lh.py

#!/usr/bin/python3

from bluepy import btle
import sys

class DiscoLH(btle.DefaultDelegate):

    def __init__(self):
        self.devices = []
        btle.DefaultDelegate.__init__(self)

    def handleDiscovery(self, dev, isNewDev, isNewData):
        if not isNewDev:
            return

        isLH = False
        name = ""

        if dev.getValue(btle.ScanEntry.MANUFACTURER)[0:4] == b'\x5d\x05\x00\x02':
            print('Found LightHouse %s: address = %s' %
                  (dev.getValue(btle.ScanEntry.COMPLETE_LOCAL_NAME), dev.addr))
            self.devices.append(dev.addr)

if __name__ == '__main__':
    scanner = btle.Scanner()
    delegate = DiscoLH()
    scanner.withDelegate(delegate)
    scanner.scan(2)
    for device in delegate.devices:
        lh = btle.Peripheral()
        print("Connecting to %s" % (device))
        lh.connect(device, addrType = btle.ADDR_TYPE_RANDOM)
        if len(sys.argv) > 1 and sys.argv[1] == 'on':
            lh.writeCharacteristic(0x12, b'\x01')
        else:
            lh.writeCharacteristic(0x12, b'\x00')
        lh.disconnect()

I kept getting crashes when running this script until making this change:

v = dev.getValue(btle.ScanEntry.MANUFACTURER)
if v is not None and v[0:4] == b'\x5d\x05\x00\x02':

I'm assuming there is some other bluetooth device that scan is finding that doesn't have a manufacturer ID.

Hello,

just in case others find themselves with the same issue I had: my setup was working fine for a while and somehow it stopped working with any such script. Turns out the default bluetooth device was not my standard one anymore but the Vive's, and that one won't connect to the bases for whatever reason.

So you would have to replace

lh = btle.Peripheral()

by

lh = btle.Peripheral(iface=)

where is the iface number of the device you want to use, you can see that in hciconfig. You want just the number, so if your device is hci0 you'd type 0, and so on.

Regards!

Replace the final if block with this code to toggle the lighthouse state, when no argument is specified.
That is, this change will turn the lighthouse off when it's already on, and on when it's already off.

        if len(sys.argv) > 1 and sys.argv[1] == 'on':
            lh.writeCharacteristic(0x12, b'\x01')
        elif len(sys.argv) > 1 and sys.argv[1] == 'off':
            lh.writeCharacteristic(0x12, b'\x00')
        else:
            # toggle
            current = lh.readCharacteristic(0x12)
            if(current) == b'\x00':
                # turn on
                lh.writeCharacteristic(0x12, b'\x01')
            else:
                # turn off
                lh.writeCharacteristic(0x12, b'\x00')

In Ubuntu, I also put the following in a file named lighthouse.desktop on my desktop and click it when I want to turn them on or off. Make sure to edit the line Exec=/path/to/lh.py with the actual path.

[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Name=LightHouse
Comment=Turn Index Lighthouses On/Off
Exec=/path/to/lh.py
Icon=scanner
Terminal=false
Type=Application
Categories=Utility;Application;

This actually works better for me right now than the semi-broken Windows power management.

Also, make sure to set chmod u+x on both the .desktop file and lh.py.

Full modified script can be found in this fork:
https://gist.github.com/waylonflinn/d525e08674ec3abb5c98cd41d1fd2f24

I know this code is really old, but has anybody had troubles with this error?
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "lh.py", line 35, in <module>
scanner.scan(2)
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.8/dist-packages/bluepy/btle.py", line 852, in scan
self.start(passive=passive)
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.8/dist-packages/bluepy/btle.py", line 797, in start
self._mgmtCmd(self._cmd()+"end")
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.8/dist-packages/bluepy/btle.py", line 312, in _mgmtCmd
raise BTLEManagementError("Failed to execute management command '%s'" % (cmd), rsp)
bluepy.btle.BTLEManagementError: Failed to execute management command 'scanend' (code: 13, error: Invalid Parameters)

It's a really frustrating issue, and it happens even with a different bluetooth adapter

Yes, run the command as root, or use setcap on bluepy
sudo setcap cap_net_raw+e /home/waylonflinn/.local/lib/python3.8/site-packages/bluepy/bluepy-helper
sudo setcap cap_net_admin+eip /home/waylonflinn/.local/lib/python3.8/site-packages/bluepy/bluepy-helper

Ok thanks now it doesn't make that error anymore. But looks like my lightouses don't seem to care 😢
The script exits without any error but the stations do not start

Update: just noticed the script is supposed to say when it found a lighthouse. But I'm getting no output whatsoever, so i guess it's not finding them

Hi,

Please take look at https://github.com/DavidRisch/steamvr_utils, it expnads on this script, and maybe it will work for you.

Fixed the problem, I forgot my base stations where 1.0 and not 2.0 so it would not be able to find them anyway. https://github.com/risa2000/lhctrl this is the script for 1.0 if anyone is interested
Thanks for the help :)