Zigbee & Bluetooth Dongle antenna replacements

I have a ZEXMTE 5.4 USB Bluetooth Adapter and a SONOFF Zigbee dongle which both work great except my rather large house needs better range. I have my system located as best as possible and seperated my antenna’s with USB dock extenders but occasionally some of the distant devices would disconnect/reconnect repeatedly and some others slow to respond even with repeaters in the system.

I picked up a pair of these 8dBi high gain replacement antenna’s and it was enough difference to tighten up both Bluetooth and Zigbee networks. Not a ton of difference but enough to really stabilize things. For $9 a pair I figured it was worth a try and it was. Your mileage may vary but for me it was a winner.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BZY4HRFJ?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1

Hi @MarVin ,

Great idea for these antennas!

Would you mind sharing your ZEXMTE 5.4 bluetooth dongle model and/or link? Still having a great experience with it?

I’d like to buy one but there’s no much info/reports on Bluetooth 5.4 experiences with HA.

Thank you!

Sure I’m using the one at the link below. As stated the antenna’s weren’t a huge improvement for me but were enough to really stabilize everything I had a couple Zigbee devices that would drop occasionally as well as a couple Bluetooth devices and they have not dropped once since the change. The BT adapter was recognized immediately by HA.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09NVPTS6J?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title

Does it work on HAOS (Linux)? It looks like Linux isn’t supported by the manufacturer.

Most likely but you have to try…

How did you get the ZEXMTE 5.4 USB Bluetooth Adapter to work with Home Assistant? It is not working for me.

Thanks

I just plugged it in and the system found it immediately. Hard to say what your issue is without more information about your setup. I’m running my system on an Intel NUC as a Generic x86-64 with Home Assistant Operating System. If you are running something else you will need to follow those guides for compatibility and how to install.

Thanks for the reply. I am using Oracle VirtualBox and forgot to enable the USB device in there. LOL. So that is why my VM did not work with the ZEXMTE 5.4. I set it up in the USB section and now it is working.