Help: Device keep getting "killed" =\

[YogevBokobza]

Hey,
Need help to figure out what I am doing wrong..
I have a bunch of original ESP32s across my rooms.
I am keeping seeing the skull and crossbones icon on them (exceeding 10s).
This is the current configuration I have on them:

substitutions:
name: kitchen-presence
friendly_name: Kitchen Presence
comment: ESPHome proxy tuned for Bermuda
name_add_mac_suffix: "False" # Adds the last 4 characters of the MAC address to the name.
baud_rate: "0" # If you need serial debugging, override this to 115200 or similar.
ble_interval: 1000ms #320ms
ble_window: 700ms #80ms #300ms
proxy_active_scan: "False" # Set to false to avoid requesting scan info for device names etc
proxy_enable_outbound: "True" # Allow HA to make outbound connections via this device

esphome:
name: ${name}
friendly_name: ${friendly_name}
comment: ${comment}
name_add_mac_suffix: ${name_add_mac_suffix}

esp32:
board: esp32dev
framework:
type: esp-idf # This is important: the default "arduino" framework does not perform well.
sdkconfig_options:
# @grigi found in testing that these options resulted in better responsiveness.
# BLE 4.2 is supported by ALL ESP32 boards that have bluetooth, the original and derivatives.
CONFIG_BT_BLE_42_FEATURES_SUPPORTED: y
# Extend the watchdog timeout, so the device reboots if the device appears locked up for over 10 seconds.
CONFIG_ESP_TASK_WDT_TIMEOUT_S: "15"

logger:
baud_rate: ${baud_rate} # 0 Enables logging, but disables serial-port logging to free CPU and memory

api:
encryption:
key: "SOME_KEY"

esp32_ble_tracker:
scan_parameters:
continuous: true
active: ${proxy_active_scan} # send scan-request packets to gather more info, like device name for some devices.
interval: ${ble_interval} # default 320ms - how long to spend on each advert channel
window: ${ble_window} # default 30ms - how long to actually "listen" in each interval. Reduce this if device is unstable.
# If the device cannot keep up or becomes unstable, reduce the "window" setting. This may be
# required if your device is controlling other sensors or doing PWM for lights etc.

ota:

• platform: esphome
  password: "SOME_PASS"

wifi:
ssid: !secret wifi_ssid
password: !secret wifi_password
power_save_mode: none

bluetooth_proxy:
active: ${proxy_enable_outbound} # allows outbound connections from HA to devices.

safe_mode:

button:

• platform: restart
  name: "Restart"
  entity_category: config

• platform: factory_reset
  name: "Factory Reset"
  id: Reset
  entity_category: config

• platform: safe_mode
  name: "Safe Mode"
  internal: false
  entity_category: config

sensor:

• platform: uptime
  name: "Uptime"
  id: uptime_sensor
  update_interval: 120s
  entity_category: diagnostic
  internal: true

• platform: wifi_signal
  name: "WiFi Signal dB"
  id: wifi_signal_db
  update_interval: 60s
  entity_category: "diagnostic"

I tried many different values for ble_interval and ble_window, but nothing helps..

Please help :)

[drothenberger]

Do you need to make active connections to devices from this proxy? If not, I suggest setting bluetooth_proxy.active to false. I believe you're setting it to true right now.

In my experience with M5Stack ESP32 devices, when the active connection occurs the background BLE tracker functionality gets paused. The active connections can take quite a bit of time, causing this behavior.

In my environment, I have some BT proxies set up explicitly for active connections and I exclude them from Bermuda. The proxies I use for Bermuda all have active connections disabled.

[drothenberger]

Found the issue, the encrypt key was changed, so I had to update it in the ESPHome HA..

Glad you figured it out.

So, do you think this configuration is fine? I will see if I can see more dead devices :D

Yes, it matches the configuration I use.

I've personally tested M5Stack Atom Lites, M5Stack Stamp C3s, and M5Stack Stamp S3s. I only had good results with the S3s.

• M5Stack Atom Lites: These worked fine for a while, but I had to reboot them every two or three days. I would notice that ping times to them over Wi-Fi would get bad over time until I rebooted them.
• M5Stack Stamp C3s: Pretty bad performance for Bermuda.

[YogevBokobza]

M5Stack Stamp S3s

By the way, do you maybe track an iPhone using this? I did get the IRK for that and used that private BLE integration, but it often switches to Unknown, more than my Android..

[drothenberger]

By the way, do you maybe track an iPhone using this? I did get the IRK for that and used that private BLE integration, but it often switches to Unknown, more than my Android..

I do not track an iPhone with this. You might try installing the Home Assistant app and enabling the "BLE transmitter" sensor.

[YogevBokobza]

"BLE transmitter" sensor

Yeah in iPhone I cant set "BLE transmitter" sensor.. Damn Apple xD
Never mind, thanks anyway!

[rickt123]

Do you need to make active connections to devices from this proxy? If not, I suggest setting bluetooth_proxy.active to false. I believe you're setting it to true right now.

In my experience with M5Stack ESP32 devices, when the active connection occurs the background BLE tracker functionality gets paused. The active connections can take quite a bit of time, causing this behavior.

In my environment, I have some BT proxies set up explicitly for active connections and I exclude them from Bermuda. The proxies I use for Bermuda all have active connections disabled.

@drothenberger, how did you exclude your proxy from Bermuda, by setting those bluetooth_proxy.active to false?

[YogevBokobza]

@drothenberger After a couple of hours with the recent config I am still facing devices becoming dead :(

[drothenberger]

I'm out of ideas. This could be a problem with the Wi-Fi network or perhaps the device itself. Does the device respond to pings? Are the response times consistent? Does it start working again if you reboot the ESP32?

If it starts working after a reboot, you might be having the same problem I had with the M5Stack Atom Lites.

[YogevBokobza]

I'm out of ideas. This could be a problem with the Wi-Fi network or perhaps the device itself. Does the device respond to pings? Are the response times consistent? Does it start working again if you reboot the ESP32?

If it starts working after a reboot, you might be having the same problem I had with the M5Stack Atom Lites.

Looks like that.. it became working again if I reboot it

[agittins]

Hi @YogevBokobza, sorry you're having trouble with the proxies and Bermuda! It looks like @drothenberger has got you set up with decent settings on the proxies (thanks David!), the interval/window of 320/300 was the main thing I was going to suggest there.

Since you're on original esp32's there isn't much else to note on the esphome settings, as they don't tend to need much to work reliably.

What version of ESPHome as you putting onto it? Have you owned these boards for a while or are they new? It might be worthwhile flashing the proxy with a USB cable instead of over wifi, in case esphome needs to re-partition the flash (this probably only applies if you have had a much older version of esphome on them previously).

How does the wifi signal sensor look in HA for the proxy? If you use the history page you can add all the sensors for that esphome (which will have the uptime, wifi etc) and set the date range for a few hours or whatever looks interesting, and post a screenshot of that.

Also you could attach a "download diagnostics" from Bermuda, which will let me see some more info on what data HA is receiving, and lists what integrations etc are running in case anything stands out.

Another thing to try is to run some "ping" tests, as a very simple check for how well the wifi is performing. From a linux terminal you'd run ping -c 20 192.168.xx.xx (or on windows, ping -n 20 192.168.xx.xx) where the 192.168.xx.xx should be replaced by the IP address of your proxy (or its name if that works - room-presence. You can also check by using the IP address of your HA server, so you can see "both ways". This should give us a basic idea of whether your wifi and lan network look OK (it's a very simple test, but worth doing for starters).

I'm heading for some sleep now so won't be around for a while, but that might give you some things to look into until then 👍🏼

[YogevBokobza]

Hi @YogevBokobza, sorry you're having trouble with the proxies and Bermuda! It looks like @drothenberger has got you set up with decent settings on the proxies (thanks David!), the interval/window of 320/300 was the main thing I was going to suggest there.

Since you're on original esp32's there isn't much else to note on the esphome settings, as they don't tend to need much to work reliably.

What version of ESPHome as you putting onto it? Have you owned these boards for a while or are they new? It might be worthwhile flashing the proxy with a USB cable instead of over wifi, in case esphome needs to re-partition the flash (this probably only applies if you have had a much older version of esphome on them previously).

How does the wifi signal sensor look in HA for the proxy? If you use the history page you can add all the sensors for that esphome (which will have the uptime, wifi etc) and set the date range for a few hours or whatever looks interesting, and post a screenshot of that.

Also you could attach a "download diagnostics" from Bermuda, which will let me see some more info on what data HA is receiving, and lists what integrations etc are running in case anything stands out.

Another thing to try is to run some "ping" tests, as a very simple check for how well the wifi is performing. From a linux terminal you'd run ping -c 20 192.168.xx.xx (or on windows, ping -n 20 192.168.xx.xx) where the 192.168.xx.xx should be replaced by the IP address of your proxy (or its name if that works - room-presence. You can also check by using the IP address of your HA server, so you can see "both ways". This should give us a basic idea of whether your wifi and lan network look OK (it's a very simple test, but worth doing for starters).

I'm heading for some sleep now so won't be around for a while, but that might give you some things to look into until then 👍🏼

Hey, thanks for responding!
So it's deployed with ESPHome 2025.9.3.
The boards are new (more or less a month).

Regarding wifi, so on one device I have like this:

but the reset are like this:

config_entry-bermuda-01K4M1AHK237RNAK9XCPNGZB3D.json
Config attached.

Additionally, I noticed that the Bluetooth integration is automatically picking up devices, even when I remove them. They continue to reconnect. Can this integration cause the issue?

Thanks!

[agittins]

Thanks for the diags and the wifi signal graphs.

The wifi signal strength looks pretty good, but yes, the gaps in the readings for "entrance presense" proxy does look bad. Maybe see if the power supply for that proxy is perhaps unreliable, or if something might be causing intermittent interference on it, such as another wifi device within a few cm of it, or maybe something that would cause glitches on the power supply. That said, if it's only that one proxy that displays that problem then it won't be your wider issue.

Additionally, I noticed that the Bluetooth integration is automatically picking up devices, even when I remove them. They continue to reconnect. Can this integration cause the issue?

Do you mean if you delete the entities for the beacons you have set up, then they get re-created when you restart Bermuda or HA? If so, this is because Bermuda does the device creation thing a bit differently - if you want to remove devices, you need to go into Bermuda's configuration, then "Select Devices" and remove the items from there. Otherwise deleting the device or entity in HA will just result in Bermuda re-creating it on next restart.

So it's deployed with ESPHome 2025.9.3.
The boards are new (more or less a month).

Great, that shouldn't be an issue then.

diags

You have a device named "Mamad Presense" which looks like it's an esphome with proxying set up, but weirdly it isn't detected as a scanner by Bermuda, even though it has a couple of (very old) advertisements received by it. Was this device removed a few minutes before you did the diagnostics, perhaps?

Other than that, I can't see why your scanners would show up with skulls at least based on the data in the diagnostics. It clearly shows that Mamad (if in the list at all) would have a skull next to it, Mini-PC, Salon and Enterance would have exclamation marks (for being over 2 seconds) and Room and Kitchen would have checks.

Here's the data on how many adverts each scanner received in each preceding second before the diags were taken:

Scanner/Time (T0 = 551729.92)   T0  T-1  T-2  T-3  T-4  T-5  T-6  T-7  T-8  T-9 T-10 T-11 T-12 T-13 T-14 T-15 T-16 T-17 T-18 T-19 T-20 T-21 T-22 T-23 T-24 T-25 T-26 T-27 T-28 T-29 T-30 T-31
==============================================================================================================================================================================================

Room Presence                     1    3    2    4    4    3    9    -    -    6    7    -    -    4
Mini PC                           -    -    -    5    6    7    4   10    8    7    6    6    7
Enterance Presence                -    8    1    6    3    7    3    4    2    2    6
Kitchen Presence                  2    5    1    7    5    4    2    5    6    6
Salon Presence                    -    6    4    4    7    4    2    4    4    2    2
Mamad Presence                    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    8

Can you send a screenshot of the issue? Or has the issue changed now and the initial report no longer reflects what's going on?

Given the wifi situation with Enterance I'd expect it to show skulls whenever it's dropping out, but that appears to be an issue isolated to that scanner, is that right?

[YogevBokobza]

Thanks for the diags and the wifi signal graphs.

The wifi signal strength looks pretty good, but yes, the gaps in the readings for "entrance presense" proxy does look bad. Maybe see if the power supply for that proxy is perhaps unreliable, or if something might be causing intermittent interference on it, such as another wifi device within a few cm of it, or maybe something that would cause glitches on the power supply. That said, if it's only that one proxy that displays that problem then it won't be your wider issue.

Additionally, I noticed that the Bluetooth integration is automatically picking up devices, even when I remove them. They continue to reconnect. Can this integration cause the issue?

Do you mean if you delete the entities for the beacons you have set up, then they get re-created when you restart Bermuda or HA? If so, this is because Bermuda does the device creation thing a bit differently - if you want to remove devices, you need to go into Bermuda's configuration, then "Select Devices" and remove the items from there. Otherwise deleting the device or entity in HA will just result in Bermuda re-creating it on next restart.

So it's deployed with ESPHome 2025.9.3.
The boards are new (more or less a month).

Great, that shouldn't be an issue then.

diags

You have a device named "Mamad Presense" which looks like it's an esphome with proxying set up, but weirdly it isn't detected as a scanner by Bermuda, even though it has a couple of (very old) advertisements received by it. Was this device removed a few minutes before you did the diagnostics, perhaps?

Other than that, I can't see why your scanners would show up with skulls at least based on the data in the diagnostics. It clearly shows that Mamad (if in the list at all) would have a skull next to it, Mini-PC, Salon and Enterance would have exclamation marks (for being over 2 seconds) and Room and Kitchen would have checks.

Here's the data on how many adverts each scanner received in each preceding second before the diags were taken:

Scanner/Time (T0 = 551729.92)   T0  T-1  T-2  T-3  T-4  T-5  T-6  T-7  T-8  T-9 T-10 T-11 T-12 T-13 T-14 T-15 T-16 T-17 T-18 T-19 T-20 T-21 T-22 T-23 T-24 T-25 T-26 T-27 T-28 T-29 T-30 T-31
==============================================================================================================================================================================================

Room Presence                     1    3    2    4    4    3    9    -    -    6    7    -    -    4
Mini PC                           -    -    -    5    6    7    4   10    8    7    6    6    7
Enterance Presence                -    8    1    6    3    7    3    4    2    2    6
Kitchen Presence                  2    5    1    7    5    4    2    5    6    6
Salon Presence                    -    6    4    4    7    4    2    4    4    2    2
Mamad Presence                    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    8

Can you send a screenshot of the issue? Or has the issue changed now and the initial report no longer reflects what's going on?

Given the wifi situation with Enterance I'd expect it to show skulls whenever it's dropping out, but that appears to be an issue isolated to that scanner, is that right?

Here screenshots:

The Entrance device WIFI signal is back to normal and looks like the rest of the devices.
Here another log from now:
config_entry-bermuda-new.json

I meant for the Bluetooth built-in integration, those ESP devices keep showing up there automatically even if I remove them manually from it.. I now disabled them, dont know if this has impact..

[agittins]

I meant for the Bluetooth built-in integration, those ESP devices keep showing up there automatically

They show up there because they're bluetooth proxies, they're meant to.

even if I remove them manually from it.. I now disabled them, dont know if this has impact..

why are you doing that?

[YogevBokobza]

I meant for the Bluetooth built-in integration, those ESP devices keep showing up there automatically

They show up there because they're bluetooth proxies, they're meant to.

even if I remove them manually from it.. I now disabled them, dont know if this has impact..

why are you doing that?

I removed them because I thought this integration is overloads the esp32 causing them to die..
Isn't that so?

So what you sugget to solve my issues?