Passive BLE Monitor integration

Share your Projects! Custom Integrations
405

@Ernst Submitted Log info to github issues page If it is totally wrong info let me know and will try again

406

What a great integration! Works so well with so many devices! thanks @Ernst for doing this.

407

I went to Amazon to buy the Switchbot THS1 and saw they have a new one with a larger and higher contrast display for only a few dollars more. Iā€™d be happy to buy a W2301500 in the interest of science and contribute logs to get it added to the supported device list.

408

Yes, sure. If you provide the logs, I will add it, if possible

409

Just want to say what a fantastic addition to HA this is - personally most of my home automation would be significantly worse and more difficult to do without it. Thanks to @Ernst for his commitment and engagement when there are issues and Iā€™d encourage anyone who uses this component to sponsor him on Github. Sponsor @Ernst79 on GitHub Sponsors Ā· GitHub :clap:

410

@baz123 Thanks for the kind words!

:tada: Today, I have released 8.1.0, with some big changes for the DIY-ers, who want to make their own BLE sensors. But also some other improvements and new supported sensors of course. :tada:

Changes in 8.1.0

New improved HA BLE format
This release brings a totally new HA BLE format. We have created a BLE advertisement format that you can use for your DIY sensors. The main advantages of the new format:

  • Developed by the makers of BLE monitor, so fully supported
  • Flexible format (choose your own number of digits, data size)
  • Supports encryption (if you want)
  • Energy efficient. We tried to make a format that is as short as possible, to reduce energy consumption, but at the same time to be as flexible as possible
  • Support for a wide range of sensor types (and others can be added easily)
  • Sensors will be automatically added in HA, based on the measurement you send.

More info about the format can be found here

Thanks for @pvvx for his suggestions on how to improve the HA BLE format. ATC firmware 3.7(b) has added support for HA BLE format in the sensors that support ATC firmware.

New sensors

  • Add Sensirion SHT4x
  • Add Inkbird P01R pool thermometer

Bug fixes

  • Fix for negative temperatures reported by b-parasites and v2 support (by @jhbruhn)
  • Improve Mi Scale V2 behavior
    • Added weight as an attribute to the weight removed binary sensor
    • Set impedance attribute of non-stabilized weight sensor to unavailable if not in data
  • Fix for TypeError in motion sensors
  • Fix for iBBQ sensors not reporting temperatures above 100Ā°C
1 Like
411

To add, the scale used to report the stabilized weight before the impedance. Now it will only report both once the full cycle has completed (white lines stop flashing) and the impedance and weight sensors update almost simultaneously.

412

Thanks for adding support for the Switchbot TH Plus. Unfortunately, the device doesnā€™t show up in HA. I removed the device I had manually added for debug using its MAC address and am wondering if that is the source of the problem.

413

First of all, thank you @Ernst for all your hard work and dedication! Passive BLE monitor is definitely one of my favorite add-ons in HA!

I noticed that it is missing a key feature, which would be very beneficial to users - an **expire_after** timer! This way you can tell if a sensor is offline, or hasnā€™t been updated in a long time.

Hereā€™s my use case:
Over the past few days, Iā€™ve been adding a few Govee temperature sensors to the mix. I was able to add them fine, but a few days later the batteries died due to old age. I didnā€™t realize the issue, however, as Passive BLE monitor kept showing the last value.

In my MQTT devices, i get around this by using the expire_after field, which sets the sensor to ā€œUnavailableā€ after a set period of time.

It would be great to be able to do this for devices using BLE monitor as well. Iā€™m not sure if this is an easy fix, or something more complex. But IMO, this would be a very valuable addition - especially to identify faulty or dead devices (in my case, a Thermometer).

If there is already a way to set an expiration / timeout for sensors, Iā€™d appreciate it if anybody could point me to the right direction.

Cheers!

2 Likes
414

There is a similar request on github. Iā€™ll try to add this in the future, but will take some time.

415

Thanks for the heads up. Looking forward to getting this new feature integrated!

1 Like
416

With the H5183 does it support the two probe unit?

Could the H5184 be supported if the data from it was provided?

417

The H5183 currently only supports the probe temperature and the alarm temperature. But if you send me some BLE advertisements I can check if a second probe is also included in the data.

The H5184 is not supported yet, but if someone sends me the BLE advertisements, Iā€™m sure it can be added.

BLE advertisements can be collected in Home Assistant, see for instructions the page below.

1 Like
418

Thank you for your quick reply. The single probe H5183 is on sale for $10 right now so just went with that one as a test. If it works for what I need, Iā€™ll try the dual probe or the H5184 and send that data.

419

anyone know if it would work with inkbirdā€™s IBS-P01B ?

420

Only the IBS-P01R is supported, but it is likely that we can add support for the IBS-P01B as well, if you send me the BLE advertisements. See the link two post above how you can get these.

421

I bought an Inkbird IBS-P01R based on the Passive BLE Monitor supported devices list, but just found out that itā€™s a 433 MHz device, not Bluetooth. Could someone point me to a document or FAQ that describes how to get the IBS-P01R working with Passive BLE Monitor?

422

In this issue this device is discussed. It was using the same format as the IBS-TH2. I saw you also asked the same question on github, lets see if @randrcomputers can shine a light on this.

Edit: In the next release, I will rename the Inkbird IBS-P01R to IBS-P01B

423

I have noticed an issue for a few versions now. Iā€™ve just tried deleting all affected instance and rebooting, but the issue persists.

It applies to BLE devices being tracked. I can apply a name to the device, but after a reboot, that name is replaced by the deviceā€™s mac address in uppercase with the colons removed. The entities themselves are unaffected, as are all other devices.

This didnā€™t used to be a problem but something thatā€™s persisted since a few versions now.

Is there anything I can do to help debug this?

424

Please create an issue on github with this bug. I will look into it.