Bluetooth Integrations

I was looking at the new lock thats on sale...but its blue tooth.
Its level lock. They put the actuation mechanisms all in the interior of the lock set so no obtrusive bit on the door.

I checked with the company a few months back and there are no immediate plans to convert to zigbee or wave.

This question isn't really about the lock but more about but bluetooth integrations.
Are there any devices available that could be connected through HE that communicates to blue tooth devices? I did see another post on Level Lock but no definitive answers.

Pretty certain this is a lot simpler to ask vs engineer!

Cheers
Mac

I expect you will need some third-party / external setup to HE to integrate via Bluetooth. E.g. raspberry pi, etc. i don't believe there is any Bluetooth connectivity with the HE hub.

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Interesting. Sadly i don't have the competence to program a Raspberry Pi
Sounds like a great native integration of there was enough demand.
Hopefully in the future
Cheers

Yep, the only thing I've played with is the Tile Mate integration or sorts for presence, but that doesn't rely on complex comm's with my rpi, only that it attempts to connect with the BLE USB dongle.... Other comm's I expect require more programming on the rpi side.... Not to say it's not possible....

If the Hubitat team wanted to could a BLE dongle be made to plug into the HE too give compatibilities.

My inclination and understanding is no, but I don't get paid to make those declarations... :slight_smile: There are others that know better than me.... @bobbyD...?

There is a round about way of doing this, if you have Apple devices (Apple TV, HomePod, iPad). Since the Level locks are HomeKit compatible, you could set them up there and integrate them back into HE via Homebridge (https://homebridge.io). You would need to install Homebridge on a RPi or Windows PC or Mac to act as the gateway to Hubitat.

The amazing thing about the Homebridge integration is that with this integration and an IPAD you could press a button to turn on a switch (which sends a command to the RPI and then to Hubitat), and it works so fast that you would swear that the device is connected locally to the IPAD.

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On the subject of blue tooth integration, I would like to pose the question, (as suggested by @jnosa899 ), to @gopher.ny :slight_smile:
Just like you added the capability for a wifi dongle, would it be possible to add the capability (drivers, etc) for a blue tooth dongle?
Please excuse my ignorance for not understanding how easy or difficult it would be to implement such a new (and exciting) capability.

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I don't know why not, but there may not be enough demand from customers, nor a large enough team to implement this feature. The Wifi dongle via USB was thought to be impossible too, and it happened a while back.

In theory, this could allow things like a Matter radio, Bluetooth, RF, or any new protocols to get integrated to Hubitat.

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Appreciate the feedback. Sadly - that sounds outs my league. I love the native apps and integrations though!

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I hadn't looked at what was available for Bluetooth, and there are quite a few things.

  • GE Cync plugs and bulbs
  • Various door locks
  • Various smart plugs
  • Certain Sengled bulbs
  • Various LED strip lights
  • Various recessed and/or puck lights
  • Wemo buttons
  • Switchbot button, pusher, and other devices

There are more, but I was surprised about how many and what brands are available. So maybe this is a good thing to integrate as some of these devices aren't available in other protocols or are fairly common to find in Bluetooth.

I imagine that there would be a fee for Hubitat to use the Bluetooth stack, and that may be a holdup depending upon cost.

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It also appears that many of the best priced devices are trending towards Bluetooth. I however am not sure if BLE and Bluetooth mesh are the same thing. Also not sure if much effort should be put in with matter around the corner (maybe). I'm guessing Bluetooth devices, like ZigBee may or may not work without the vendors own hub and if that's the case it's likely a waste of time and effort.

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One problem with BT is distance. A lot of devices will need to be line of site or within a certain footage. What about everyone who has their hubs in closets, basements, etc... Not ideal. Now if you had a z-wave/zigbee to bt converter that would be a more ideal setup than a dongle...

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Now that would be fantastic if they would do this. But I don't see it happening. There are some weird gaps in devices that Zigbee and Zwave have, and this is one.

I know it’s probably not ideal but if some type of lan or wifi to blue tooth existed a person could get a “repeater” close to their BT devices.
Too bad there are so many people making BT devices!
Food for thought.
Cheers.
Mac

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There are many WiFi-BT bridges around. But the problem is - near all of them
don't have published API.

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Something like this?

https://a.co/d/agIuoV4

If the link works.
Wifi blue tooth bridge for locks.

Mac.

Sorta, but that is wifi, and cloud based. Being cloud based is the biggest strike against that device, hence the desire for a Zigbee or Zwave version of that.

This is their picture of how you would unlock a door, and I don't see any sign there is a local integration.

515lkoWhG+L.AC_SX466

Heck no. Especially for something like a lick that you want to be local!
Cheers