Hey everyone, I’ve been diving into the world of smart gardening and IoT, and I wanted to share my experiences and challenges with integrating the ESP32 Bluetooth Proxy with my Gardena Smart System. While the setup worked initially, I’ve encountered some significant hurdles that I’m hoping the community can help me overcome.
First, I installed two ESP32 modules following Simon’s guide, connecting them to my two Gardena Bluetooth valves. The idea was to automate my watering system, but the Bluetooth range has been a major letdown. Despite the claimed 10-meter range, I’m struggling to maintain a stable connection even within a meter. This has been frustrating, especially when trying to automate the system without constant supervision.
The logs have been less than helpful, showing frequent disconnections and errors like hci cmd send: disconnect: hdl 0x0, rsn:0x13. It seems like the ESP32 modules are dropping connections randomly, which defeats the purpose of having an automated system. I’ve tried using different ESP32 boards, including the diymore NodeMCU modules, but the issue persists. I’m starting to wonder if the cheaper boards are the root of the problem or if there’s a configuration I’m missing.
On the Gardena side, while the app works perfectly for manual control, integrating it with my OpenHAB setup has been another challenge. The binding worked flawlessly for months, but recently, it stopped connecting. The system logs indicate it’s waiting until May 22 for an automatic reconnect attempt, but manually restarting the binding doesn’t resolve the issue. My three mowers are still operational via the app, but the lack of integration into my smart home ecosystem is a setback.
I’d love to hear from anyone who’s successfully integrated ESP32 Bluetooth Proxies with their Gardena systems, especially if you’re using higher-quality ESP32 boards. Any tips on improving Bluetooth stability or troubleshooting the Gardena binding would be greatly appreciated. Let’s see if we can crack this together!
Cheers,
Martin