I have the motion sensor in the top corner of the room, facing down at an angle.
What issues is your automation having? Is it not turning the light on when someone walks in the room or is the issue with the light turning off after periods of no activity?
My issue is the light turning off on people. If someone is sitting on the bed which is diagonally from the doorway(and motion sensor) the motion sensor isnāt detecting motion to keep the light on. I basically needed to add a 15 minute delay to turning the light off when occupancy/motion goes to clear so as not to and up turning the light off on someone. Iām hoping that 15 minutes works, but it still seems that if someone is sitting on the bed after 15 minutes they will be in the dark and have to get up and move towards the door to get the lights to automatically turn back on.
The bed is a bunk bed with a larger lower bed. I ended up moving the motion sensor to the top corner of the door frame in the hopes that it being lower might help the range. The previous motion switch didnāt seem to have this problem.
Honestly. Reliable presence detection in a room is one of those things that is dependent on soo many thingsā¦I swear I can have a PIR based presence setup work perfect one day and not at all the next day. They do seem to work flawlessly for detecting entrance into a room or hallway.
As an example, in my daughters bed room, I use a motion sensor because all I really care about it putting lights on the hallway on if she gets up in the middle of the night.
On the other hand, in my bedroom, I have an ESPresence chip behind the headboard, a motion sensor in the corner and automations which use our phone charging status to determine if the room is occupied and by who.
Have you considered checking out the mmWave sensors like the FP1 or a DIY setup? I have one in the living room which seems to be working great but its a struggle in the bedroms because of the ceiling fans.
Yeah, Iāve wondered if Iām going to need to add an mmWave device. Iām going to need to watch through the video from Everything Smart Home and see about going this route. I havenāt seen the FP1 available in the U.S. yet so a DIY might be the way to go.
I got mine off of AliExpress. Seems there are a lot a available these days. ESH sensor does look great. One of those Iām each bedroom would be amazing
Ah, OK, yeah I was wondering about AliExpress and took a look and they are available there. Though $50 is a bit steep so I may just see what is acceptable with the P1 setup for now. The DIY solution requires something like ESPHome, which I havenāt even tried, and connects via WiFi which Iāve been trying to stay away from. I only have a RPi 3b so not sure I want to attempt adding ESPHome onto for stability.
This seems to be the thread to follow for the ESPHome based mmWave DIY project.
it seems that after re-adding several times it works instantly
I have to say that the first version of this sensor occasionally had issues, but now, at least on Amazon in my country, thereās the same sensor labeled as an āupdated versionā, and I must say they work incredibly fast. Theyāre a bit pricey, but itās definitely an investment worth making.
If anyone has suggestions for a sensor that performs just as well as this one, Iād love to know, since itās been a while, and Iām sure new sensors have come out. Best regards!