The crew at Home Assistant and ESPHome have done it again! As of the 2022.9 release of Home Assistant you no longer need a USB adapter tied to the system. All the issues of USB drivers, passthrough, etc with the various install types are gone! Small and cheap ESP32 Nodemcus and other ESP32 devices become Bluetooth gateways for Home Assistant to use. YES! you can use multiple proxies if you live in a McMansion to pick up all of the Bluetooth temperature sensors, freezer sensors, and more.
Purchase: ESP32 NodeMCU or ESP32 POE Ethernet or ESP32 M5Stack
digiblurDIY How To Video
How To
Make sure Home Assistant is upgraded to 2022.9 or later.
Connect the ESP32 to the computer and visit the ESPHome Blueooth Proxy Install Site via a Chrome Browser
If you are using a regular NodeMCU ESP32 select generic otherwise select the other type(s).
Wait for the install to complete, enter your WiFi credentials, and wait for the connected to network message.
Open Home Assistant and add the ESPHome Node to the system. Auto discovery will start to populate as the sensors are scanned in.
Freezer Sensor Entities
Existing ESPHome ESP32 Devices
If you have an existing ESP32 based device and want to enable Bluetooth Proxy add the following YAML code to the device. NOTE: API must be enabled for the device.
esp32_ble_tracker:
scan_parameters:
# Adjust timing if the defaults do not work in your environment
# interval: 1100ms
# window: 1100ms
active: true
bluetooth_proxy:
active: true