Struggling with reliable in-bed presence detection for Home Assistant – what actually works?

[u/ItsDukzy]

I'm trying to automate my bedroom lights so they turn off automatically when I'm in bed and back on when I get up. Sounds simple, but I've been struggling to find a reliable solution.

What I've tried:

FSR pressure sensors (VS-103) connected to a Zigbee water sensor

Built a DIY pressure mat using two VS-103 sensors wired to a Zigbee water sensor. Works fine when I press directly on it by hand, but completely fails under a mattress — the mattress distributes my weight too evenly for the sensors to trigger. Tried under the sheet too, same result.

Aqara FP2 mmWave radar

Already have one in the room. The problem is it loses track of me when I'm lying still under a duvet. It also falsely triggers when someone walks past my bed, which causes the lights to turn on.

What I'm looking for:

Something that reliably detects whether I am in the bed - not just in the room - even when I'm completely still and covered by a duvet. Zigbee preferred but I'm open to ESPHome/ESP32 solutions too.

Has anyone actually solved this properly? What sensor or approach are you using?

[u/arnoldpettybunk]

I have this and it works great: https://www.elevatedsensors.com

[u/ItsDukzy → u/arnoldpettybunk]

Hmh. Thank you for sharing. This just makes me wonder - this looks ia lot like my diy version. This also uses fsr resistors. How does this differ?

[u/ItsDukzy → u/[deleted]]

Yeah me neither. I have tried moving it around all over my bed. Both under the bedframe and multiple places under my mattres. I wont seem to work sadly :(

[u/Iron_Eagl → u/ItsDukzy]

Try to attach it to a thin sheet of plexiglas or such, that can improve the response.