Hey everyone! I’ve been diving into the world of smart home automation lately, and I thought I’d share a project I’ve been working on. It’s all about using Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons for presence detection. I’ve got a Raspberry Pi set up with a Bluetooth dongle, and I’ve been experimenting with some open-source scripts to track my beacons around the house.
The setup is pretty cool. I’ve got a few beacons lying around, and I wanted a way to automatically detect when I’m home or not. I came across this script that uses the Maker API app on my Hubitat hub. For each beacon, I had to create a virtual presence device and set up the Maker API app with child instances for each beacon. It took a bit of tweaking, but it’s working like a charm now!
I’m using these AliExpress beacons, which are super affordable and work perfectly for my setup. The Raspberry Pi is running Raspbian Lite, and I followed the instructions from this Domoticz presence detection guide. I had to modify the script a bit to make it work with the Maker API, but it wasn’t too bad. The best part is that it covers my whole house when I place the Pi in the center of my living space, near my Hubitat hub.
Looking ahead, I have a few ideas to improve this setup. I’d love to test it on a Raspberry Pi Zero W for a more compact solution. I’m also thinking about implementing triangular positioning with multiple Pi units to get even more accurate location data. If anyone has experience with this or wants to collaborate, I’d love to hear from you!
It’s been a fun project, and I’m really excited about the possibilities it opens up for automating my home even further. I hope this helps someone else who’s looking to get into BLE beacons and presence detection. Happy hacking!