I’m also seeing that here. I have a separate IoT VLAN, so I can easily block all the internet traffic for that entire network. Once I had one of the FP2s setup on the IoT VLAN, I blocked all access. It still reports in HA just fine. Interestingly, if I move my phone back to my regular network (which has access to the IoT network), the app still won’t talk to the FP2. So for you to use the Aqara app requires a cloud connection for sure. I may end up assigning the FP2s static IPs and then blocking their internet access and then just pause that rule any time I need to update the config or the devices.
If it’s not too much trouble, could you tell me, is the Home Assistant in the same subnet as your IoT stuff, or is it succesfully “talking” to the sensor from another subnet?
I’m asking because the older Xiaomi stuff (bulbs mostly) were setup not to responde to connections from a subnet different then the one they were on.
My solution at home has been to put one “network adapter” of the NUC I’m running HA on in the “MAIN” subnet, where the users can reach it and another in the “NOT” subnet (IoT without I), where I keep things that are never supposed to talk to the internet.
I’m thinking of getting this sensor if I dont manage to come up with something with similar capabilities but from the zigbee / z-wave reallm. Thanks in advance.
Not sure who you are asking, but mine is in the same subnet.
My HA instance and the FP2s are on the same subnet. It’s too much hassle to have HA on one subnet and the devices on another.
Does anyone have more than one?
Do they interfere with each other when covering a large room?
I have two set up. One in the Living Room and one in the Kitchen. They can ‘see’ a little of the same area. I just set the zones to not overlap each other and they are working great.
3 Likes
I have six of these to cover the whole house (only two setup so far). At bptworld said, if you do nothing, then can both show occupancy (hesitant to call that interference, as they are both properly detecting a person).
I’m using a two-fold strategy. I’m defining zones and edges to avoid some of the overlap, and in other cases I’m using the overlap to my advantage. I’m letting the sensors overlap and defining a “living room” area on the kitchen sensor (for instance). That actually helps me due to the shape of my great room, as there is some of the great room only the kitchen sensor can see and some that only the great room sensor can see. My plan is to do some template sensors in HA so that the living room is occupied if the living room zone on either sensor is occupied.
2 Likes
This might be extremely difficult. There is a lot more to this sensor than just presence. You will need a whole new interface for zones etc. I don’t mind having to use their app. The device itself works when offline, just need to be online for the configuration. They area also release a lot of updates so that is good as well.
1 Like
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
3 Likes
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.
3 Likes
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.
4 Likes
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.
1 Like
That’s not true it works out of the box with homekit, no need for a Aqara hub
1 Like