What would be the best approach to connect an Arduino with BT LE to Home Assistant?

Hi,

I’m developing a heating controller for my home. I’m using arduino to drive a temp sensor and control a relais, which turns on/off the heating in a specific room. The code for the controller is here: https://github.com/otmezger/smartThermostat

The idea now is to use a BT LE module to communicate to the RPi. I’m relatively new to Home Assistant, and was wondering what would be the best way to connect my smart thermostat to home assistant? Is there a specific protocol that I should implement on the Arduino to make things easier?

thanks for suggestions!

Why bt-le? Far easier to use ip networking and mqtt. In fact easier to use an esp8266 which is cheaper, has networking built in and has development tools that connect directly to ha’s infrastructure.

I don’t want to run my RPi with wifi. One of the reasons is that the arduino is running on AA batteries, and BT LE will help me save energy vs. wifi. I also can’t wire LAN cables for every thermostat.

No-one suggested running your pi on wifi. However I agree wifi is probably not the solution on batteries.

Googling does reveal some bluetooth to mqtt projects on github and various maker sites. You may get some inspiration there.

sorry, I meant of course the arduinos on wifi… the RPi does not matter, as it is safely stored beneath the router and has a good power source :slight_smile:

Thanks for the idea. I will investigate bluetooth to mqtt.

MQTT is the lingua franca of home automation. If you can get your device speaking MQTT you are 95% or more there.

Another low power method though involves radio. If you look at openhardware.org and mysensors.org you will see many projects. There is mysensors support in ha. I have never implemented any of their solutions but they are very low power focused.

1 Like

Thanks, I’ve decided to switch the arduino to a huzzah feather with wifi. now it can talk mqtt and is connected easily to home assistant.