Hi everyone, I wanted to share a fun project I’ve been working on to control my outdoor lighting using Bluetooth presence detection. I’ve been using Home Assistant with a Shelly Plus 1 PM for a while now, and it’s been working great for scheduling and automation. However, I noticed that the presence detection based on my smartphone’s Wi-Fi connection wasn’t as reliable as I hoped. This was especially frustrating when I’d come home late and the lights wouldn’t turn on in time.
Recently, I got a Nuki Smart Lock, and I was impressed by how it notify my phone even when I was still a good distance away from the house. That got me thinking—why not use Bluetooth for presence detection instead of Wi-Fi? Bluetooth seemed like a more reliable option, especially since my phone is always with me and doesn’t rely on the sometimes spotty Wi-Fi connection in my driveway.
I did a bit of research and found that Home Assistant supports Bluetooth scanning through integrations like BlueMaestro or even native integrations if you have a compatible device. Since I’m running Home Assistant as a Docker container on my Synology NAS, I wasn’t sure how feasible it would be to connect a Bluetooth dongle directly. But I discovered that BlueMaestro offers a cloud-based service that can detect Bluetooth devices and send events to Home Assistant via Webhooks. This was perfect because it meant I didn’t have to add any extra hardware to my NAS.
Setting it up was a breeze. I just needed to create an account with BlueMaestro, add my phone’s Bluetooth MAC address to the service, and configure a webhook in Home Assistant to trigger the Shelly switch when I was detected. Now, as I pull into the driveway, the lights turn on automatically, and I don’t have to fumble with my keys in the dark.
This project has been a great way to integrate my existing smart devices and find a more reliable solution for outdoor lighting. It’s also been a fun way to explore the different integrations available in Home Assistant. I’d love to hear if anyone else has tried something similar or has tips for improving this setup!