Has anyone installed an FP2 or FP3000 in the bedroom for detecting when the bed is occupied and you’re asleep/awake for running certain automations?
I’m tempted but wasn’t sure if the bedsheets etc may occasionally block the view of the sensor and lose detection.
I guess if you set the bed as a zone, and then the path from the bed to the door as a zone, you could set it in HA so if presence was detected in the bed, even if that presence is no longer detected, if presence was not detected in the zone between the bed and the door, assume someone is still in bed (that or add a door sensor as well).
I use an FP2 with different zones in Home Assistant, so your idea of setting up the bed as one zone and the area(s) outside the bed as another should work. I can’t say if it works reliably, though, as my sensor isn’t pointed at the bed.
In Home Assistant, you could make such an automation quite robust by combining both zones. For example, you could use the “outside of bed” zone as the initial trigger, and then use a “Wait for a trigger” action (optionally with a timeout) to confirm that someone actually enters the bed zone shortly afterward. You can apply the same logic in reverse for detecting when someone gets out of bed. This approach can significantly reduce false positives by requiring a consistent sequence of events.
Zones are not possible with the FP300. Aligning two sensors so that they act like two separate zones would be quite difficult in my opinion. It’s certainly not impossible, but being able to just set up zones like with the FP2 is definitely much more convenient.
Alternatively, you could of course position a simple motion sensor like the Motion and Light Sensor P2 under the bed, angled so that it captures feet and detects when someone gets out of bed. I saw a video of this setup with the sensor under the bed here in the forum once, but I can’t seem to find the video right now.
Or you can wait until the FP400 is released (no idea when that will be), which is apparently able to distinguish between standing, sitting, or lying down. That way, you could stand right next to the bed and fluff a pillow, for example, without triggering the automation by mistake.
You might also find this interesting:
Just a quick note on how these mmWave sensors (FP2, FP300, FP400) actually work: They emit high-frequency radar waves to detect micro-movements, such as the subtle rise and fall of your chest while breathing. Most common blankets and duvets made from materials like cotton, polyester, or down are largely transparent to mmWave radar. However, very thick bedding or certain materials can attenuate or scatter the radar signal, making these tiny movements harder to detect. Detection reliability can also depend on the sensor’s mounting position and angle, as the strength of the reflected radar signal varies with the angle at which it passes through the bedding and reflects off the body. If the sensor can no longer reliably detect sufficient movement, it may incorrectly assume the bed is empty and report a false “absence” status.
I use the FP300 in the bedroom and it does not detect anyone under the covers or laying under covers with head on pillow (outside of covers).
The moment I move the covers back and get up the FP300 goes to work and the LED light strip under the bed turns on.
I was not sure it would work but to my surprise it has worked great. The automation only runs from 10:00 PM-5:00 AM (middle of the night).
I mounted the FP300 in the corner of the room above the door. The room is 15’x15’ square. I pointed it to the middle of the bed. The ceiling fan does not trigger it either.
Interesting. I would have expected the FP300 to behave similarly to the FP2, but I just checked the description in the Aqara shop and indeed, only the FP2 is advertised as being able to detect people at rest (sleeping). For the FP300, it only mentions “motionless detection”.
But that actually makes sense: as a pure mmWave sensor with a constant power supply, the FP2 doesn’t have to conserve battery life, whereas the FP300 definitely does. That’s probably why it uses a combination of PIR and mmWave.
However, it seems that sleep detection only works for one person, and you can no longer set up zones. I haven’t experimented with this mode, as I previously mentioned. But I found this interesting video here
@siobhanellis Have you set Zone Detection or Sleep Monitoring?
