What is a recommended ESP32 product to easily link to a Home Assistant Green to provide Bluetooth coms

Support Product Questions
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I am a real novice and recently got a Home Assistant Green from Core E. I need to get reliable Bluetooth comms to primarily a Victron Smart Shunt but other devices will no doubt follow. It can be located real close to the HA Green and will be within 3 meters of the Victron S Shunt. The ESP32 could connect directly to the HA Green ( if that is possible or allowed) or to an Ethernet port on my network, or do I need to set up a wifi signal near by. What are the recommended parts/products/brands that I should get from Core E to do this.

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Hey Chris,

Welcome to the Forums!

You are absolutely on the right track there with a Bluetooth Proxy device. The recommendation would be to have it act over WIFI as the proxy instead of plugging it in as that will maintain a better capability in the Home assistant environment.

I would make the suggestion of using a Xiao ESP32S3 as it is tiny and more than capable with the external FPC antenna.

From there set up your BT Proxy and you should be good to go.

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Thanks Blayden,

So are you saying if packaged with an appropriate antenna ( they mention U.FL) you mentioned something else I think, that the ESP32 could detect and link to my existing wifi that is 30m away or do I have to get wifi closer, hence I mentioned Ethernet ( mind you if I have Ethernet it ain’t hard to add another Wifi point)

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Blayden, I guess I would need a usb power supply to power it, is it USB - A or USB -C and I guess I need some breadboard to mount it on, what else besides the antenna as it will be just hanging in a shed not far from the HA Green and the Victron Smart Shunt Bluetooth signal.

Once I have a simple list of kit I can get it on order.

Cheers

Chris

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Best way is to use an ESP32 as a Bluetooth proxy with ESPHome. It connects over WiFi to Home Assistant and handles all your Bluetooth devices reliably. Just place it near your SmartShunt and you’re good.

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Thanks Aarkriti,

Is there a particular ESP32 that you could recommend from your experience that would be real easy for me to set up, potentially with an additional antenna as currently my wifi unit is about 30 meters away through generally open space but within a shed. As you can see Blayden has already suggested a particular unit but I am open to consider others, particularly if they are proven with Home Assistant and simple to set up as I am a real novice at this.

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Hey there, @Chris315260,

I’d stick with the Seeed Studio XIAO ESP32S3 that @Blayden mentioned. They’re probably the best on the market for their price.

I will say however that 30m is far for WiFi. Even though WiFi can technically get to one hundred meters in ideal conditions, realistically, you’re going to need to be within a 10m direction of the source for consistent throughput. If you can get your a WAP closer than that you should be fine. Otherwise, if the device is not moving around particularly much, you could get by with a Cantenna.

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If you’re just getting started, I’d recommend going with a standard ESP32 DevKit or NodeMCU as they’re very easy to set up with ESPHome and integrate well with Home Assistant. Since your WiFi is about 30 meters away, it would be better to choose a model with an external antenna for more reliable connectivity. Something like an ESP32-WROOM-32U or an ESP32-S3 board with a U.FL connector would be a great option.