Anyone try to build a bed occupancy sensor integrated with Home Assistant? I’ve looked into load sensors but all of them seem to have pretty small weight limits (low enough to where I don’t think it would even support the empty bed).
What devices/sensors have you used for this? And what does your setup look like?
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I’ve worked on such IOT devices for the hospital.
Aliexpress has load cells that go up to the hundreds of KGS. One of those, an esp32/pico and some wiring and you should be good to go?
Couldn’t find the exact one I ordered a few months ago, but this type of pressure sensor aliexpress link is apparently a common bed occupancy sensor type used when building medical beds for hospitals and care homes so staff can be alerted when a patient gets out of bed. I’m not sure the specific model I linked is quite right specs-wise, but the idea is that it goes on a slat or other surface between the matress and the frame that doesn’t necessarily get the full weight of the occupant, but still gets enough to measure on the sensor.
I can’t believe I’m even engaging this post, but… what’s the use-case? Gotta say, this sounds extra creepy.
@just_another_person Turning on or off nightlights. Changing iOS focus (e.g., sleeping). Activating outside security monitoring… all kinds of interesting use cases.
Turn on the lights in the bedroom based on presence sensor, but only if the bed occupancy sensor detects no one is in bed.
Turn off the lights when 2 people in bed. Turn the lights on really low when only 1 person gets up. Track time you went to bed / time in bed as a low-budget sleep tracker not tied to a big data broker, like a smart watch would be…
Yum yum
-Data_mining_bot
Self-hosted. The data stays within my home- It is processed locally on my server.
Some of us like to automate our homes with our home automation systems instead of finding new ways to remote control them.
Gotta make sure the dogs aren’t jumping on the bed while the humans are gone. What else could you possibly use this for? 🤷🏻♂️
Human trafficking or people being held against their will???
Why would anyone ask about “occupancy” of a bed? Motion or Presence sensors are fine. Like, you want to enact a trigger based on when someone gets IN the bed? That’s makes no sense.
This whole question comes off as extra fucking creepy to me.
You’re right in that it’s a useful tool for various kinds of abuse, but so is almost every useful home automation/home security sensor.
The most obvious/useful use cases I can see are:
- turn on bedroom lights when the last person gets out of the bed
- turn off whole house lights when the last person gets into bed.
Both should be easy with load cells under the bed legs but rather difficult otherwise.
(Useful assuming a household of two adults in one bed that is).
Maybe if you’d read the replies to your question you wouldn’t be creeped out. There are a lot of good use cases and I haven’t even though how it could be misused before you brought it up.
Yeah it’s creepy, but I think the more logical reason for wanting it is to know whether or not their spouse is being faithful. My previous comment was sarcastic because I thought you were being sarcastic yourself.
I guess?? Still…
Taking care of an elderly person whose a fall risk? There are lots of valid reasons.
Presence sensors do fall detection and human presence to a great degree. No need for a BED sensor and measuring occupancy.
And how is a presence sensor in a bedroom less creepy? Its measuring the same thing as you say.
