i have a motion sensor underneath my bed.
because of the fact that we do go into and out of bed on regular times (within a certain timeframe) i can predict what triggers the motion.
it tells me
when my wife goes to bed
when my wife goes out of bet to use the bathroom
when my wife goes out of bed in the morning
when i go to bed
when i get out of bed in the morning
if your cat isnt running around your bedroom at night that can work.
a second sensor makes it even more relyable.
there is also a topic about a weight sensor for bedoccupancy that works.
i did seperate them with time conditions.
because i dont need 100% accuracy.
accuracy in every normal case is enough. when there are unusual circumstances we know that not everything is programmed for that.
the second distinction i have is that i have motion detection in the kitchen.
if the motion in the bedroom isnt followed within a certain time by motion in the kitchen, then my wife wasnt waking up.
so the wake up from my wife is actually first noticed when she arrives in the kitchen.
another motion detector near the toilet can also help with that.
motion bedroom > motion toilet > motion bedroom = just toilet
motion bedroom > motion kitchen = waking up
motion bedroom > motion toilet > motion kitchen = waking up
I was thinking about using an Amazon Dash for something like that - simply pressing the button would kick off some routines.
But then I had so many other great ideas what I could do with that button, e.g. checking if all doors & windows are closed & locked when I go to bed at night (still working on the micro switch that detects if the deadbolts are actually locked), and nothing got implemented so far
I will - one day - set up a dash button to do the morning routine stuff, promise.
i try to avoid buttons to automate things.
i think that is something like implementing a wall switch to turn on the lights, thats not a step forward but a step back
I use Alexa and just say ‘Alexa I’m awake’ and that’s the trigger for my morning routines.
Also ‘Alexa goodnight’ triggers bedtime boolean , and if not auto triggers at 11:30pm.
For my wife it’s bedroom motion followed by kitchen motion within 5 minutes with a condition after 5:30am as she’s an early bird.
Kids are triggered by door sensors on their bedrooms with time conditions.
If I wake up first because early morning calls with Europe I just wait till I get to my office to tell Alexa I’m awake. If wife or kids are not up lights don’t auto turn on except in my office.
Do you always plug your phone in to charge overnight? Can iOS fire a trigger of some sort when you unplug the charger in the morning?
Are there third-party alarm apps? On Android I use “Wake me up!” for my alarms, which integrates wit Tasker allowing me to tell Home Assistant when the alarm has gone off.
Rather than a load sensor, a simpler solution might be a DIY capacitive sensor on the bedside table. With some tuning you could get it to trigger in the mornings when you reach for your phone, or just gesturing over the table.
I remember a guy on reddit who posted a project where he transformed his bed in a scale, using cheap stuff anyway. Basically the bed could detect the weight of the stuff laying on it, so he could also detect who actually was sleeping in the bed.
What about just having a motion sensor on each side of the bed? If they are masked so they only see movement on one side, that should give a pretty reliable and cheap detection.
One of the first things I do when I wake up is check my phone, so what would work for me is to have a sensor that detects whether my phone is unlocked. Has anyone found a way to do this on Android?
I think the Bed Occupancy project is an interesting idea, combined with time or sun based sensors.
Motion sensors under the bed are not going to work in the OP’s case as they would be triggered by the cat.
On Android I know the newer versions of the HA App can detect a phone unlock. For me, I always charge my phone overnight, and I unplug it when I get up in the morning so using the sensor in the app to detect when the phone is unplugged in the morning seems to work for me .
I use to use a “first light” sensor, but again relied on motion and could be triggered by other things moving.
.