I have a universal IR +BT programmable remote command I want to use to trigger actions on home assistant, like I do with IR commands I have the bluetooth integration added on HA, but I have no idea how to pair the BT remote to HA and how capture the BT commands to trigger actions… can somebody point me in the right direction?
Thanks
Ok, I see it’s supposed to be auto discovered, but isn’t the case. It’s a Sofabaton U2. I’ll keep searching
I think HA only natively supports Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) devices. Many of those remote controls aren’t BLE devices, so they won’t show up in HA. You might look at this:
It looks like it might help you pair a regular Bluetooth remote so you can use it to trigger events.
If I can’t use the BT integration of HA directly, could I use the bluetooth ability of an ESP32 to receive the BT commands send from the sofabaton remote, and trigger the actions based on ESP messages to HA? I am a little confused…
I went down that road, and the short answer is “not really.” I found someone who had done a bluetooth remote thing for ESPHome, but it also only worked with BLE remotes. I ended up using one of those remotes that has a USB dongle (basically it reports as a keyboard). That’s not going to help you with the Sofabaton though.
Most use the Emulated Roku integration to provide a synthetic Roku that can receive emulated key press events then you automate based on that
Then you make the Sofa baton integrate your ‘Roku’
Thanks for the answer, it’s a great idea, but I can’t find any Roku device that can be controlled by bluetooth in the sofabaton devices list. I created an emulated Roku integration in Home assistant, but I can’t imagine how to pair the Sofabaton remote command to this integration…
At least with the x1- you paired it as a wifi device. Admittedly it’s been a while. (year or more) So things may have changed.
I’m actively using one of the wireless remotes with USB dongle that simulates a keyboard but I ordered one of the U1 sofabaton remotes too because they are less then $30 new ($35 and 20% coupon) right now on Amazon.
My plan is to try it with an ESP32. I know PS3 controllers can connect to an ESP32 so I figure it should work. I guess we’ll see if I have any luck. I’ve been obsessed with DIY hacked remotes. I even replaced the IR transmitter with an RF module in one universal remote.
EDIT: Different ESP32 support different BT types. Only the original supports BT Classic if that’s what the Sofabaton uses instead of BLE. I think I have a few compatible ESP32(ESP32-DOWD-V3). If not I might try a PI ZeroW instead.
EDIT2:
It seems the SofaBaton U1 universal remote uses Bluetooth 4.0. I don’t see the U2 specification.
EDIT3:
It was very easy to pair the Sofabaton U1 directly to HAOS. I think the problem people are having is they don’t know how to find the info. HAOS is Linux. I just searched for CLI Linux pair keyboard to get the instructions. I’ll put them here in brief.
Put your Sofatbaton into BT Keyboard pairing mode.
Go into HA terminal then use the following commands.
bluetoothctl
scan on
Then find the sofatbaton and pair it by typing the following command and the BT MAC address of your remote. I’ll use “00:00:00:00:00:00” as an example but you will need to use the MAC of your remote.
pair 00:00:00:00:00:00
Now use the exit command to get out of Bluetooth scanning and pairing mode.
exit
See other setup instructions. It seems to be working just fine for me but I still may do the ESP thing just to place the Bluetooth receiver in a better spot and increase the range. That or I may put an external Bluetooth dongle on my HA box.
I got mine paired directly to HA and it’s working.