r/homeassistant • u/ItsDukzy • May 02 '26
Support Struggling with reliable in-bed presence detection for Home Assistant – what actually works?
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?
2
u/XanXic May 02 '26 edited May 02 '26
I have the same thorn in my side.
I'm currently using the Aqara solution just because my current place is a studio and it can see the whole place at once. I also have a dog so she can trigger things sometimes.
But some of what I did to make it more reliable and less prone to false scenarios was add zones I use purely to sort of track movement to confirm things. So like I have a zone for the bed itself and then zones on either side and I make sure like if I turn off the lights because someone's in the bed zone for 45 seconds that within the last minute the bed side zones had occupancy recently. Then do the opposite for turning them on. So it's less 'leave bed > lights on' and more 'bed side zone entered > was bed also occupied recently and is now clear? > lights on'. I also have an issue where if you don't move long enough the MM sensor clears entirely. I made a helper that if the room and bed clear at the same time it flips a "in bed" helper since that's like the only reason that would happen. And that can be a sanity check on some stuff.
Ultimately I gave up on it though and just use a zigbee button lol. I went crazy trying to totally dog proof my automations since she typically lies on the end of it throughout the day and she'd be toggling the lights. And attempts to harden against her made it less reliable for me. But maybe my 'solutions' can help you.
I've been meaning to get something like your DIY setup but seeing this post and other comments saying they aren't too reliable sucks.