After some extensive testing I can confirm that the Bluetooth range is greatly reduced if one is utilising an SSD drive via a USB3 to SATA adapter on the Pi 4.
I’m using bluetooth for the device tracker function and the bluetooth performs adequately on a Rpi3 B+ with the software running on a microSD card. But the same configuration (albeit with Raspbian instead of HassOS) on the Rpi4 4Gb with a USB3 SSD drive and adapter and booting from the microSD card results in a much reduced bluetooth range.
If the SSD is instead attached to the USB2 interface, the bluetooth range is comparable to the Rpi3. Following comments found on the Rpi forums, I have tried connecting the SSD drive via a 2 metre good quality extension cable but the result was basically the same.
Has anyone else here seen this problem and if so is there any workaround as I would really like to move my HA onto the Rpi4 with the SSD on USB3 to gain the best overall performance benefits? I have not yet received any reply on the Rpi forums.
I can confirm that I am seeing pretty much the same issue. I have a BT OBD2 adaptor on my car and when the car is on the drive I always picked it up fine when running my P3b+ but since moving over to a Pi4 I find this is very intermittent - sometimes it can work really well but other times I can see it bouncing back and forth from home to away.
I am waiting for an ESP32 to arrive from China with the hope that I can use the BT capabilities on that to track my car better.
Same issue as you. Only difference, I noticed it with the mi-bt integration. My thermometer is out of reach even though it hasn’t moved between my install on the SD and on the SSD.
I think that this is the same problem you have with a Mac or a PC. USB 3 is using frequencies in the 2,4GHz range where also Bluetooth and WIFI are living.
If you are using bad USB 3 cables or USB 3 enclosures they are destroying Bluetooth and WIFI. But also if the signals inside the computer are badly shielded they influence each other.
This is a problem since the beginning of USB 3. You will find many articles about this in the net.
Thanks for the replies. I did some more reading up on the matter and agree that USB3 really is an issue for devices in the 2.4Ghz band. Its a phenomenon that I was not aware of so thanks for the heads up.
I’ve now moved to using the Nmap tracker instead and happy with the performance that gives us.
I have the same issue as you described. Am I right that you use nmap as device tracker for now?
I have tried to do the same with my android smart phone instead of Bluetooth but unfortunately after some time nmap says that corresponding IP is down cause Android switch WiFi into suspend mode.
It is interesting how did you resolve this issue?
Apologies for not replying to this as I only just noticed there was a reply from yourself
I was using nmap at the time but had to play with the settings to get it to be reasonably reliable. I have though since migrated the whole thing off a Raspberry pi to an Intel NUC using the router integration for tracking and its totally reliable now.
I have the same problem with my “Raspberry Pi 4 B”.
If I use an HDD on the usb 3.0, the Raspberry lost the the signal of the govee hygrometer.
The problem not appen if i use the usb2
Same for me. As in my experience Laptops etc. do not have such problems in my opinioin it seems like a Raspi4 design issue.
Really bad as I have no a cable a the nice argon case.
No it appears it is an issue caused by interference from using USB3.0 devices and the Bluetooth adapter so no possibility of a solution. Personally I’ve found using the device tracker function for presence detection works perfectly though I am using that via a FritzBox router.
Same issue here, RPi 4b, HA 2022.4.4. Flic buttons over bluetooth using the flicd integration, all OK on SD card but virtually no range when booting from SSD.
Hello, I have the same problem, although the ssd is connected to usb2, I have lost some bluetooth sensors.
I have tried tinfoil on the SSD to block the waves without success.
Anybody have an idea?
Late to the party, but echoing Carsten/Paul above: For anyone coming to this thread, maybe this would help you understand the situation. It’s a white paper from Intel, on USB.org website.
USB 3.0 Radio Frequency Interference Impact on 2.4 GHz Wireless Devices
So USB 3.0, especially when in use, would interfere with 2.4GHz wireless… For us home automation users, that means (non 5GHz) wi-fi, Bluetooth, and Zigbee, and the (up-coming) Matter over Thread.
… which also explains why an extension cable and/or a USB 2 external hub would help.
