FAQ: Best mmWave Sensor to Use with ST? (human presence sensor/occupancy sensor)

  1. Aqara FP1. Zigbee.

If connected directly to a smartthings hub, you can just use the stock driver or you can use a custom edge driver from @Mariano_Colmenarejo . The custom driver exposes a few more features like the temperature sensor and “left to right.” But if you don’t want to fool with custom code, just add it and it should be found by the stock edge driver.

Remember, I said things are changing very quickly in this device class? Although this device was only released two years ago and made a big splash then, most people believe the FP2 is a big improvement, and the FP1 is becoming very difficult to find for sale except on some of the Chinese online market places which aqara does not consider approved vendors. (Meaning they may not honor the warranty and the device may be counterfeit.)

Some community members have reported a very high failure rate with these, with the devices, dying after three or four months, but others are happy with theirs.

  1. Aqara FP2. WiFi.

Second generation, and it shows. It’s Wi-Fi, so you don’t need to have a hub. Divide a room into up to 30 zones. Multiple blog reviews really like this one, in particular, it has a low rate of false positives compared to some of the other brands. A small but pleasant feature is that it has a swivel base so it’s easy to angle it. List price is about $85, but it’s sometimes on sale for about $10 less.

Both smartthings and aqara have announced that there will be a future improved integration for this device, but that hasn’t been delivered yet. Still, people seem quite happy with it. But you will only get the Zones proxied as motion sensors, not even the light sensor comes through the integration at the time of this posting. If you’re looking for someone to solve the problem of “my motion sensor thinks I left the room when I’m still sitting on the couch“ this should be a good candidate.

The two companies together announced an integration coming in first quarter 2024. Meanwhile, you would need to use Ifttt, Alexa routines, Google routines, or Home Assistant for integration, any of which will bring in each zone as a motion sensor.

https://www.amazon.com/Aqara-Positioning-Multi-Person-Detection-Assistant/dp/B0BXWZMQJ3/

  1. EP1. WiFi.

This looks like a DIY instructable project: sold without a case, lots of advanced engineering features, no safety certifications. Lists at $75. You can buy a case for it for an extra $9.

The company is committed at the time of this post, to providing smartthings integration, and they have published an edge driver for this model. They are working on an edge driver for their newer model, the EP lite, but it hasn’t been released yet.

This is a Wi-Fi device, but intended to be cloudless, which is why there’s an edge Driver. (Note that if you are using the edge Driver, you do have to have a smart things/Aeotec hub because that’s where the edge driver runs.)

It’s been very popular in the community, but there have been glitches from time to time. See the discussion thread:

[Edge Driver] A Breakthrough In Human Presence Detection

  1. Tuya (sold under many different brand names, and several different models.) they make both zigbee and Wi-Fi models, so make sure you know what you have before you start looking at integrations.

Many of the Zigbee models can be used with the following custom edge driver, although you may not get temperature/light values, and you may have to request that the author add your specific model’s fingerprint.

[ST Edge] Personal Tuya Devices - Generic EF00 Device

Some specific model notes:

4a) PS-HPS Black Radar Human Presence Sensor. Zigbee. not recommended

This model was one of tuya’s first efforts, and it is extremely “chatty,“ sending lots and lots of different messages that can clog up your Zigbee net work.

4b) ZY-M10x. WiFi.

A second generation device, this one seems more reliable. I’m not sure how the integration works, though, you’ll have to do some research on that. If someone knows, please post. I know people are using it, I just don’t know the details of the integration.

About half the price of the aqara Fp2, but more cheaply built with fewer advanced features.

https://www.amazon.com/Presence-Millimeter-Detection-Requires-Presence¡­/dp/B0CGXF17YM/

4c) Tuya YXBRB58x. Zigbee.

Their second generation, with a lot of improvements over the original “radar“ HPS design, including being less chatty.

https://www.amazon.com/Presence-Required-Detector-Security-Automatical/dp/B0BYDCY4YN
.


Some people have reported that they could never get it to connect with a smartthings hub.

I know @Buds_Smart_Home was looking at it, but I don’t know if he ever got an integration working. :thinking:

4d) Tuya B0CFHJRFHJ. WiFi.

Third generation, people seem to like this. Again, just shows as a motion sensor for each zone. When reading Amazon reviews, check to see if the “color“ is listed as Wi-Fi or zigbee.

https://www.amazon.com/Presence-Millimeter-Detector-Occupancy-Presence¡­/dp/B0CFHJRFHJ?th=1

4e) Tuya B0CFHL81P8. Zigbee version of 4d. Works with the custom edge Driver mentioned above.

https://www.amazon.com/Presence-Millimeter-Detector-Occupancy-Presence¡­/dp/B0CFHL81P8?th=1

  1. Sonoff SNZB-06P. Zigbee.

Can be used either by connecting to a Sonoff zigbee Hub and then bringing it in through the eWeLink cloud to cloud linked services integration, or by connecting directly to a smartthings/Aeotec hub. In either case, this is a very basic detected/not detected device with only one zone. Only a few community members have reported on it so far. One common complaint is that it takes a very long time to clear, so it’s good at knowing when someone comes in the room, but it might think they are still in the room 30 minutes after they left. On the other hand, it is very inexpensive, about $15, so if you don’t need lots of advanced features, this could be a good candidate.

@Declankh has shared a link to step-by-step instructions for adding it to Smartthings:

Manufacturer site:

Details page:

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