Great ESP32 Board for an ESPHome Bluetooth Proxy

ESPHome
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Hey all, just looking for some advice as some posts say hold off and some say working just fine…… I deployed a pretty large z-wave network last year using orange pi zero 3w and setup about 15 proxies (Z-wave JS UI) and connected to haos, I am now noticing z-wave iot devices are kinda phasing out…. So now I’m looking at BLE and despite 15+ hours of trying i can’t get my orange pi’s to act as proxies and I’m giving up…. I figured i can just get some esp32 boards and just take 5v from the Orange Pi’s power the esp32 boards and have a bunch of BLE Proxies. The issues im facing is that on esphome is clearly states project isn’t working on anything but the old plain esp32 boards but i find forums like this where it says it works fine on the c3…. So while it seems like all forums are on the same page that esphome doesn’t currently utilize BT 5.0 or 5.1 should i bother with newer hardware? Also im wondering if I should try to find a board that allows me to create BLE, Zigbee, Matter and thread proxies so i can just use any IoT device out there now or should i just keep it simple and by old esp32 boards deploy them and be done with this…… I really want to keep this project under $1000 but would be willing to go as high as $2000 if i can make it work with all the common IoT wireless technologies stabily……. Any advice is greatly appreciated

22

Update on Seeed Studio XIAO ESP32-S3 Plus + W5500 Ethernet Adapter for ESPHome Bluetooth Proxy Use

Hi everyone,

I wanted to provide an update regarding the Seeed Studio XIAO ESP32-S3 Plus used with the XIAO W5500 Ethernet Adapter, particularly for those of you using it (or planning to use it) as an ESPHome Bluetooth proxy.

Several users previously reported instability when using Bluetooth on the Plus model, and Seeed has now confirmed and addressed the issue. Here’s what’s happening and what to expect.

What’s Happening

The Seeed team reviewed the reported issues and confirmed that early batches of the XIAO ESP32-S3 Plus had RF performance problems that affected Bluetooth and Wi-Fi coexistence, especially under higher TX power.

It’s important to note that these boards were originally launched as “Early Build” versions focused primarily on Ethernet connectivity, not specifically for use as active Bluetooth proxies. The Home Assistant community discovered they could be used this way, which helped uncover and highlight these Bluetooth stability issues.

Seeed has since verified and corrected the hardware issue and is proceeding with a two-phase revision plan:

  • Phase 1: Remaining early-batch units (around 200 pcs) are being modified with an INT pin wiring fix (D16 → W5500 INTn). These will ship as the current stock.
  • Phase 2: A full board revision is planned for early January 2026, which will incorporate all fixes directly on the PCB. A release note will be added on the product page once this new version is ready.

My Test Results

I’ve tested one of the modified units provided by Seeed and can confirm that:

  • Ethernet and Bluetooth coexistence are now stable
  • Previously problematic Bluetooth devices (like Inkbird sensors) now connect reliably
  • Occasional transient 0x3E connection results may still appear — which is normal behavior for some BLE devices — but reconnections now succeed after one or two attempts

This represents a major improvement over the unmodified early units, which often failed to establish Bluetooth connections at all.

What This Means for You

  • If you ordered before November 1, 2025, your board may be part of the early batch and could still show instability when used as an active Bluetooth proxy.
  • If you order after November 1, 2025, you’ll receive one of the modified units with the wiring fix applied.
  • The fully revised version with integrated fixes is expected in early January 2026.

For passive Bluetooth proxy use (e.g., just receiving BLE advertisements), the older boards generally work fine — just make sure to set the Ethernet polling interval to 1ms in your ESPHome configuration. That adjustment helps maintain consistent packet timing and smooth passive Bluetooth performance even on the early units.

Support and Upgrade Options

Because the early boards were never originally intended for use as active Bluetooth proxies, there isn’t a formal replacement program for existing users.
However, Seeed recognizes that many community members are using these boards for proxy applications and wants to help those who need improved Bluetooth performance.

To support this, Seeed is offering a $10 discount coupon for users who purchased early-batch units (orders before November 1, 2025) and wish to upgrade to the fully revised version once it’s available.

Coupon code: 2VX6LS2P
Valid until: January 30, 2026

If you have questions or run into issues, contact Seeed’s support team directly at [email protected] — they’ll handle individual cases as needed.

Moving Forward

I’ll continue long-term testing with the revised boards under normal proxy loads and share updates as results come in. Once stability is fully confirmed, I’ll also update the “Recommended Boards” list for ESPHome Bluetooth proxies.

Huge thanks to Nickey, Meilily, and the Seeed engineering team for their quick and open collaboration on this. Their transparency and willingness to engage directly with the community have been outstanding — it’s a great example of how feedback and cooperation lead to better products for everyone.

7 Likes
23

Thanks for the update. Was on the fence about ordering one to test out, but glad to hear they’re responsive to issues and willing to go back into their inventory and actually manually solder fixes onto their boards.

Totally going to grab a modified board now to try it out.

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I bought one to test a play with.
Can the board modification be done by a handy end user ?
And any details would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for the coupon.

Edit: missed the bit about