Which Bluetooth adapter can I buy that actually works?

Hardware
1

I’m running HAOS on a VirtualBox VM in Windows on a NUC. As I learned you can’t pass the integrated Bluetooth to the virtual machine so I bought a Bluetooth adapter. The adapter works in windows but when I pass the USB device to the VM I just get errors. I looked it up on Google but all I can find is years old issues on GitHub that all where closed and no fix.

I’m done with my patience. I just want to connect Bluetooth devices to HA. Can someone with a similar setup recommend me the exact hardware they are using? It only has to be available on Amazon Germany.

2

BLE devices?

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3

Maybe I misunderstand but this is the software side of BT integration, right? I’m looking for the hardware side. Can’t integrate Bluetooth if I don’t have Bluetooth, no?

4

You use cheap ESP32s as the hardware. What devices are you trying to integrate?

5

Out of curiosity, are you using your NUC just for HA? or are you running other stuff on it?

6

It’s also running other stuff.

Currently two LED strips and some Govee Thermometers. But I don’t see how the devices are the issue if I’m already stuck at making BT available in HA.

7

I asked because the Bluetooth proxy only supports BLE (as far as I know). Seems the Govee thermometers work with this, since you don’t want to say what the LED-strips are I am sure you can google those yourself.

8

I didn’t say what the LED strips are because I don’t know. They are just some cheap strips from Amazon.

So if I get it right the Bluetooth proxy is a small device that connects to Bluetooth devices and connects them to HA via WiFi?

Would I just need something like this, hook it to some power source via USB-C and then I can add BLE devices to HA?

9

Yes to both. I prefer these since they look a bit nicer and don’t have exposed pins, but both will work just fine. You can find them on other websites too. Buy multiple so you don’t get gaps in the coverage (for comparison I use 5 for 3 floors).

10

I tried to find one with some kind of case but all I could find was bare chips or it was 6 times the price. Guess I’ll go with the ones you linked. But that one only mentions IR and WiFi, can’t see anything about BT on the product page. Can I assume an ESP32 always has BT connectivity?

11

Most of them have, the ones you linked earlier (ESP32 WROOM) have BLE support. If you end up with looking at something else just google the specs and remember that the older ESP8266 do not have BLE.

12

I bought an Avantree DG45 off Amazon UK that I pass through to my HA VM running on Proxmox. Like you I struggled to find one is HA compatible but the DG45 worked for me. I have several BLE proxies but needed the full stack for something.

13

This is how lazy I am. No case at all.

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It’s a bit of a waste of an ESP32 for it to be just a BLE proxy, so I use the onboard RGB LED as a motion activated light (motion detector elsewhere).

14

The right answer was already provided, as those are faster and can be deployed closer to the needed device location, but answering your original question:

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15

You can’t pass a device to the VM if Windows has installed drivers for it. It’s captured by Windows. Have you confirmed that’s not the problem?

16

I found multiple closed issues on GitHub about the exact error I get. The oldest are 3 years old. They all have multiple answers from people with the same issue and no solution. They all were closed after 6 months of inactivity with a fix. I guess it’s safe to say that problem can’t be solved.

17

I just set up one of the Atom Lites, it was much easier than I thought. The thermometers and the two led strips are working now. Thanks again.

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