Zigbee & Wifi are both 2.4Ghz
868 and Z-wave are both 868Mhz
433 is 433Mhz
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Great thread this, I have been following for quite some time now. Iām want to extend my homey functionality with a fully automated micro irrigation system for my garden.
Beside temperature parameters, soil moisture is also a necessary parameter. As already tested, this can be achieved with xiaomi flora sensors. There is an app already available; so far so good. Unfortunately these sensors are Bluetooth based and the antenna reach of homeyā¦ well, you all know.
Now my question, does anyone know if besides a Z-wave / Zigbee antenna hack, there is also a Bluetooth hack possible? If so what type of antenna would be needed and were should this be connected on the motherboard?
The flora sensor uses BT 4.1 BLE and connects to the cloud. So i don;t think it connects to Homey by BT directly. But i might be wrong, so correct me ifā¦
I cannot install the flora app to test since Iām still on 1.5 and it requires 2.0.x to install, but from the applink: https://apps.athom.com/app/com.mi.flora it looks that the sensor is connecting to homey directly.
Also I have installed the mi flora app on my mobile and this works well when within BT range of the sensor. Once out of range it cannot connect is the message, hence leaves me thinking it needs a local BT signal to connect.
I stand correctedā¦ 
I can confirm this. There is a direct connection to the Homey. But the BLE implementation isnāt that great from what I understand from multiple app developers. They have to work with lotās of bugs and workarounds to get things working, but the most important thing and in regards to this thread the reception isnāt that great. I very much would like to know if this can be extended too.
Martijn, I think this should be THE thread to get some answers since other antenna hacks are already established.
From what I already learned is that BT uses an almost same band as WiFi does, somewhere in 2.4Ghz range.
I think WiFi and BLE use the same antenna (itās a combined module), so if you add a WiFi antenna you should also get an improved BLE range.
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I can confirm that. I connected a WiFi 2.4Ghz antenna and suddenly the range of my MiFlora sensor increased dramatically so I take that Bluetooth range increasedā¦
I have 2 flora sensors, and antenna mod in place. I can test tonight placing sensors into the garden and will report to you.
Great, please keep us informed.
So I would have to order 3 antennaās; Z-wave, Zigbee and WiFi. Does anyone have detailed for as to where the WiFi external antenna on the homey print?
Oopsā¦ not an easy accessā¦
Anyone having experience opening and connecting an external antenna there?
Undo the nuts from the heat sink, gently lift it up, remove the existing antenna (unplug the uFL) and plug the new one.
Simple as that.
Of course, mount back the heat sink.
(And say goodbye to Homeyās warranty if it still has one)
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Sorry my fault. I did only zigbee and zwave antena mod. I didnt need to do Wifi because Homey sits next to the router. Mi flora sensors, when placed outside in garden, cant be reached by Homey (without Wifi mod).
Thanks for the information. Iām going to order the antenna set and once all arrives give it a try. Warrantyā¦ I think that should be over by now; I have mine about 2.5 - 3 years now.
If all fails and I blow up my homey, it is time to get me a homey PRO 
By that time I have learned my lesson and ask someone else to do the antenna hack for me
Thanks for the addition. Since Bluetooth reaches about 10m (at optimum), does homey āliveā in your garden or is your garden at some kind of balcony?
Initial thoughts was to have mi flora sensors outside in garden. However it didnt reach my Homey inside the house cca 8 m inside behind 2 walls. So I moved sensors inside to room plants.
And still nobody is making a businnes out of this? I am interested but i am sure i will break my homey haha
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Hello guys,
Did some of you that did the antenna mod experienced that the complete zigbee network was going down before, and is stable after doing this mod?
I have tried everything to solve the issue where my whole zigbee network was going down every couple of hours, and only a ptp did resolve it for a couple of hours.
I reduced my zigbee devices to homey to only 15 devices.
I know about the zigbee rewrite but an employee of Athom was not sure if it had something to do with the software at that point in my case.
So Iām considering the modā¦ But I like to know what you experience isā¦ Is only the range better? Or also the stability. Or is a frequent restart still necessary to keep the zigbee network alive.
