I’ve been testing the Aqara FP300 Presence Sensor in daily use, and I wanted to share some real-world observations—especially around scenarios where traditional motion sensors fall short.
Why FP300 Is Different
Most motion sensors work well for “pass-by” detection, but they struggle in situations where people stay still—working at a desk, reading, or sleeping.
FP300 uses mmWave presence detection, which allows it to detect continuous human presence, even with minimal movement.
In practice, this unlocks a different class of automations.
Practical Scenarios I’ve Been Using
1. Home Office / Desk Setup
Lights stay on while I’m working, even if I’m sitting still for a long time.
When I leave the room completely, the lights turn off automatically—no false triggers, no sudden darkness.
2. Bedroom at Night
FP300 can detect presence without relying on movement, which is ideal for sleep scenarios.
It prevents lights or HVAC from turning off unexpectedly while someone is still in bed.
3. Living Room Zoning
With proper placement, FP300 can help differentiate between “someone is in the room” vs. “the room is empty,” making automations feel more intentional rather than reactive.
Things Worth Noting
- Placement matters. Small adjustments in angle and height can significantly affect detection accuracy.
- It’s best combined with time conditions or device states for more refined automations.
- FP300 shines most in low-movement, long-stay scenarios.
Who FP300 Is Best For
- Users building advanced, context-aware automations
- Anyone frustrated with motion sensors turning things off too early
- Smart home enthusiasts who care about presence, not just movement
Let’s Share Use Cases
I’m curious how others in the community are using FP300:
- Desk setups?
- Bedroom automations?
- Energy-saving scenarios?
If you’ve found an interesting setup—or are still experimenting—feel free to share.
Presence-based automation feels like one of those small changes that quietly makes a smart home feel much smarter.
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Thanks for sharing your cases and szenarios!
My favorite usecase is in the bathroom BTW
Great you like this small helper @Jeysine2001
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Good call about the office usage. I hadn’t considered that one. I’m often having to turn off the lights in the office because the wife forgot to… or the adaptive lighting is still set on ‘middle of the day’ mode instead of the warmer tone that should be running in the evening.
I forgot that they can detect the moment someone leaves a space instead of delayed like motion sensors. Now, if only I can find a way to have it lock my wife’s computer if she leaves the room too.
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Here in some rooms curtains set to stay closed after sunrise until the FP300 detects 5 minutes of presence, to prevent the curtains from opening when person is just “passing through”.
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I don’t have FP300, but when doing bedroom automations I have found better luck with using other devices and sensors act as Triggers then using the P200 in the bedroom as a check to see if someone is in the bedroom.
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Not sure I agree with the long duration usecase.
I placed one in my bedroom and regardless of how I tried to place it, it still tried to pick-up continuous presence with much greater frequency and I could tell it was going to rapidly drain through batteries (like less than 3 months).
Ime the FP300 works best with high motion, short duration situations, such as bathrooms in particular, staircases, and in my usecase–kitchen and garage. If anything, treating it like vastly improved motion sensor…
I ultimately placed FP1E sensors in the 3 rooms I spend the most time in. Realizing the FP300 seems to benefit from utilizing both, Combining a trigger of both the occupancy of the FP1E and another PIR sensor with a narrow focus has considerably increased the accuracy.
I would love to give you feedback, but these devices are impossible to find anywhere. Been looking for 5 of them and so far not a single one available.
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I’ve noticed that with a lot of their products recently. The Aqara Amazon store in Canada is a baron wasteland, many items are out of stock and have been since Black Friday.
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The only place available is Ebay and these people are charging somewhere around $120. Taking advantage of the fact that you can’t find them anywhere.
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What a shame. Can’t fault Aqara though, the masses have finally figured out that Aqara is probably the leader in devices right now. They’re actually innovating where it feels like others are or have been coasting.
I would like to use one in my bathroom, so the light turns on when I enter and turns off when I leave. And ideally stays on throughout the duration of my shower. Would this be possible with the season, and would it able to set certain lighting scenes? For example warmer/dim light at night?
Something that I dislike about the Aqara automations is that you can’t setup times for automations to occur. What I mean is that say I only want something to happen at 3:30 pm - 8:30 pm you can do that. So how does the FP300 change that. For example I don’t want the lights to turn on at night when my son is sleeping. But I do want them to be on when he is in the room during the day/night time. Same with the office. I want the lights on while I’m working during the day but not at night when everyone is sleeping. Our office doubles as a guest room. How do you over come that?