Presence sensor workflow

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I’ve been using an Aqara motion sensor to turn on the lights in the stairwell going to my finished basement. The basement has my office and our home theater in it. Lights come on, stay on for 90 seconds, then turn off. Works for most of my needs unless I (or, more importantly, my spouse) decide to stay in the basement to watch a movie. The stairwell sensor comes on when we walk by the stairs but it’s in the best place for when we descend. I know this is a common problem, lights on when you don’t want and lights off and you’re waving your hands like a crazy person. So…

I just received an Aqara FP1 and would like to set up an automation following this workflow:

  • Stairwell motion sensor detects motions, lights on for 90 seconds
    • I’m in the office so no presence detected
    • We’re in the theater, presence detected for 60 seconds so disable motion sensor for 2 hours
  • Re-enable motion sensor unless FP1 detects motion

Or something like that… The idea is that I like to have the basement light come on when I go to my office but don’t want it activated if were downstairs watching a movie. Can’t really come up with the process but recall seeing a video or two with similar requirements.

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I have 4 of them and the best bet is to open your app and watch what the sensor does when your mimicking the behaviors you described, take notes of the approach, away, enter_left/right, and leave_left/right those are very useful features to understand.
Pay attention to Home/Away and how its working in these areas when you go to the Office, walking around, or sit down for a Movie all this info will help the automations make more sense when incorporating the FP1.

There are also zones that can be set up for them, I haven’t used or played with that really as the placement on mine does really benefit from using that feature in Z2M.

They’re a game changer once you figure out how to use them in “your” setup/environment.

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Was trying different ideas to disable the motion sensor but went back through some old videos and found this one from Home Automation Guy on sensor groups that I think might be a winning approach. Have to put it into practice and see if it honors using the physical switch or HA-based theater routines.