Setting up BLE

[Richel]

Michael asked that I post my issue on this forum. I am trying to get the Beacon function to work with my hardware (TrendNet receiver and Feasy Beacon). I think there may be an issue with the plugin, rather than the hardware, because what I see is not what is in the manual (12.6.1). In the manual the upper left (IP Relay Daiken, etc) shows "Beacon" instead of "BLE/IR/RF." Additionally, when I select BLE/IR/RF, I scroll to the bottom to find "BLE Beacon" (Middle screen clip). I select radio button, change the timeout. Then to access the association table, I have to leave the plugin and go back in. The association table shows no beacon. Returning to the BLE/IR/RF part, none of the changes have stuck. It is as though there should be a save button, which is not shown anywhere on the page. I uninstalled the plugin, deleted all mcsMQTT files, re-installed the plugin and got the same result. So, I am unsure what to do at this point. Am I using the plugin incorrectly here?

[Richel]

Latest update to plugin - 5.15.11.0 - fixed the issue of the settings for BLE not sticking. However, the beacon is not being discovered. I can see it with the software that came with the TrendNet receiver (Blue Soleil) and with the FeasyBeacon app on my phone. So, I think the hardware is functioning as it should. Now, to figure out why it is not being seen in HS4.

[Michael McSharry]

The BLE Beacon section posted shows the radio selection to be "Disable BLE Beacon Recognition". For your initial setup it should be the bottom one "Discover New BLE Beacons". After you have discovered the beacons you want to monitor then change the radio to the middle position to "Disable New".

[Richel]

The BLE Beacon section posted shows the radio selection to be "Disable BLE Beacon Recognition". For your initial setup it should be the bottom one "Discover New BLE Beacons". After you have discovered the beacons you want to monitor then change the radio to the middle position to "Disable New".

Michael:
Thanks. With the previous version (5.15.7.0), I could not select that button and have it stick. With the newest version (5.15.11.0), I can get it to stick for "Discover New BLE Beacons." Nonetheless, my beacon is not being discovered and I don't know why, because Blue Soleil discovers it on the computer that runs HS4. Elliott

[Michael McSharry]

So you do not see anything in the Association table for topics that start with Beacon?

[Richel]

So you do not see anything in the Association table for topics that start with Beacon?

I do not.

[Richel]

So you do not see anything in the Association table for topics that start with Beacon?

So, to trouble-shoot this issue, I opened up HS4 on a different computer, on which I installed the TrendNet USB device. Same issue: no Beacon is seen by HS4, although Blue Soleil was able to detect it. All that I am seeing on my primary HS4 installation on the associations table are statistics for MQTT.

[Michael McSharry]

Enable debug from General tab of MQTT page. I added debug to the attached. Disable plugin. Replace the file in \bin\mcsMQTT with the unzipped attached. Enable plugin. Let run for a minute. Post the debug file which will be in \Data\mcsMQTT\mcsMQTT Debug.txt

[Richel]

Enable debug from General tab of MQTT page. I added debug to the attached. Disable plugin. Replace the file in \bin\mcsMQTT with the unzipped attached. Enable plugin. Let run for a minute. Post the debug file which will be in \Data\mcsMQTT\mcsMQTT Debug.txt

Here you are. Thank you.

[Michael McSharry]

I see in the debug that it tried to start BLE

5/10/2021 1:51:18 PM    12596    | Background Init Beacon Enable = 2

In my debug it shows starting, reading previously discovered beacons and then a little later current beacons are reporting

5/10/2021 10:30:50 AM 3449 | Background Init Beacon Enable = 2
5/10/2021 10:30:50 AM 3452 | Beacon Added Beacon/6B.CD.3B.BD.D8.3F
5/10/2021 10:30:50 AM 3453 | Beacon Added Beacon/53.06.77.7B.D5.44
5/10/2021 10:30:50 AM 3453 | Beacon Added Beacon/DD.0D.30.46.3D.2E
5/10/2021 10:30:50 AM 3454 | Beacon Added Beacon/70.64.4A.06.8B.92
5/10/2021 10:30:50 AM 3454 | Beacon Added Beacon/6F.46.39.F1.4F.8C
:
5/10/2021 10:30:50 AM 4071 | Advertisement Received Beacon/DD.0D.30.46.3D.2E
5/10/2021 10:30:50 AM 4072 | Advertisement Received Beacon/76.47.15.3A.AB.93
5/10/2021 10:30:50 AM 4192 | Advertisement Received Beacon/DD.0D.30.46.3D.2E
5/10/2021 10:30:51 AM 4422 | Advertisement Received Beacon/6F.46.39.F1.4F.8C
5/10/2021 10:30:51 AM 4424 | Advertisement Received Beacon/6B.CD.3B.BD.D8.3F
5/10/2021 10:30:51 AM 5008 | Advertisement Received Beacon/DD.0D.30.46.3D.2E
5/10/2021 10:30:51 AM 5372 | Advertisement Received Beacon/DD.0D.30.46.3D.2E
5/10/2021 10:30:51 AM 5374 | Advertisement Received Beacon/6B.CD.3B.BD.D8.3F
5/10/2021 10:30:52 AM 5957 | Advertisement Received Beacon/DD.0D.30.46.3D.2E
5/10/2021 10:30:52 AM 6079 | Advertisement Received Beacon/76.47.15.3A.AB.93
5/10/2021 10:30:52 AM 6200 | Advertisement Received Beacon/DD.0D.30.46.3D.2E

The plugin uses the Bluetooth capability provided by Windows. In the attached I put console output at each step in the Bluetooth Watchdog process. Developer mode needs to be enabled from the HS settings page checkbox to get a console window to view this output. The unzipped file goes in the same location as the prior debug \bin\mcsMQTT. The expected output from my system is below starting with "Starting Windows BLEScan"




Is there anything in the HS log that indicates a problem with mcsMQTT interfacing with Bluetooth? What Windows version are you using?

[Richel]

I see in the debug that it tried to start BLE

5/10/2021 1:51:18 PM 12596 | Background Init Beacon Enable = 2

In my debug it shows starting, reading previously discovered beacons and then a little later current beacons are reporting

5/10/2021 10:30:50 AM 3449 | Background Init Beacon Enable = 2
5/10/2021 10:30:50 AM 3452 | Beacon Added Beacon/6B.CD.3B.BD.D8.3F
5/10/2021 10:30:50 AM 3453 | Beacon Added Beacon/53.06.77.7B.D5.44
5/10/2021 10:30:50 AM 3453 | Beacon Added Beacon/DD.0D.30.46.3D.2E
5/10/2021 10:30:50 AM 3454 | Beacon Added Beacon/70.64.4A.06.8B.92
5/10/2021 10:30:50 AM 3454 | Beacon Added Beacon/6F.46.39.F1.4F.8C
:
5/10/2021 10:30:50 AM 4071 | Advertisement Received Beacon/DD.0D.30.46.3D.2E
5/10/2021 10:30:50 AM 4072 | Advertisement Received Beacon/76.47.15.3A.AB.93
5/10/2021 10:30:50 AM 4192 | Advertisement Received Beacon/DD.0D.30.46.3D.2E
5/10/2021 10:30:51 AM 4422 | Advertisement Received Beacon/6F.46.39.F1.4F.8C
5/10/2021 10:30:51 AM 4424 | Advertisement Received Beacon/6B.CD.3B.BD.D8.3F
5/10/2021 10:30:51 AM 5008 | Advertisement Received Beacon/DD.0D.30.46.3D.2E
5/10/2021 10:30:51 AM 5372 | Advertisement Received Beacon/DD.0D.30.46.3D.2E
5/10/2021 10:30:51 AM 5374 | Advertisement Received Beacon/6B.CD.3B.BD.D8.3F
5/10/2021 10:30:52 AM 5957 | Advertisement Received Beacon/DD.0D.30.46.3D.2E
5/10/2021 10:30:52 AM 6079 | Advertisement Received Beacon/76.47.15.3A.AB.93
5/10/2021 10:30:52 AM 6200 | Advertisement Received Beacon/DD.0D.30.46.3D.2E

The plugin uses the Bluetooth capability provided by Windows. In the attached I put console output at each step in the Bluetooth Watchdog process. Developer mode needs to be enabled from the HS settings page checkbox to get a console window to view this output. The unzipped file goes in the same location as the prior debug \bin\mcsMQTT. The expected output from my system is below starting with "Starting Windows BLEScan"




Is there anything in the HS log that indicates a problem with mcsMQTT interfacing with Bluetooth? What Windows version are you using?

Thanks! I'm using Windows 10 Professional. So, I went into developer mode, copied the files that you sent, and I am getting a torrent of "BLE Beacon Monitor Stopped." This is likely the issue, but I don't know the fix.

[Michael McSharry]

"Bluetoth Watcher Stop" is from the plugin requesting it to be stopped
"BLE Beacon Monitor Stopped" is from Windows reporting the status

Is it possible that something else has captured exclusive use of the Bluetooth driver?
Is there anything in the HS log?
What about the lines starting with "Starting Windows BLEScan". It could provide insight at what point the torrent was enabled.

[Richel]

"Bluetoth Watcher Stop" is from the plugin requesting it to be stopped
"BLE Beacon Monitor Stopped" is from Windows reporting the status

Is it possible that something else has captured exclusive use of the Bluetooth driver?
Is there anything in the HS log?
What about the lines starting with "Starting Windows BLEScan". It could provide insight at what point the torrent was enabled.

Nothing in log. I thought about another program capturing driver and that would be Blue Soleil. So, I decided to uninstall the program, but then it uninstalls the bluetooth device, too. I have killed all the background bluetooth apps in the Task Manager, but no difference. I'll try again to uninstall Blue Soleil and see if I can somehow retain the TrendNet bluetooth device function.

[Michael McSharry]

What shows in the console prior to the torrent?

[Richel]

What shows in the console prior to the torrent?

See attached.