Hassio on Ubuntu on old laptop Bluetooth

Installation
1

I’m after recommendations for USB Bluetooth dongle that will work with my configuration. I’m hoping to get one that has good distance for Bluetooth tracking.

2

I run Hassio on an Ubuntu VM and use these: https://www.asus.com/uk/Networking/USBBT400/. No driver installation needed on Ubuntu Server 18.04.3 LTS.

I’ve found them to be rock solid for presence detection by looking for our Android phones.

In our case, we’re in a third storey apartment with relatively thin drywall internal walls. The range is good enough to pick us up when we arrive home outside the building, so long as we approach from the side of the apartment where the dongle is. Whilst we’re both home, we never have an issue where it can no longer detect either of our phones.

The only thing that doesn’t work reliably is BLE. I don’t think it’s an issue with that particular device, but the BLE stack on HA isn’t the greatest at the moment. For instance, my log is currently full of BLEError during Bluetooth LE scan: Unexpected error when scanning: Set scan parameters failed: I/O error and will continue to be until I bounce the VM.

That being said, that’s a BLE issue only and even with those errors, standard device tracking using regular Bluetooth is fine.

3

Thanks for the info, I’ll order one and see how I go. I have a csr 4.0 lying around but couldn’t get that to work.

4

When I was looking for a suitable dongle here, I think I saw something that said avoid CSR and opt for one with a Broadcom chip instead. The Asus previously linked does indeed have a Broadcom chip. See:

5

Hi, what do you use as softyware/componennt?

6

I’m not sure I follow.

I use Hassio on a Ubuntu Server VM on an ESXi host. The Asus USB Bluetooth dongle is connected to the host and passed through to that VM as a USB device.

Ubuntu sees it and can use it without any driver installation, as can Hassio. I’ve just set up my configuration in HA as:

device_tracker:
  - platform: bluetooth_tracker
    interval_seconds: 10
    new_device_defaults:
      track_new_devices: false

…and Bluetooth devices are automatically appearing in my known_devices.yaml. I’ve then created a Person entity for each of us in the home and associated our discovered android phones to them. I’ve created a custom group for all_people and created some automations around what happens when that group goes home and not_home.

7

Just got my Asus bt400, plugged it in, rebooted and nothing :frowning: Not sure what else I need to do

8

Is the device visible within Ubuntu itself?

9

Got it working last night,I had too install firmware into /lib/firmware/brcm. Then it just worked after a reboot. :grin:. BTW I’m running Ubuntu desktop, maybe that’s why the driver wasnt there

10

Hmmmm, my Bluetooth tracking stopped working after a reboot. I managed to get it working again by dropping the on board adapter and the selecting the USB adapter.
hciconfig hci1 down
Bluetoothctl
Select x.x.x.x
Do I have to do this everytime I reboot?