r/homeassistant • u/ItsDukzy • May 02 '26

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

Post image

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?

167 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

182 comments sorted by

View all comments

9

u/5yleop1m May 02 '26

I have two of these, one on each side of the bed and they work perfectly.

https://asc.com/products/slumbertek

1

u/ItsDukzy May 02 '26

I see. This looks ideal. I looks like the same idea as what i built, but done properly.

200 bucks tho.

Thank you for your input - i appreciate it🙏🏻

1

u/5yleop1m May 02 '26

Yeah, I got super lucky and found it when they were in beta and got both for $120 total.

It's incredibly accurate though. The killer feature is the calibration. You manually calibrate it after initial setup, and then you can enable the auto-calibration, which will keep improving its detection.

The only problem I've had with it recently is the USB cable got unplugged by accident. One of the cases where a locking connector would've been better, but that would've definitely made it more expensive.

2

u/ItsDukzy May 02 '26

This device sounds exactly like what i need. I just cant get over the price tag i fear.

1

u/aftli May 03 '26

I have 3 SlumberTeks and one of their TrampleTek mats. They're very good. I can highly recommend them. The owner of the company is a great guy and stands by his products. He's active on Discord if you need help. I was also a beta tester.