Why do not see all BT adapters as gateway in HA?

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1

Hi, I have multiple Shelly devices (e.g. ShellyPlug-Gen 3 the ShellyBLUgateway or ShellyPlus1PM) all offering BLE gateway capabilities.

In the Shelly devices BT gateway function and WIFI are enabled.
Access point, range extender, websocket, RPC and MQTT disabled.

When I go in HA to my Bluetooth adapter overview, I only see 3 adapters, on 2 are Shelly. Why do I not all see all Selly devices as gateway?
And how can I fix this?

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Note that several Shelly devices report a poor Wifi signal while I have 5 Unifi Access points installed around the house so I would expect the WIFI coverage is fairly good. This I find also strange.

Thanks for tips!

2

IoT devices have generally a poor implementation of the WiFi roaming functionality. ESPHome was no exception until around the last few versions.

This poor implementation make the device connect to the first AP it sees and stay on that one even though better APs announce themself later.

3

In such cases you can probably bind the device to one AP in the router

4

It will still try to connect to the first one that broadcast its SSID and try to stay on that one.

The bind in the he router mainly works with devices where roaming functionality works.

5

Thanks, any tips wrt the Bluetooth issue?

6

Make sure the firmware is up to date on the devices and hope they take the right AP first.
If they do not take the right AP, then restart the device and try again.

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7

Sometimes it can help, bringing the device to the AP , and reset/restart … then …back of to final destination :joy:
Im glad i don’t have “hidden cams” here :rofl:

Edit: Or im just “imagining”, tossing around with bluetooth/zigbee device , to locate “stable” positions

8

The problem is that APs announce their presence with an interval and you do not know which one is the next one, so even though you are standing next to the one you want to connect to it might still choose the furthest away, because it just announced first.
It is not therefore not really important to stand next to the AP.
What would work would be standing in a spot that only the AP you want it to connect can reach.

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9

Have you also enabled it on the HA side for each (the settings cog for the device in the Shelly integration)? I believe it defaults to disabled.

10

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Correct you need to enable passive scanning in the Shelly Integration.
Click on the wheel, and a pop-up opens to select it. Thanks!!