I am beginning to think that if you can’t keep Bluethoot device really close to Homey, it isn’t worth buying. I have couple of Bluethoot temperature sensors (ruuvi) and Airthings wave plus and every one of those devices lose connection regularly and need to be uninstalled and reinstalled to get them to work. Airthings requires also removing the app itself.
However, each of these devices work flawlessly with their own android app, no connection problems.
Anybody else notice any problems with Homey Bluethoot conncetions? Any way to boost it?
Know issue, okay. I hope they find a solution and bridge could be used to extend bluethoot range in future. For me however, bluethoot devices are on not-to-buy list until this problem is solved.
On the side note, it would be helpful maybe to develop (adapt) the Bluetooth proxy setup that Home Assistant has, without having to invest into an Homey bridge : BLE proxy can be small and very cheap to deploy, and would make more sense than Homey bridge, given the short range of BLE (while zwave and zigbee will compensate with the mesh). Having a Homey software stack for BLE proxy that we can run on esp32 or RAPI would be great → @Doekse
I agree that this would be a great solution, but Athom is notoriously allergic to anything that is developed by, or for, Home Assistant (and yes, they created a Home Assistant app, but that only works for importing HA devices into Homey), and I don’t see them ever creating their own BLE proxy implementation.
I don’t know if it helps you but or maybe you’ve tried it.
A few weeks ago I bought the Xiaomi Flower Care Sensor to try it on my outdoor plants and paired it with the Homey Pro 2023. What I discovered was that the bluetooth range was very poor, that is, it didn’t work while the mobile worked perfectly from the same place.
I’ve tried to find something that amplifies or repeats the bluetooth signal but without success. Today I remembered that the power adapter for the Homey Pro has also been criticized for delivering too little power, so I changed the plug to a Samsung USB-C Fast charger and now there was no problem connecting to the sensor.. Now I’m going to order more sensors…
Now Homey Pro is inside a triple-glazed insulated window and the walls are wood and fiberglass insulation, it is a little over 4 meters to the sensor outside without a clear view (behind a hot tub).
Ok, thanks. 4 meter direct view is already too much for my Homey. 2 meters is about the max.
I checked the USB-C fast charging specs. I can’t find a reason why Homey should work on a higher voltage than 5.2 Volt and so support the PD3.0 standard.
Do you happen to know what the voltage is of your Samsung fast charger when connected to Homey? I have a USB measuring device: my original Homey charger gives 5.2 Volt.
Guess that’s not complete true, and probably can introduce problems for many users,
only the first Homey Pro Early 2023 is delivered with these adapters that resulted in Homey to underperform.
It is not the power to be delivered, Homey Pro doesn’t need that much. It is a to low voltage on the CM4 module in Homey Pro, probably by both voltage drop in the cables and the USB (-C) specification of just 5.0 volt. The NEW Athom provided Adapter for Homey Pro Early 2023 is tuned to provide ~ 5.2 Volt.
The “Fast charger” or other voltages on a generic USB-C adapters just doesn’t help als Homey doesn’t use the PD or QC portocol.
So please check Homey’s CPU for Undervoltage Alarms
The included power adapter delivers 5.2 volts and 11 watts, while Samsung delivers 5.2 volts and 25 watts.
I don’t know what adapters are delivered with Homey today, but it definitely helped me when I changed the adapter.
The Aqara presence sensor fp2 function also became better. In other words, my Homey has gone to its knees.
As long as the 5.2 Volt is stable and the current is below 2A, 11 watt is enough. Using a 25W adapter should not make any difference. I have no clue why it works better in your situation.
The only reason I can think of is distortion, caused by the original adapter (interference with 2.4 GHz signals, among Bluetooth and Zigbee and wifi).
Raspberry Pi recommends 3A = 15W for Raspberry Pi 4, same as in Homey Pro (2023). The more devices and sensors Homey will communicate with, the more it will draw… I haven’t checked the exact values… it worked with a 25w adapter and that’s enough for me.
Have now increased the distance to the plant to 5m and will get another sensor tonight and will put in a plant that is about 8m from the window where Homey is..
Have a Nice Weekend.
PS! 7,60m works fine from the window where Homey is behind.
