Bed Presence for ESPHome by Elevated Sensors

Introducing Bed Presence for ESPHome, now available for purchase @ elevatedsensors.com

Dual Sensor

Includes two sensors with accurate “in bed” detection for any bed with slats. It stays out of the way and conveniently mounts between the mattress and bed slats. The extra long sensors means that it can easily handle Queen and even King sized beds. Smaller beds can be covered with a single sensor.

Auto Calibration

Every person and bed is unique and this sensor automatically calibrates to you and your bed. No more finicky resistor calculations. In fact, there’s no hardware calibration at all. The automated steps help you pick a trigger point, and you’re ready to go!

Endless Automations

  • Arm/disarm security system
  • Turn off all lights
  • Morning announcements
  • Enable pathway lighting for midnight bathroom breaks

OTA Updates

Receive updates and bug fixes over the air. Or import into your ESPHome Dashboard for full DIY control over the firmware.

Full Local Control

It’s Made for ESPHome and comes preloaded with ESPHome, so it’s ready to easily integrate with your smart home setup all while respecting your privacy. If you want to tinker and modify it, it’s ready for that too. Want to track sleep cycles based on movement? Go for it!

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Very neat, but quite the price tag.

How about a single bed version too?

I’m very excited about this, congratulations! I love seeing new ESPHome products like this enter the market.

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Hard to say, as it doesn’t specify a currency. $ - but which one. I assume it is arrogantly US.

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Thanks for the feedback. There’s obviously a lot that goes into pricing, but I’ll keep that in mind for the future. If everyone starts buying thousands, I’ll definitely be able to get my prices down, haha.

Would you be interested in a unique product for the single version, or simply the option to buy this unit with a single sensor. Most of the cost difference would be the sensor strip itself (or lack thereof).

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It is USD. I updated some settings on the website to explicitly reflect that.

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That’s pretty cool, and the price is a bit high for it but not totally outrageous, except for that price one would expect a plug :wink:. Nice job. If it works with slats and it’s mentioned frequently, does it not work with a solid wood base?

This side picture might make it a little more clear that it overhangs the slat. This allows it to be as thin as possible where it matters. If the base is completely solid, it would not work, as there would be nowhere for the overhang to go.

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For those looking to save a few dollars, there is currently a popup offer on the website to get 10% off for joining the mailing list. Emails won’t be frequent at all.

Very cool. This is my exact setup (albeit not at sleek). Honestly it’s not wildly expensive when considering those FSRs are about 20 a pop regular pricing

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The latter makes sense to me — with the firmware adapted accordingly.

True, depending on length. I must’ve missed it. @stephenp93 what’s the length?

These are the long ones. The sensing area for each is 610 mm (24 in). Add in the connectors and the PCB, the wingspan with both sensors is 51" which works really well for a queen mattress. We also include extension wires to increase the wingspan to 68" for a king mattress.

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Will this work with an IKEA Malm bed frame that has a central support bar and slats that are closely spaced with only about a centimeter gap between them?

How are those extension cables? (Pictures are welcome :wink:)
Can I use those to have the device below one of the slats and the sensor stripes over the slats?

Thanks, I hate when they don’t say. AliExpress are about the only site who are up front and obvious about it.

This is very neat. However after looking at the ESPHome yaml I am confused.

If you don’t mind giving away your trade secrets, how are you using a pulse counter instead of a resistance sensor for the FSRs?

Do you have VCOs (voltage controlled oscillators) inside the box as well as the ESP32?

I would have bought it immediately if it wasn’t just for slatted frames. I have a box spring bed. It would be great if you made something for box spring beds too :upside_down_face:

It won’t mount correctly with only 1cm between slats. The extension cable is just a male to female extension that is about 8" long. You could definitely mount the unit under and use the extensions to get back to the top of the slats.

I’ll also note that it’s just using standard 2.54mm (0.1") header pins, so obtaining longer extensions wouldn’t be too challenging either.

The fixed resistor was obviously something I had to overcome in order to make it useful for every bed/person. I initially moved to a digital potentiometer, but ran into current limits with some configurations.

The final version uses 555 timers to generate a signal with a continuously variable frequency across the entire range of the FSR. No hardware calibration necessary! The “auto calibration” process is really just picking a trigger threshold.

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We may offer some solutions for box springs in the future. As a quick note (since I didn’t realize this until starting this journey), “box spring” is often used to generically describe both box springs and bed foundations. Bed foundations contain a wooden frame covered in fabric (essentially a bunch of slats), while box springs don’t have a wooden structure on the top to mount anything to.

For the bed foundation, the bed presence module will mount just fine to the wood, you’ll just have to be careful with the sensors, as I’m not sure how well the adhesive will stick to the fabric covering the wood.

For actual box springs, the trick is that there is nothing solid to press the sensors against. The other trick is how/where to mount it. The only way I see around that is to add a piece of wood (essentially acting as a slat) between the mattress and the box spring. The fake slat also has to be designed such that it supports and protects the electronics.