I’m running a really simple PY script on my Synology NAS that stores temperature, humidity, etc. .
To read my tags I installed a Bluetooth USB Adapter (ASUS Bluetooth 4.0 - USB-BT400).
I’ve 3 tags placed in 3 different places of my apartment.
2 out of 3 tags are well visible by my script, the third one is not consistently visible (99% not visible).
The visible tags are really close to the NAS, the third one is ~15 meters away (behind 3 walls).
I must say that using smartphones I can see the 3 tags with no issues from any point of the apartment.
How can I improve tags range? Is it using a different USB bluetooth adapter?
For background I add more details.
I tried different ways of connecting to the tags, all with the same result.
Currently using:
from ruuvitag_sensor.ruuvi import RuuviTagSensor
timeout_in_sec = 60
datas = RuuviTagSensor.get_data_for_sensors(device, timeout_in_sec)
As you’re seeing the tags with a smartphone, my guess would be that the USB adapter has poor reception. You could try getting USB-extension cable for the adapter to get it further away from the NAS, or you could try a different brand USB adapter. I don’t know any USB adapter which would have a great range though.
I confirm that using a cable extender improved the situation, when the USB bluetooth adapter was directly plugged at the back of the NAS it wasn’t able to find any tag.
I also found out that moving the cable slightly improved the situation.
I’ll look into a USB bluetooth adapter with a wider range, would be good to get suggestions from other users of the forum that found a good solution.
There has been discussion on Slack about the receiver range and based on observations from a couple of users, the Asus USB-BT400 has a terrible antenna. While the built-in bluetooth on a Raspberry Pi 3 is not “the best” either, even that is much better than the BT400. Of course if you intend to use your NAS for reading the tags, a Raspberry Pi is not that optimal choice…
Knowing that “the Asus USB-BT400 has a terrible antenna”, or at least is not within the avg out there, it means that I should look for a better bluetooth adapter.
Definitely, if you have signal strength related issues that you can’t solve by relocating the adapter. Though that’s all the “terrible” there is about the antenna, if the signal strength is strong enough, the BT400 works really well compared to “any average cheap dongle”.
I have been planning a bit similar setup with the same hardware than you. I have Synology 216j up and running and planning to buy few ruuvi tags, from which I would like to get the data stored to my NAS. Best option to view the data is to use some open source sw like Domoticz, Home Automation or OpenHab. Not sure which suits best to my needs. Also the best possible Bluetooth USB adapter is not very clear. I have two floor apartment, luckily wooden one. One tag per floor and one outside,
You have used Bluetooth USB adapter in your NAS. What’s your current setup or are you still happy with the current one. How do you visualize and store the data you are getting in?
Any hints and tips are more than welcome from others also.