devices and an cheap upgrade to a slightly stronger BT adapter fixed the dropped signal issues.

5

@LiQuid_cOOled ,
many thanks for your response. Reception shouldn’t be a problem. The devices are located right next to each other in a separate room. However, WiFi or cell phones can of course be disruptive.

@Sir_Goodenough
With the additional USB cable, the connection is more stable, but it breaks off again after a long time. Unfortunately, the connection is not re-established on its own. The only thing that helps here is a restart.
I will now try get an ESP Bluetooth proxy and continue testing with it.

1 Like
6

Hi @Sir_Goodenough ,
since using ESP32 with Bluetooth proxy the issue is solved. The connection ist stable since one week.

Looks like it is not recommended to use raspberry pi internal Bluetooth device or USB Bluetooth dongles.

2 Likes
7

Please consider marking my post with the Solution tag. It will automatically place a check-mark next to the topic’s title which signals to other users that this topic has been resolved. This helps users find answers to similar questions.

For more information about the Solution tag, refer to [guideline 21 in the FAQ]{How to help us help you - or How to ask a good question}.

1 Like
8

Hello
I’m facing a similar issue with my new Gardena bluetooth valve.

It connected very fast to HA, but i can’t seems to get it working using a shelly plus PM as bluetooth proxy.
It’s now unavailable, and HA can’t it.
Also the Shelly can see it, it appears in the logs in HA

[NEW] Device F0:5E:CD:2D:BF:08 F0-5E-CD-2D-BF-08
[CHG] Device F0:5E:CD:2D:BF:08 RSSI: 0xffffffa2 (-94)
hci0 F0:5E:CD:2D:BF:08 type LE Public connect failed (status 0x03, Failed)
[DEL] Device F0:5E:CD:2D:BF:08 F0-5E-CD-2D-BF-08
hci0 F0:5E:CD:2D:BF:08 type LE Public connected eir_len 0
[NEW] Device F0:5E:CD:2D:BF:08 F0-5E-CD-2D-BF-08
hci0 F0:5E:CD:2D:BF:08 type LE Public disconnected with reason 1
[CHG] Device F0:5E:CD:2D:BF:08 Connected: no
[CHG] Device F0:5E:CD:2D:BF:08 RSSI: 0xffffffa1 (-95)
[CHG] Device F0:5E:CD:2D:BF:08 AdvertisingFlags:
[CHG] Device F0:5E:CD:2D:BF:08 RSSI: 0xffffff9c (-100)
[DEL] Device F0:5E:CD:2D:BF:08 F0-5E-CD-2D-BF-08

Are there differences btw an ESPHome and a shelly (factory firmware)
Maybe I could flash my shelly with ESPHome ?

thx a lot

9

Solved it,
The shelly BLE proxy can’t work in this situation, as they don’t proxy actual Bluetooth connections, they only support advertisements.

see Gardena Bluetooth Irrigation Bluetooth connection is unreliable · Issue #103117 · home-assistant/core · GitHub

I used an Atom Lite M5 to act as proxy