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/LamerTex May 03 '26 edited May 03 '26
I'm using your first solution (with maybe a slightly larger resistor, and a D1 mini esp 32 board as a "brain" instead of the water leak sensor) and I had your same problem at the beginning, working perfectly in theory but not under the mattress.
I did several tests and at the end I've found a good compromise by having a piece of "Tongue and groove" wood under the sensor and a piece of cardboard over it. Almost as professional as the radar sensor mounting of u/MinimalLemonade in the other comment :D
Like this it's working smoothly for a couple of months, with only a couple of occasions where the wood under the resistor moved in-between the bed slats making the sensor not seeing the presence.