My best guess is that the sensor is divided as a matrix, which each cell having a presence probabilty between 0 and 1. The rest could be all gui, summations, etc. If my assumption is correct, translation would be less difficult that it seems at first glance.
Inteseting times! I’m very curious to see how this development is going onwards.
My sensor is now installed. Correct installation is key. Try not to implement dead zones in the software. Instead, aim the sensor in such a way that the difficult spots (in my case a window and a ceiling fan) are not in sight of the sensor.
Reason not to use dead zones: if a person enters the dead zone, the presence is not detected anymore. In my case: if i would stand beneath the ceiling fan, i would become undetected.
I installed the sensor high up, in the corner, by using a angle iron (bending it to 45 degrees), taping it in white electrical tape for an incognito look, and using a white tiny cable tray. By putting it high up in the corner, facing the sensor downwards, i get 3 benefits:
-curtains/window is not detected
-ceiling fan is not detected
-perfect vision to the rest of the room
Anyone stuck on ‘Waiting…’ on the firmware update? I purchased 3 units and have 2 setup to start experimenting with. I was seeing a lot of timeout issues when making changes to zones, etc so started a firmware update about 2 hours ago and still stuck on ‘Waiting…’ on both units, with the LED indicator slowly flashing yellow. According to the manual this means they are doing an OTA update, but they never show anything more than ‘Waiting…’
Tempted to pull the plug and do a hard reset of them, but scared to brick them and since they are out of stock on Amazon there’d be no replacing. Thoughts? Guessing everyone on the planet took delivery of theirs today and maybe Aqara wasn’t ready for the load?
Firmware update was done in aprox a minute for me.
I just received my Fp2’s. My plan is to Install the Aqara app add the Fp2’s through the Aqara app then add to Home Assistant. Then add the Fp2’s to HomeKit. I’m wondering if I’ll get all the Zones in HA and Homekit?
Yes, you will get all the zones you setup in the app. Each zone is a different presence sensor.
Just a word on order for setup. When you first add it to the Aqara it will force you to add it to Apple Home (at least if you have an iOS device, don’t know about Android). Then it will bind the FP2 to the Aqara app. You can do setup in the Aqara app, then at when you’re ready to put it in HA you have to go to the Apple Home app and REMOVE the FP2 from Apple Home. Unplug the FP2, plug it back in, and it should be auto discovered by HA.
That’s the only way I’ve been able to reliably get the FP2 into HA.
You can do the HA setup right away if you want. Any new zones you add in the Aqara app later will show up automatically in HA.
Thank you for all the info, I’m going to try and force the fp2 to HA first. I’ll install the app on a Samsung phone first to see what happens. Then see what I get when I switch it all over to the iPhone.
Note: The device can be added directly to Home Assistant using HomeKit Controller integration) You can integrate the sensor easily without requiring an Aqara hub, which is a great solution for smart home enthusiasts. Hopefully this is true not sure why it would need to go to Homekit first.
On iOS, the Aqara app gives you no choice. It does the Apple Home setup BEFORE it binds to the Aqara app, and there is no button to skip the Apple Home step. It’s not needed to have it in Apple Home, but I can’t find anyway around it. And for HA you need to get it out of Apple Home so HA can see it.
Ok, hope it’ll work. I found some at a retailer and ordered 2pcs. They should be here on Wednesday. I hope I can integrate them into HA through home kit without iOS device. If not, I’ll borrow one for a day 
Thanks for the optimum position for the mounting, this is exactly what I had my doubts with fan interference especially if someone’s around that area.
How high is that and what’s the fp2 distance from the ceiling fan?
The sensor is placed at 1.90m measured from the floor, the ceiling height is 2.45m. The distance from the sensor to the fan blade tip is 1.60m. The fan blade sits aprox 0.16m below the ceiling.
Just try to aim the sensor downwards, so it will miss the fan.
That’s not true it works out of the box with homekit, no need for a Aqara hub
I ran into this issue, but was able to resolve by clicking “cancel” a few times. Cancel wouldn’t work from my iOS device but did work from my Android device. Their software is still a bit wonky.
I’ve picked up one of these bad boys for the bedroom so I can automate an air purifier when someone enters/exits the room, a night light when we get out of bed, and my desk lights coming on when I sit down to work (but not if someone is in bed).
One thing I ran into when setting up and doing the HomeKit removal from Apple Home → pair to Home Assistant dance was that my Eero router had HomeKit security enabled which kicked the FP2 off the Wi-Fi network and prevent Home Assistant from pairing with it.
After disabling HomeKit Security in the Eero app (and turning the Eero Thread radio off as I don’t even use it), all was well. Zones syncing as separate binary sensors and the light sensor also comes in nicely.
Not a bad little sensor! Now I want one for the living room…
Thanks! This helped me and I tried quite a few things before.
Anyone manage to get any advance feature available in HA, like custom zone detection or number of people detected?
I’m not sure what you mean by custom zone detection, but HomeKit exposes any zone you add as another sensor that HA sees. You can view the full list by looking at the device. They do have generic names, so you might have to do some sleuthing to figure out which is which and rename them.
As for the number of people, it does not appear that’s available.
My spouse and I apparently sleep the sleep of the dead. The FP2 I have in the bedroom that is pointed right at the bed has a really hard time telling that we are there all night. I got probably 20 different “absence” notices (and eventual presence notices) over about 8 hours. Meanwhile in the guest bathroom the vent pulling air from the space rustles the curtain enough (not that I can see it moving) to keep that sensor saying there is always someone in the bathroom.
I’ve found work arounds for both (use Room Assistant bluetooth as a secondary presence detector in the bedroom, mark the shower outside the “edge” of the bathroom), and I know the success with these things is probably very dependent on the space and positioning. So no need for suggestions, I’m just sharing my experience so far.
Related to that, I’m not sure in my space I’ll ever get these accurate enough to actually use them to control the lights on entry/exit. I had one light doing that, and it turned on and off about a dozen times last night. I did find two interference zones in the kitchen, but I had to watch my phone for 20 minutes in the middle of the night to find them. I wish the log in the app also had a “playback” of the graphic with the little person icon. That would help narrow these kind of things down.
Hi All,
After tinkering with this a bit more, I’m wondering if anyone came across the same “issue”.
I created 2 zones on Aqara app, joined it to HA, and HA picked up 3 presence detection sensors. (I thought it should only picked up 2) - so I guess this is problem no. 1
Secondly, I added it into HA about 13 hours ago, and just now, only 1 of the sensor still works - problem no. 2
I’m just wondering if there’s a way for me to factory reset this thing? as removing it from the app doesn’t seems to be resetting the device completely.
Can’t speak to your second problem, but you will always get N+1 sensors (where N is the number of zones you create). The sensor numbered one is the presence sensor for the entire area the FP2 can see. The ones after that are all your zones.
