Home Assistant Connect Aux-2 adds Bluetooth, audio and serial controls

Nabu Casa, the commercial side of the Open Home Foundation, has launched the Home Assistant Connect Aux-2, a multi-function box designed to connect more devices to a Home Assistant smart home. The Verge’s Nathan Edwards tested it for several days and found it useful and easy to set up.

The $69 device is about the size of a deck of cards. It includes 2.4GHz Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Ethernet, USB-A, USB-C, a digital/analog audio jack, a Grove port for peripherals such as sensors and buttons, and two RS-232 serial ports. It can bring Bluetooth devices into Home Assistant, connect a Nabu Casa Z-Wave or Zigbee antenna over USB, control equipment through serial connections, and send audio to older equipment.

The Aux-2 is based on ESPHome and uses existing Home Assistant and ESPHome integrations. Edwards set it up by connecting it to a computer over USB-C, installing firmware through a browser, and completing setup in Home Assistant. Bluetooth proxying took a few clicks; Govee Bluetooth hygrometers then connected through three walls and a fridge.

For audio, Edwards connected in-wall speakers to an amplifier and set up Music Assistant, which took less than half an hour. He can now play music through those speakers. Sendspin, a whole-home audio standard developed by the Open Home Foundation, is still in development, and he has not yet got speaker grouping to work. He says it is unclear whether the problem is with his setup or the standard.