BLE Pin

[pwwukpw]

Shows up which is great but cannot connect. Probably due to PIN issue? Not sure as BT adapter is directly connected to in my HA Yellow?

However the MC App now allows you to set a pin.

Could you 'bake in' a pin into integration? That pin could be set on node via App?

No idea how to connect via IP as not aware howcto join nidd to my WiFi.

Looking forward to using this integration on my Heltec V3 or V4 bit can't for now as far as I can tell.

[awolden]

The integration does not handle the BLE connection. It just uses devices that are already connected to HA, so it's not really a concern of the integration.

[mrlmuk]

My advice would be to use WiFi as you already have support with those boards and it is far faster than BLE anyway. Getting WiFi firmware working requires you build it yourself from source but this is a concern of the main project not this one.

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Here are very brief instructions which may be enough to follow assuming you are using Windows.

Install VScode, install PlatformIO inside that. (let it load completely and then restart VScode).
Download and extract the code zip file from https://github.com/meshcore-dev/MeshCore

Open the folder with VScode. (let it load completely).
Change the environment (bottom bar) to env:Heltec_v3_companion_radio_wifi (....) (let it load completely).

Open variants\heltec_v3\platformio.ini with the editor
Find the section for the variant;
[env:Heltec_v3_companion_radio_wifi]

Find the WiFi build flags
-D WIFI_SSID='"myssid"'
-D WIFI_PWD='"mypwd"'

Set the details for your WiFi network.
Close and save the file (with the x)

Backup your Meshcore config first using the app (phone, PC or web), this process will not wipe it but sometimes a full erase helps.

Connect the device to the PC via the USB-C connector. Close anything else which could interfere with the serial connection such as the Chrome browser if you have used the flasher.

Press the upload (->) button on the bottom bar, let it compile and then flash the device.

Providing nothing has gone wrong you have now converted from BT to WiFi firmware.

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Back in Meshcore-HA, you use the TCP option when setting up the device but it he IP changes it is going to fail so you need something permanent to identify it. On your router (WiFi/Firewall , ISP provided internet device), you may be able to set a DHCP reservation or hostname which solves this issue.

[mrlmuk]

If all of that hasn't gone completely over your head and you manage to get it working you can then experiment with the dev branch and add things like this - Add display of IP address to companion screen meshcore-dev/MeshCore#996

[olly86]

@mrlmuk stumbled across this whilst trying to setup HA with MC, got it working via WiFI with your tips, thanks.