Arduino device as Exercise Equipment

[steriku]

My exercise equipment does not have the ability to display HR data from my a Fitbit Charge 6, but I'd like to create a display attached to an ESP32 that can recieve HR data via the bluetooth "HR on Equipment" feature. 

I'm using the ESPHome project on the ESP32. When trying to connect to the Fitbit from the ESP32, the fitbit doesn't recognize that the ESP32 is connecting and won't start to send the data. I've created a thread on the Home Assistant Portal.

Any help or a push in the right direction would be appreciated.

[Gondwana]

Unfortunately, I think this will be impossible. The Fitbit SDK can't be used with Charge devices because they're not smart-watches with Fitbit OS. There is no  exposed Bluetooth API or capabilities.

[steriku]

Perhaps I didn't explain this well. I don't wish to use the Fitbit SDK at all. I want to act as a client for the "HR on Equipment" functionality. The arduino device would emulate fitness equipment as a bluetooth client for the Fitbit to send data to. My question is more on how do I configure the client device to communicate with the Charge 6, acting as reciever of HR data that is being sent with the "HR on Equipment" functionality.

[Guy_]

Hi @steriku - the problem you will probably encounter is Bluetooth.

The Bluetooth connection is managed by the Fitbit App and only appears on the phone as a physical connection.

Unless you can emulate how the Fitbit App works (highly unlikely) it will not work.

You may be able to get a sort of real time HR display on the phone using the Fitbit App, if it will sync properly, at worst a manual pull down sync should give you the current HR.

[steriku]

deleted this post as a duplicate

[steriku]

Unless I'm mistaken, the "HR on Equipment" feature is not connecting to a phone via bluetooth, it is connecting directly to an exercices machine that supports this bluetooth connection. I'm trying to emulate the exercise equipment, not the phone and Fitbit app. The issue is that the Charge 6 won't recognize the bluetooth connection from the ESP32 as an exercise machine it can send data to.

The question is how does the ESP32 bluetooth client need to be configured so that the Charge 6 will recognize it as a bluetooth client it can send HR data to.

[Guy_]

@steriku  - unfortunately Fitbit does not support sending data to exercise equipment so there is nothing to emulate.

[steriku]

@Guy_ Yes, it does.

[Guy_]

@steriku- Charge 6 only, smart watches with SDK, no. I don't believe there is any documentation to enable this. If you find some it could be interesting.

It might be easier to just cast your HR displayed in the Fitbit App on the phone to a screen

[steriku]

There is nothing? How do manufacturers create exercise equipment that is compatible and can provide this feature?

Edit: Just contacted support via chat and they don't have any documentation for this that they can offer either. Dead end for now. Seems my Polar chest strap is superior in this regard.

[Guy_]

@steriku - Fitbit probably designed the Charge 6 functionality to be compatible with the exercise equipment listed.

You may be able to get documentation from one of the exercise equipment manufacturers.

[DF2024]

Google, what’s your problem? Just publish the comms protocol. Ask your chatbot to do it.