I’m trying to decide between the Xiaomi BLE sensors and the Aqara zigbee ones. The BLE ones are half the price and also nice that you can visually see the measurements without a ‘client’. I’ve seen in other places that the update interval/frequency is quite long, like 15 minutes. I’d prefer more frequent updates.
Am I right in thinking that the ‘Measure interval’ config setting in the custom firmware can be used to reduce the default update interval? I’d like measurements every 2 or 3 minutes for example.
With a good bluetooth adapter / antenna the range of the BLE sensors is quite good. Mine go through three or four walls and about 10m.
My understanding is the BLE sensors send updates at set intervals or when the temperature changes. I have seven active Xiaomi sensors, looking at my dashboard now I can see four were updated within the last 30 seconds and the rest were updated in the range of 1-5 minutes. If the temperature in the room is stable then updates are less frequent.
I’m happy with these sensors, given the low cost and they seem to work well. If you put them all in the same place they will all measure the same temperature or very close together, they seem quite precise.
I’m getting nothing with the PVVX advertising out of all hardware revisions. If i switch to ATC i can see them in Passive BLE monitor. If i switch to BTHome i can see them in the BTHome integration or in Passive BLE monitor.
BUT, i’m only getting the custom name through BTHome integration with BTHome advertising so i think i’m gonna stick with this method.
I’m finding BTHome the best option at the moment as well. I’ve edited the first post to suggest that everyone use it. I still use Passive BLE Monitor, last time I checked the BTHome Integration was not showing all the information available - from memory signal strength was missing.
Thanks for all the useful information in this thread. I’ve just received a bunch of these devices and have just finished setting up my first one successfully!
I used the Telink flasher and tried flashing the 3.8 firmware with pvvx advertising method, but HA wouldn’t see the device, so I changed it to BTHome and HA discovered it as a BTHome device straight away. All 4 entities were there but reading unavailable until I restarted HA, and I now have all 4 readings. My hardware was reported as B2.0 when flashing. Not sure why others would be missing the signal strength in BTHome though, unless it’s to do with the HA environment. I’m running HA OS latest on my Intel NUC using the built in Bluetooth hardware. I expect I’ll need a USB BT adapter with antenna eventually though as the signal doesn’t reach my furthest away room, but I’ll experiment with the RF TX power first and see if increasing that works and isn’t too detrimental to battery longevity. Thanks @tomwaldnz
The built in BT integration seems to be improving. One of my sensors has appeared in BTHome as well, though I can’t see any data from it… not sure why. Since Passive BLE Monitor is working fine I’ll stick with that for now
Since I use the new method, with the Bluetooth integrated into HA, the updates are not as regular as before (the old method via HACS), sometimes nothing for hours, it’s horrible.
Anyone have this problem too? (since the BT is integrated into HA, I’ve done all the updates for weeks and nothing)
I have the same problem with my two LYWSD03MMC. I use a Raspberry Pi 4 with BT integred.
I have one sensor using the BTHome integration, rather than the Passive BLE Monitor. I just checked it and I’m getting updates every 5 minutes, which is about what I configured in the sensor. I’m using HA 2022.11.4 - I tend to stay a month behind as that way it seems more stable.
Is it in a location with a stable temperature? The hardware doesn’t send updates if the temperature doesn’t change. Have you set the update period longer? Other than that I’m not sure.
I got a Bluetooth proxy… it was basically useless. It didn’t seem extend range at all. Instead I got a Bluetooth adapter with an antenna, which extends range well. The proxies might work in some circumstances, but you’d really want one with an external antenna.
That’s reassuring - I’m waiting on a usb bluetooth dongle with aerial to arrive. I wondered if I should have tried the proxy route instead as I have some esp boards lying around, but sounds like I’ve done the right thing.
My Intel NUC has built in BT and I’ve flashed and paired 6 of these Xiaomi thermometers fine, however sbiut 1 metre outside of the room that my NUC is in, the devices broadcasts aren’t able to be picked up, even setting the RF Tx to +3dBm. Hopefully the dongle will solve this
Mine are fine through for walls up to about 10m, or in a fridge through three walls. The aerial on the USB adapter helps a lot. It took a fair bit of work to get going though
That sort of range should be fine to cover all of my devices - possibly even the garage too. I’ve just read through your post about setting up the ZEXMTE adapter which is also the one I have ordered.
I’ll follow the info in that post, and hopefully disabling the internal BT should be easier as I can do this from the BIOS.
If there’s differences with the NYC please post on that thread, I’ll link to your post from your first post. I suspect it will be simpler if you’re using Windows, drivers should be automatic.
I finding connecting to sensors to reflash them using TelinkMiFlasher unreliable / flakey / hit and miss. Tried android,Windows and two different browsers. I will next take sensor outside to see if a less noisy environment helps. Any suggestions?
Also, I understand the signal strength options, but what does the LowPower mode option do?
Flashing them is a little bit unreliable for me, but it usually just takes 1-2 times to connect and flash a sensor. I have Bluetooth on my main PC but I find my Android Pixel 4a works best, so long as it’s close to the sensor.
I don’t know what Low Power mode does, I did a bit of a search but nothing clear came up. If you search for “pvvx low power” you might find something.
