Manual Curtains sensor ideas

Hi all,

Any one have any suggestions on a sensor that would allow me to add automations that occur when I close my curtains. We have a bay window and as my wife does not want a plastic track I have no option to automate them. I was wondering if there was an automation sensor that could be used to sense when there is fabric blocking it to send a signal over zigbee to home assistant

Thanks in advance

Something like this?

Not a bad suggestion but I believe I would have to put the receiver on either side of where the curtain passes and as such will have asthetic issue’s for wife approval

If you put both the receiver and transmitter on the wall and put a very small patch of retro-reflective tape on the back of the curtain the sensor will be on when the curtains are there to reflect the IR beam, and off when they are not.

That’s a good idea, thanks I will try and play around with this idea was playing around with a door sensor and magnets to get the alignment correct ends up messing with the door sensor and cause draping issue with the weight on curtain

What about a zigbee door sensor on the track and a magnet glued on the back of the curtain ?