I’ve had a fitbit wifi bathroom scale for a while. Getting the data out got suddenly more difficult when Google bought them, and I didn’t love giving that data to google. It’s finally died, and I’m looking at replacement options.
In a perfect world, I could just go to a store and buy a “HomeAssistant Ready” scale. If I can’t have that, I’d like a scale that is on my local network and exposes the last x weigh-ins as an API on the device, then I could write something to poll it.
I haven’t seen anything like those, but have turned up:
- a project to decode the bluetooth transmissions of a number of scales (after you build an ESP32 device for it)
- the Withings cloud based scale, but with a well documented API
Any other good options?
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I have a Wyze scale, it’s well made and easy to export the data via email automatically.
I have a Xiaomi scale connected through an esp Bluetooth proxy. Works pretty well.
The process for this is to obtain an EPS32 with bluetooth and wifi, pair it to the scale with bluetooth then keep it powered on in range of the scale, then the data goes into HA?
Yep, pretty much. Just get an ESP32 and not an 8266.
I have it plugged into an old Nokia charger and hidden in a cupboard to service all the Bluetooth temperature and door sensors.
When I use the scale it automatically sends the data to HA. Really convenient to use.
Which firmware did you load into the ESP?
Firmware apart what did you have to do?ESPHome has firmware for the BT proxy:
https://esphome.io/projects/?type=bluetooth
The I installed the xiaomi app on my phone, I think it was called zepp life or something for the scale I have, you do the initial setup of the scale on there, and then it’ll be picked up by the Bluetooth proxy.
Wait what I thought this was satire at first
you can’t even poke fun at selfhosted people anymore because someone WILL 100% spend 48 hours straight 3d printing and programming a toothbrush
edit: you have to be kidding me https://kuenzi.dev/toothbrush/I thought this one was dumb too https://lemm.ee/post/49060797
Lmao
That would be a fun thread. What’s the most unnecessary self hosted thing you’ve seen someone host or host
I’m using the Xiaomi “Mi Body competition 2” together with https://github.com/lolouk44/hassio-addons/tree/master/mi-scale and am reasonably satisfied with it.
I don’t have any options for you but make sure you get one that doesn’t use battery when not in use. It’s really annoying replacing those little coin batteries all the time even though you only use it like .001% of the time
I have a cheap $20 1byone scale from Amazon but it’s actually fantastic.
I’m starting to think my commitment to the Apple ecosystem and my desire for self-hosting are at odds.
I use Tasker to log my weight to a Google Sheets spreadsheet, and just use a dumb scale.
The only piece of technology in my house is a toaster from 1982, and I keep a loaded shotgun next to it just in case it makes a noise I don’t recognize.
What if the shotgun makes a noise you don’t recognize? Hit it with the toaster?
If my shotgun starts making strange noises, I check the brownies.
I am SCP-426, your toaster.
The only technology in my house is me, and I keep a loaded shotgun next to me in case I make a noise I don’t recognize.
(Am I doing this right?)
Same here but with Apple Health. You can even build some Shortcut to log the weight via Siri if you like to.
I do similar with a shortcut on my phone to a NocoDB Form.
Can you just get a normal scale? I just have a mechanical one from the last century
I mean, yes, I could. But I’m committed to the #selfhosted life where I spend hours building unnecessarily complicated systems to make my life easier in small ways.
It just feels like a very dark reality
How do you automatically compile the daily readings into an excel file with graphs? Raspberry pi running opencv sending the time series to influx db and then grafana generate graphs for you home assistant health monitoring dashboard, along with the blood pressure monitor, continuous glucose monitor, pee ketone content, the pills dispenser and the rest of your fitness regimen?
I don’t know what you are trying to say. (Your sentence is a run on)
Explained by chatgpt
https://chatgpt.com/share/6760e8bc-24ec-8005-be3c-241aa6bf4aaf
I can’t help, I wish I could, but I’m curious. Why a smart scale? Why not just any dumb scale from Bed Bath and Beyond?
I like data, I like tech, I like investing large amounts of time and energy to self-host things that muggles would not bother with.
I’d guess automatic history tracking. Step on it every morning and it’ll automatically save your weight to Home Assistant or whatever so you can see if you’re gaining/losing over time.
I suppose that makes sense, honestly I just go with “more/less than last time” lol. If I went more in depth with it I’d probably use a pen and paper.
Cumulatively pen and paper will add up to more effort. And I would person give up at some point. It would probably never enter my daily jabits. Realistically if on the scale everyday, the changes are so minute you won’t notice the monthly and longer duration trends.
It’s really surprising there isn’t a no bullshit option you could just buy
I don’t keep track of my weight so I could be wrong here, but more/less than last time wouldn’t be very helpful as your weight can vary by the day. You need a trend over weeks to really see what’s going on. I definitely wouldn’t use pen/paper as it’s just too much data to organize and graph, but excel would be a reasonable alternative.
Sure a spreadsheet could work too, but yeah I also clearly don’t keep track lol.
Can’t you just use a notebook for that?
Sure, and I could also turn on/off my lights with a switch instead of having them come on when I get home, and turn off when I leave.
That’s crazy talk.
Who would do such a thing? It must absolutely terrible to manually flip a switch.
I don’t know what you want man. I like automating stuff so I don’t have to worry about remembering as much.
Body fat tracking etc
Quick google search it seems your only options for HA are Xiaomi scales with bluetooth paired to a mcu with esphome.
I think looking at openscale would be worthwhile:
https://github.com/oliexdev/openScale/wiki
Looks like it can push to mqtt? Huh, that’s new to me.
Also, if you want HA, there’s this:
https://github.com/lolouk44/hassio-addons/blob/master/mi-scale/DOCS.md
Good luck!
I use openscale and a Beuer BF700 (I think that’s the model #, it’s a model listed in the github wiki) and it works great, although I had to do the initial setup on their proprietary app to get the profiles to work right, and the scale had to be imported/was a bit hard to find. The wiki includes instructions for modifying a scale to add an arduino and the necessary bits to DIY one if you’re at all technically inclined.
I recommend it, but YMMV if you try to use a newer scale. If I ever have more time I would like to try to extend the drivers to support more scales, because openscale is very good software.
I have a withings scale and it’s great so far.
Like you, I had a Fitbit one, and I find it sucked and was very unreliable.It’s worth noting that there is a withings home assistant integration
