Building My Perfect Smart Home Presence Detection Sensor!

A few weeks ago, I took you through a custom built room presence sensor which used mmWave to accurately detect the presence of a person in a room - even when there was no movement. The DIY sensor we built is amazing for controlling things like smart lights in rooms when you don't tend to move around much, like your living room or bedroom. So after that video, I became focussed on how to improve this sensor and what other sensors I could add in here to make MY ideal room presence sensor, everything from light levels, temperature, humidity and of course, multiple levels of occupancy and presence.

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[wobbleszo]

Would love to buy a few of these without having to buy the components and assemble, but appreciate that this is such a great solution.

[SteveDOES]

Great video! I loved that you built your own sensor that does everything you need. Makes me want to build one for each room in my house.

[LavaughnPurdom]

This is so awesome! Presence detection has always been a pain point but this seems to be the perfect solution. Cant wait for more commercially made projects to be readily available with MMW

[TestTest-skoj]

This is awesome! Would be great to have some sort of documentation for this. So a buylist together with the step by step manual to put this together. Same for the STL file of printing a case. Maybe an idea when a V2 will be released? XD can't wait! Great idea!

[Fine_i_set_the_handle]

9:00 by the way since you were speculating on this you are correct a 60ghz mmwave sensor is far more sensitive even being capable of detecting heartbeats and breathing which is why its so much more reliable than the 24ghz one when detecting sleeping humans, although it does this at a much lower range than a 24ghz module. To be fair the dfrobot sensor does specifically say in the instructions and even shows pictures to install the sensor directly above or under the bed when using it for that purpose. Seeed studio actually has a 60hz module for sale on amazon currently if you want to read about it maybe even test it. seeed studio mr60fda1 60ghz mmwave sensor

[mommasboyfilms]

You should totally design a PCB for this! I’d love to make one, but I’m not great at PCB design. I’d hate to get started just to realize I have to restart due to a bad design.

[mosthed]

The fp1 is amazing. I spent months/years trying different combos of door contacts and motion detectors to detect presence in the bathroom and when in the shower, but nothing short of pressing a button to set my system into "shower mode" worked well. That all changed as soon as I received the fp1. Not only does it perfectly detect someone being in the bathroom, it detects through the shower curtain, and it even detected me in the shower when I accidentally put my clothes directly in front of the device.

I was able to remove all other devices and complex node-red flows minus one aqara motion detector to more quickly trigger the lights to turn on as it takes a few seconds longer for the fp1 to determine that there is an actual person in the room, where as a normal motion detector is nearly instant. I then only have to use the fp1's "off" mode when presence is no longer detected to turn the light off. There is no trouble in between anymore of lights going off when using the toilet or in the shower.

[davidbronke]

I would absolutely love to see a zigbee version of this! I have a bunch of ESP32-CAM cameras already, and they're a bit unreliable with regards to connectivity. The zigbee devices I have seem to be much more consistent. Also, I love the lower power draw.
If there was a zigbee version of this, I'd probably order a bunch.

[gerarddantel]

Other than the fact that I might have to actually get better at soldering, this video and its predecessor are right up my alley. Well, at least it's where I want to be but need to put in some effort first. Thanks so much for this. Once again Kudos to you sir!

[Sarvesh]

Had this idea of combining sensor together per room since a while. The mm wave is a game changer. Thanks for the inspiration.

[microfx]

Thanks for listening to my suggestion: This will be the most interesting upload you have done so far since this is such an important feature most smart homes lack.

[neilos]

Great video. Do you have a diagram showing all of the connections you made from each component ?

[krikkenstein]

Air quality is something nice to add. Apart from your suggestion to add a particle sensor I would add a CO2 sensor like the SCD30. That will tell you when you have to ventilate the room.
Forgot to compliment you on this nice video…

[dac]

Dying for a build and programming guide on this! You're the best

[simonrussell]

This is brilliant, thank you. I know it's kinda outside the spec of this, but I'd love a battery version for the bathroom.

[marceskenazi]

You swine!! Just after I completed the first version using the mmWave sensor, you come out with this! Seriously, a great video and another fantastic project. I will be attempting this upgrade as soon as I can.

[rob]

Another awesome project Lewis, well done! 👏🏻

Apparently the IKEA Vindriktning air quality sensor is reliable and can be hacked to connect to the ESP boards.

[thatsTrudeau]

RF Engineer here, seems like a fun project to put into one PCB. Thanks for sharing.

[DonGerico]

Will you write this up as a guide for others to make their own? This is just what I've been looking for!

[frankrollen]

Verrrry nice! Good work!

I‘d seen a link to your website with the words „written article“… but i can‘t find anything on the website…?

A wiring diagram and a .bin file for the ESP would make it very easy to make one.
I couldn’t help making a connection drawing if you want.