Hi everyone,
I’m looking for some advice and real-world experience with the Aqara Motion and Light Sensor P2 , especially regarding mounting height and angle.
I use a P2 outside next to our front door. When motion is detected, I use it for two automations:
It triggers a cloud recording on our Aqara G5 Pro PoE camera .
It also makes our indoor Aqara G350 camera pan towards a window overlooking the front door and zoom in, so it can record what is happening at the entrance from inside the house.
The system works very well when a person approaches the front door.
The problem: Cats
We have our own cat, and several neighbourhood cats pass our front door during the night. The P2 often detects them as motion, which results in unnecessary cloud recordings, camera movements and push notifications.
At the moment, the P2 is mounted approximately 2 metres above the ground , next to the front door, pointing more or less horizontally outwards.
My questions
Is around 2 metres the recommended mounting height for the P2?
Would mounting it higher and angling it slightly downwards help prevent detection of cats while still reliably detecting people approaching the door?
Does the mounting angle make a significant difference to the detection area?
Has anyone found a good placement for using the P2 outdoors near an entrance while avoiding small animals?
Are there any other tricks or automation ideas that could help filter out these unwanted triggers?
Adjustable sensitivity would be very useful.
It would also be very useful if Aqara provided an adjustable motion sensitivity or detection range for the P2. In a setup like mine, being able to fine-tune the sensor could make a big difference.
I know that a PIR motion sensor cannot actually distinguish between a person and a cat, but I’m hoping that the right mounting height and angle might significantly reduce these unwanted detections.
Any tips, photos of your installation, or experience with the P2 would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
FAQ says 1.2m - 2.0m. But that doesn’t account for cats, especially outdoors (since it’s actually an indoor sensor).
I’d actually try the exact opposite: mount it lower and angle it up. That way it shouldn’t catch animals on the ground anymore (though you might get birds instead ).
Definitely. You could also try giving the sensor some “blinders”. Mine is sitting on a shelf and pushed back a bit on purpose so it can’t see the floor.
Can you check the “AI Detection” settings on the G350? You could enable “Person Detection” (with alerts and video). For “Animal Detection”, keep the feature itself turned on, but just uncheck the notifications and video. Or just disable general “Motion Detection” entirely? That should fix the issue, right? It definitely works like that on my G5 Pro PoE.
Firmware 1.0.3 actually lets you adjust the motion sensitivity, but it was pulled due to bugs. Might be worth asking support if they can push the firmware to your device anyway.
On the mounting question: 2 meters is right in the range where PIR sensors pick up the most vertical crossover between “small animal at ground level” and “person’s upper body,” so I’d guess angling down is worth testing before going higher. PIR detection cones widen with distance, and a cat walking directly under the sensor at 2m is often sitting right in the same vertical slice as a person standing further back. Steepening the downward angle should shrink the ground-level portion of that cone without cutting your reach toward the door.
The trick that actually solved my false-trigger problem wasn’t sensor placement though, it was gating. I stopped letting my cameras fire independently and instead had them check a second signal before recording or notifying. In your case, could you use the G5 Pro or G350’s own AI detection (person vs. animal, if your camera models support that classification) as the gate? Let the P2 trigger the motion event, but require the camera’s own detection to confirm “person” before it kicks off cloud recording or the G350 pan. You’d still get the P2’s speed advantage but filter out the false positives at the camera layer instead of trying to solve it at the PIR layer, which honestly might not be solvable given PIR just can’t tell size and shape apart.
Do your G5 Pro or G350 have person/animal classification in their detection settings? That’d be the cleaner fix if it’s available, since you’d keep the P2’s fast trigger but only act on it when the camera agrees.
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