**Update** I used this to automate my smart thermostat: ua-cam.com/video/snVQHsnG_V4/v-deo.html Tip: use the IRK for Apple devices. Yes it can work without it but the IRK method is way more accurate. For Apple watch: espresense.com/beacons/apple For iPhone: community.home-assistant.io/t/espresense-device-id-how-to-get-them/403018/15
I used to use ESPresense a lot, but recently it just can’t handle the amount of BLE devices in my neighborhood. Even when upgrading to ESP32s with more memory, I get reboot loops from it crashing. I just got some more of the ROVERs that have more memory on board, and I hope that will help. I love the project and miss having detection in my office.
We put an ESPresense in each room, and a tile tracker on both our cats. Added some fun automations like if an extrior door is open for too long, the assistant speakers will announce their last location. Took a bit of time to figure out the right settings, but its been great!
Nice, I want to do the same thing with my 4 cats, one of them is completely deaf. I would need to modify or build a tag with a vibrate motor so I can call him for food, treats etc.
Hey, been watching your videos for many years now, you have helped me and my wife with some simple things we’ve done in our home, but I have a very interesting twist that might also help create content for your channels. I am totally blind and trying to create a blind friendly, smart home. Would love it if we could connect and speak more about it.
Ali Xpress has inexpensive ble tags. I affixed one to each of my bins and have an esp in the garage that picks them up. Reminds me if I forget to put them out, get the recycling fortnights mixed up or forget to bring them in. There's also a build you can add extra sensors so you can measure light in the room, temps etc. With the same device
I prefer the LD2410 mmWave sensors (about $7.00 USD on a test board for powering it on aliexpress) along with aome Enclosures (5 total) for about 3.50 USD. This way you don't need a 3D printer to print an enclosure and you don't have to wear or carry any kind of electronic device such as a watch or phone. Works great with no problems.
@@wojtek-33 don't care who it is really just need to know when someone enters a certain area and more importantly when everyone leaves a room or area. The later is where mmWave really shines.
How did you set your one up ? my sensors after a few hours or day just start doing false positives. im planning on trying to fix it next week when only i will be home
@@Ben-ou6cg if your using a Bluetooth proxy device like a esp32 then yes there is a bug that makes them go unavailable after a time. They are working on that problem i understand. One of mine is going through a Bluetooth proxy and does this. Reloading the integration for it makes it work again for a time, so i created a automation that when the sensor goes unavailable it forces a reload of the integration. I know this isn't ideal but it works until they can fix it. 😁
@@Ben-ou6cg Also i don't use this sensor to trigger the light to turn on, I use another sensor, either a door sensor if the room only has one exit/entrance or a standard PIR motion sensor. You can also configure the sensor to trigger when you want. Their is a program on the net that you can use to do this.
Just throwing it out there. Currently, I'm using ESPhome and have installed motion sensors in various locations within my home, backyard, and garage. I have three ESP8266s running smoothly under HA/ESPhome, which effectively report back whenever motion is detected. My objective is to create a central ESP8266, to which all the motion sensors can communicate. I plan to attach a circuit board with LEDs to this central ESP8266, allowing the LEDs to illuminate based on the specific location where motion was detected around the home. Possible? Don't want to use Arduino solutions as I am only running Home Assistant and ESPhome.
You can make a hot and cold thing with lights when you're looking for things. "Find my phone" all lights are blue until you get closer to yellow lights and red lights for where it is...
Thanks for reminding me to give these another go. Stuck them all over more than a year ago but never bothered to tweek the absortion. Working really good with my galaxy watch 4 and HA app.
While it’s maybe suitable for some people, I don’t want my automation to be dependent on a specific person (or rather a specific device worn by a specific person). At least not in all cases, and I think a „presence“ sensor is one of the best examples of that. I have not yet tackled this task, but I think you can still get a cheap solution with the usage of RC-WL0516 sensors. You can get 10 of them for a couple of bucks and most likely there is already a ready solution out there, you only need some to do some soldering. If building it from scratch, there is some stuff to consider, e.g. the occasional misfires or vice versa the occasional missing detection when movement is done. Weakness of the sensor is obviously that it by-default detects all sorts of movements. So with a simple solution, you will have problems especially with pets. Since it’s using microwaves to detect movements, you might also encounter issues with windows: mocrowaves can travel trough glass and also other non-metallic materials and people passing windows could also cause unwanted behavior. That said, there are sophisticated methods to filter out unwanted signals and use it as a somewhat reliable human-motion-detector even in complex environments.
OMG!! I have a bunch of ESP32s laying about and my wife ALWAYS losing her phone. Then asks me to search all over for it. LITERALLY EVERY BLOODY DAY!!!!!!😠😱😠😡😖 This is GREAT!!
@@TheBostonFern she’d have to take time to log into her Samsung account which she probably doesn’t remember the password every time we’re going out. This helps narrow down which of the 4 floors her phone could be in.
@@ricardoamendoeira3800 volume is off most of the time. Makes it even more difficult to find in a 4 floor, 4 bedroom, 4 bathroom terrace house. Especially with a 5 year old who now thinks it’s funny to hide people’s phone.
Can you guys put collars on your cats?! Heroes!! I need that tutorial. I have scars from the last time I tried that 12 years ago. They are older and meaner…
I'd love to set this up but the biggest issue I have is the looks.. Is there a case, cable, power combo that doesn't look so DIY? I'd love something as low-profile and 'one piece' as possible to look as though I just plugged a thing into the wall similar to a zigbee or zwave range extender, rather than a wall wart, usb cable, esp32.
I haven't tried these myself but another person commented about it shop.m5stack.com/products/atom-lite-esp32-development-kit seems like a good fit since it comes with case already and is really small.
I prefer to use the M5 Stack Atoms for this application as you can stick it directly to a small usb charger like those 5w iphone charger that most people already have laying around.
What about setting off an alarm when the presence of an *unknown* Bluetooth device is detected? What if an intruder is creeping around your ground floor windows or the patio door? You could set the range to a meter or so and it would alert you that someone is looking in or actually breaking in. Add a mm wave detector to increase the odds on your side (in case the intruder does not have any BT device on them).
I used to build mobile CCTV towers for building sites, I suggested the same thing, or a script to run in the router to detect BT signals on site after it closed for the night.
Reed- Doesn't the BT MAC change in Apple Watches? I thought that was an issue when I looked into doing this previously. Have you had any issues with it?
So far it hasn't been an issue. But if it ever does, there are guides to use the IRK number which I don't think changes. espresense.com/beacons/apple community.home-assistant.io/t/espresense-device-id-how-to-get-them/403018/15?u=gwp1
How do you keep them boards up and running for long period of time? I found the ESP not to be that reliable over wifi. What is your experience? Did you apply any fancy changes / settings?
Is there a more user friendly alternative? A wired one? Not bluetooth but Zigbee or Matter & thread? Something you can advise? I don't like to wear anything (build a new house - planning for home assistant as the base) ;) Thanks allready!
Room Presence alerts for $5… plus a 3D printer, and as long as someone has a Bluetooth device on them, that you’ve paired to the board you had to build yourself. And took hardly no time at all. LOL
Haha yeah if you don't have those it might seem not possible. I should have shared more alternative options that are also very inexpensive. Like these shop.m5stack.com/products/atom-lite-esp32-development-kit which don't need a case and are still pretty inexpensive.
Possible to use ESPresense AND Home Assistant BLE Proxy on a single ESP32? How do you track your kids’ presence around the house? Kids that are too young to have electronic device of their own.
Yea, the Hilink 2410 mm wave presence and motion detectors are much faster to respond and much better for things like lights and fans. Nice thing too is, if you're not into soldering, you can just use a simple ESP32 as a bluetooth proxy via ESPHome, the dev board for the LD2410 and boom... Easy peasy! Freaking love the LD2410s. Got a couple of 2412s but, doesn't look like HA offically supports them yet. So...I also live in Metro Phoenix and have been testing the LD2410s in the garage for fans and lights. Its not uncommon for temps to crack 125° F in there. So far ..the ESP32 BT proxy and LD2410 have been holding up. High temp of 118° F so far. Now... Longevity is the next test. Heet kills in electronic components so....well see. I've had a D1 Mini 8266, AHT10 teml sensor and SSD1306 OLED display running and going on its 3rd summer....and winter lol. Still going strong. The ESP products are just so smazing. $3 and there is so much you can do with them. Love WLED for LED Controller and ESPs. Cheap, versatile and rugged. Espressif makes a hell of s product!
Is your Apple Watch permanently glued to your arm? So if you are not wearing your watch then the sensor is useless? Too bad you can’t power it by battery otherwise you have to find and use up a outlet in every room and limited to where you can put it
It seemed to me, too, that it would be possible to use information from several sensors, and, for example, calculate with triangulation or triliteration additional information, and thus increase the precision and capabilities of the system.
I may try this with our princess cruise medallion. Their medallion class ships have something like this where you can use their app and find your family anywhere on the ship! It will even guide you to them google maps style.
Thank you for sharing. Not sure if I want to take on this but do appreciate that I could if I wanted to. Motion sensors are working fine for now but we will see what future brings
How does this work across multiple floors? Will the max range help with vertical distance if I have a sensor in a room on a main floor and a different one in the room above it?
The max range will for sure help with that. I only have one story but there are also more settings to configure for Espresense to fine tune it even more. espresense.com/configuration/settings#calibration
Very cool Reed. How can we use this in combination with mmWave sensors? This one is slow to respond, but it is individual specific. The mmWave sensor doesn't care who, but it's quicker. Any ideas on using both together? I guess mmWave for things like music, but ESPresence for music, etc.
Problem with ESPresence is that it doesn't really work for guests. You need millimeter-wave or something similar to have "real" room presence detection. But that is alot more expensive.
Hi Reed, Can you please give a couple examples of automations. Possibly where two or more people in a room and one of more leave but light stays on until room is empty. Thanks mate.
New to the field. Thought about getting the new aqara presence but would love an alternative. I’m on HomeKit, wondering could this be done on homebridge? is there a millimeter solution for HomeKit/homebridge that you know of?
2:40 Hello, I thought motion detection could be useful for security when sleeping, if someone breaks into the house or a room? What would be best, as I've seen thingies like esp, Aqara, motion sensors, millimetre wave. The esp delay would be too slow in a dangerous situation.
Great video as always, Reed! Although, I'm curious... Are you planning to use the ESPresence in conjunction WITH the Aqara FP2s? I'm setting up my FP2s now, and your ESPresence videos now has me thinking of running both!
What was your method of tweaking the distances? Ive got mine all installed, but Im finding that in a multistory house that its hard to tell what floor the device is located on exactly.
Great idea.. cannot get it working but great idea. I get firmware installed but after that nothing else works as it should according to instructions...
I had the same experience. I added the wifi, and even though it says it's not able to connect, I see it show up on my network w/ a new IP address. From there, it won't join Home Assistant. I can see in the logs where it detects my watch when I get close to it, but without being added to Home Assistant, it's all for naught
I really want something like this but faster and more accurate for really tight sensing, like think specific locations in a single room. As well as the ability to recognize different devices and trigger things. Why? I want to do an art installation type setup that detects individual users in a given small display space and adjusts that space to the user it detects. Any thoughts?
I am very interested in exploring these, but what is the real cost for deploying these 'everywhere'? Each location will need an ESP, a case (not all of us can 3D print and those that can have filament costs), and a power supply. Looks to be ~$15 per location? Still do-able foe me who only wants ~5 or 6.
I really don't want presence detection to be limited to the availability of a device within a range. That seems very restrictive to me. I'll admit that when compared to MMW, this is a lot less expensive, but it also seems to be much more limited to me. Thanks for the idea, though.
@@davidbeiler6364 Yes, the reviews I've seen seem to suggest that they're responsive. But, in this review, he said several times that it was sluggish to connect.
@@yourpalfranc The Aqaras are pretty fast, but almost any BT device will be slow AF. I have some switch bot buttons and they, at best, take about 2-3 seconds to turn on, but sometimes it might take them even 15 seconds (HA must send multiple requests due to timeouts) even with me having BT proxies in multiple rooms. TBH, next time, I would just avoid BT devices for any home automation that should happen real time (switches, presence detection, door locks, etc.).
Txs for yet another great video. Im just at the beginning of presence detection and have mmWave. I love the simplicity of this of only ot was quicker. Entering a room turn on the light won't work. Wonder why ot takes seconds to register. Secondly goven this is person specific how would you register tje whole family?
I appreciate it Thomas! The speed of it just comes with the nature of bluetooth and how often it communicates with the devices. You can register multiple devices. So I have my Apple watch, iPhone and my wife's iPhone. Then if someone is in the room and it doesn't have one of those I know it's my kids or Luna. Even though I might put on one Luna too.
Does it also work with other smart watches like my Garmin forerunner245 ? Its has Bluetooth connection to my phone? And do you have a video with the cheapest way to get(hardware)to run Home Assistant? Because raspberry pi's aren't available (sadly)
So Reed, I know you synced or used your watch. Do you have to put every bluetooth device up to the unit to learn all the different people so it will know who is in the room?
So you need to have MQTT up and running for this to work? Do you know a good I depth MQTT walk through? I’ve tried looking at it before but so much just doesn’t make sense.
Yes you need MQTT up and running. It's been a while since I set mine up but I think I watched Lewis ua-cam.com/video/dqTn-Gk4Qeo/v-deo.html MQTT can be difficult to wrap my head around. Basically it's a protocol or a way for the machines to talk to each other.
Hey, I love your videos so much. The only issue for me it is that the wifi on my ESP32 keeps deconnecting, so I can't complete the configuration😔 I don't know what to do🤣
Use a smart plug(unless you have laundry machine plugged into 240V???(I'm Polish so in Europe this is pretty normal because 240V is standard and something about 400V is high voltage)) Most smart plugs can detect real time wattage so you can do something like this: IF 'laundry machine' WATTAGE > 5(sample error + lights/screen) Say start a timer for 1h Say 'laundry machine completed cycle.'
I have a far out idea if this could be used to turn lights on etc, put one waterproof case out at the gate so it knows you are home and like activates lights etc for you getting in to the house?
Hey reed, i have some espresence sensors too, but i seem to have neglected them, because i couldnt really figure out how to use the ibeacon tracking for automations, can you make a video on this?
I was but for a while I couldn't add more rooms due to the pi shortage. Lots of people recommended Espresense and I thought I'd give it a try for how inexpensive it is. Basically the same thing though.
I would also be interested to learn more about tracking BLE devices with ESPhome. I played around with it a little, but I didn't manage to track my Apple watch.
I'm not sure but you might be able to get it to work. You would need to get MQTT working and it seems like some people have done that forums.homeseer.com/forum/homeseer-products-services/general-discussion-area/99336-homeseer-mqtt-plugin Then you would need to figure out how to make a custom sensor for your watch or phone's bluetooth to track it.
**Update** I used this to automate my smart thermostat: ua-cam.com/video/snVQHsnG_V4/v-deo.html
Tip: use the IRK for Apple devices. Yes it can work without it but the IRK method is way more accurate.
For Apple watch: espresense.com/beacons/apple
For iPhone: community.home-assistant.io/t/espresense-device-id-how-to-get-them/403018/15
How long is the delay? Without irk there is maybe a 5seg delay.. The irk is not working for me..
I had a hard time with this a few months back. My Apple Watch kept changing Bluetooth id names. Did they fix that?
Have you adapted this device to have your audio follow you from room to room?
I used to use ESPresense a lot, but recently it just can’t handle the amount of BLE devices in my neighborhood. Even when upgrading to ESP32s with more memory, I get reboot loops from it crashing. I just got some more of the ROVERs that have more memory on board, and I hope that will help. I love the project and miss having detection in my office.
We put an ESPresense in each room, and a tile tracker on both our cats. Added some fun automations like if an extrior door is open for too long, the assistant speakers will announce their last location. Took a bit of time to figure out the right settings, but its been great!
Did you use an AirTag?
@@DustyAfhe used a Tile (it’s like an AirTag)
Can you guide on how to do that
Nice, I want to do the same thing with my 4 cats, one of them is completely deaf.
I would need to modify or build a tag with a vibrate motor so I can call him for food, treats etc.
Hey, been watching your videos for many years now, you have helped me and my wife with some simple things we’ve done in our home, but I have a very interesting twist that might also help create content for your channels. I am totally blind and trying to create a blind friendly, smart home. Would love it if we could connect and speak more about it.
Hey Ricky thanks for watching over the years! That is an interesting twist and that would be great to connect. Hit me up on email.
Love this channel. I've been learning and playing with esp32's for a few weeks now. Definitely something everyone should look into.
Ali Xpress has inexpensive ble tags. I affixed one to each of my bins and have an esp in the garage that picks them up. Reminds me if I forget to put them out, get the recycling fortnights mixed up or forget to bring them in.
There's also a build you can add extra sensors so you can measure light in the room, temps etc. With the same device
If you don't mind, what's the build for extra plugins like light sensors? Thanks
Sweet, what is the name of the tags you picked up?
I want to put one on each of my cats.
I prefer the LD2410 mmWave sensors (about $7.00 USD on a test board for powering it on aliexpress) along with aome Enclosures (5 total) for about 3.50 USD. This way you don't need a 3D printer to print an enclosure and you don't have to wear or carry any kind of electronic device such as a watch or phone. Works great with no problems.
@@wojtek-33 don't care who it is really just need to know when someone enters a certain area and more importantly when everyone leaves a room or area. The later is where mmWave really shines.
@@wojtek-33 True but then i never said it was either 😃
How did you set your one up ? my sensors after a few hours or day just start doing false positives. im planning on trying to fix it next week when only i will be home
@@Ben-ou6cg if your using a Bluetooth proxy device like a esp32 then yes there is a bug that makes them go unavailable after a time. They are working on that problem i understand. One of mine is going through a Bluetooth proxy and does this. Reloading the integration for it makes it work again for a time, so i created a automation that when the sensor goes unavailable it forces a reload of the integration. I know this isn't ideal but it works until they can fix it. 😁
@@Ben-ou6cg Also i don't use this sensor to trigger the light to turn on, I use another sensor, either a door sensor if the room only has one exit/entrance or a standard PIR motion sensor. You can also configure the sensor to trigger when you want. Their is a program on the net that you can use to do this.
Just throwing it out there. Currently, I'm using ESPhome and have installed motion sensors in various locations within my home, backyard, and garage. I have three ESP8266s running smoothly under HA/ESPhome, which effectively report back whenever motion is detected.
My objective is to create a central ESP8266, to which all the motion sensors can communicate. I plan to attach a circuit board with LEDs to this central ESP8266, allowing the LEDs to illuminate based on the specific location where motion was detected around the home.
Possible? Don't want to use Arduino solutions as I am only running Home Assistant and ESPhome.
You can make a hot and cold thing with lights when you're looking for things. "Find my phone" all lights are blue until you get closer to yellow lights and red lights for where it is...
Thanks for reminding me to give these another go. Stuck them all over more than a year ago but never bothered to tweek the absortion. Working really good with my galaxy watch 4 and HA app.
Got a galaxy watch 6, thanks for letting me know I wouldn't need an apple watch.
While it’s maybe suitable for some people, I don’t want my automation to be dependent on a specific person (or rather a specific device worn by a specific person).
At least not in all cases, and I think a „presence“ sensor is one of the best examples of that.
I have not yet tackled this task, but I think you can still get a cheap solution with the usage of RC-WL0516 sensors. You can get 10 of them for a couple of bucks and most likely there is already a ready solution out there, you only need some to do some soldering.
If building it from scratch, there is some stuff to consider, e.g. the occasional misfires or vice versa the occasional missing detection when movement is done.
Weakness of the sensor is obviously that it by-default detects all sorts of movements. So with a simple solution, you will have problems especially with pets.
Since it’s using microwaves to detect movements, you might also encounter issues with windows: mocrowaves can travel trough glass and also other non-metallic materials and people passing windows could also cause unwanted behavior.
That said, there are sophisticated methods to filter out unwanted signals and use it as a somewhat reliable human-motion-detector even in complex environments.
OMG!! I have a bunch of ESP32s laying about and my wife ALWAYS losing her phone. Then asks me to search all over for it. LITERALLY EVERY BLOODY DAY!!!!!!😠😱😠😡😖 This is GREAT!!
Why can't you just ask the phone to ring?
@@TheBostonFern she’d have to take time to log into her Samsung account which she probably doesn’t remember the password every time we’re going out. This helps narrow down which of the 4 floors her phone could be in.
Just call her phone...
@@ricardoamendoeira3800 volume is off most of the time. Makes it even more difficult to find in a 4 floor, 4 bedroom, 4 bathroom terrace house. Especially with a 5 year old who now thinks it’s funny to hide people’s phone.
Could you use an apple tracker instead of an iphone or apple watch? Does this routine work for family members when your not home?
I'm excited to apply these to track my cat. She loves finding new hiding spots, it would be nice to just know which room she is in.
Haha that would be a good use case!
Bluetooth cat collar? I like it.
which tracker are you usign for that?
Do air tags work with ESPresence? If so, it looks like there are a bunch of collars with air tags on them 🙂
Can you guys put collars on your cats?! Heroes!! I need that tutorial. I have scars from the last time I tried that 12 years ago. They are older and meaner…
step 1 : get an apple watch
You can use your phone or a cheaper smart watch
@@kakashi0kyuubibecause your phone is always with you, and always charged, especially when you're in a towel. Oh, and guests... Sorry this is trash
@@kakashi0kyuubi yes I didn't knew that
@@BGraves 😂😂
No.
I wish esphome could do this...
That was my question! So you have to flash a special ESP presence to the ESP meaning it can't do anything else other than the presence detection?
I'd love to set this up but the biggest issue I have is the looks.. Is there a case, cable, power combo that doesn't look so DIY? I'd love something as low-profile and 'one piece' as possible to look as though I just plugged a thing into the wall similar to a zigbee or zwave range extender, rather than a wall wart, usb cable, esp32.
I haven't tried these myself but another person commented about it shop.m5stack.com/products/atom-lite-esp32-development-kit seems like a good fit since it comes with case already and is really small.
I prefer to use the M5 Stack Atoms for this application as you can stick it directly to a small usb charger like those 5w iphone charger that most people already have laying around.
Even M5 stamps work. They are even smaller with USBC. I use them for this.
Thank you Reed, I'm gonna work on this over the weekend.
What about setting off an alarm when the presence of an *unknown* Bluetooth device is detected?
What if an intruder is creeping around your ground floor windows or the patio door? You could set the range to a meter or so and it would alert you that someone is looking in or actually breaking in.
Add a mm wave detector to increase the odds on your side (in case the intruder does not have any BT device on them).
Just make sure you never have friends over or anyone watching your house lol
If they are supposed to be there then you just ignore the alerts. It sounds like a nice addition to security@@StevoDesign
I used to build mobile CCTV towers for building sites, I suggested the same thing, or a script to run in the router to detect BT signals on site after it closed for the night.
This was genuinely helpful. I used ESP32 with Arduino with Bluetooth BLE iBeacon (BC021-MultiBeacon) for car detection.
I suggest the irk method for apple devices, old method does not guarantee unique ids, thus wrong reporting
Reed- Doesn't the BT MAC change in Apple Watches? I thought that was an issue when I looked into doing this previously. Have you had any issues with it?
So far it hasn't been an issue. But if it ever does, there are guides to use the IRK number which I don't think changes. espresense.com/beacons/apple
community.home-assistant.io/t/espresense-device-id-how-to-get-them/403018/15?u=gwp1
@@reedssmarthome You're the coolest.
How do you keep them boards up and running for long period of time? I found the ESP not to be that reliable over wifi. What is your experience? Did you apply any fancy changes / settings?
I can't believe how good you are. Thank you for making these videos!
This is cool. What I am also interested in is using an ESP32 for motion detection, so it activates when someone comes into a room.
This might have been asked, but where can I purchase the cases for the ESP32's?
Where did you buy the cases? I went to the link, but nowhere to buy it from?
Is there a more user friendly alternative? A wired one? Not bluetooth but Zigbee or Matter & thread? Something you can advise? I don't like to wear anything (build a new house - planning for home assistant as the base) ;) Thanks allready!
Room Presence alerts for $5… plus a 3D printer, and as long as someone has a Bluetooth device on them, that you’ve paired to the board you had to build yourself. And took hardly no time at all. LOL
Haha yeah if you don't have those it might seem not possible. I should have shared more alternative options that are also very inexpensive. Like these shop.m5stack.com/products/atom-lite-esp32-development-kit which don't need a case and are still pretty inexpensive.
@@reedssmarthomewhat would the steps be for this one?
Possible to use ESPresense AND Home Assistant BLE Proxy on a single ESP32?
How do you track your kids’ presence around the house? Kids that are too young to have electronic device of their own.
I'm not sure since when you flash Espresense it erases the board. Maybe there's a way that I don't know about though.
Yea, the Hilink 2410 mm wave presence and motion detectors are much faster to respond and much better for things like lights and fans. Nice thing too is, if you're not into soldering, you can just use a simple ESP32 as a bluetooth proxy via ESPHome, the dev board for the LD2410 and boom... Easy peasy! Freaking love the LD2410s. Got a couple of 2412s but, doesn't look like HA offically supports them yet.
So...I also live in Metro Phoenix and have been testing the LD2410s in the garage for fans and lights. Its not uncommon for temps to crack 125° F in there. So far ..the ESP32 BT proxy and LD2410 have been holding up. High temp of 118° F so far. Now... Longevity is the next test. Heet kills in electronic components so....well see.
I've had a D1 Mini 8266, AHT10 teml sensor and SSD1306 OLED display running and going on its 3rd summer....and winter lol. Still going strong.
The ESP products are just so smazing. $3 and there is so much you can do with them. Love WLED for LED Controller and ESPs. Cheap, versatile and rugged. Espressif makes a hell of s product!
It would be nice to be able to flash it on to an EP1.
how did you get it to show you the distance attribute on the dashboard?
I just got the chips. Do you have a more detailed guide on setting it up?
yes want to see those setups for automations
Is your Apple Watch permanently glued to your arm? So if you are not wearing your watch then the sensor is useless? Too bad you can’t power it by battery otherwise you have to find and use up a outlet in every room and limited to where you can put it
BTW, the Raspberry Pi device with the installed Home Assistant also has bluetooth and also should be suitable to be used for that..
Before i go ahead and start this project does this work with android phones/ watches
I always thought ESPresense would be able to combine the data of multiple sensors. I wanted to use it as an add on to the alarm.
It seemed to me, too, that it would be possible to use information from several sensors, and, for example, calculate with triangulation or triliteration additional information, and thus increase the precision and capabilities of the system.
This is great. Definitely will try it out. What recommendations to keep it powered on?
I may try this with our princess cruise medallion. Their medallion class ships have something like this where you can use their app and find your family anywhere on the ship! It will even guide you to them google maps style.
Thank you for sharing. Not sure if I want to take on this but do appreciate that I could if I wanted to. Motion sensors are working fine for now but we will see what future brings
Good video! Thanks
I think I still prefer the mmwave consider you don't need BT attached to you all the time.
How do you set up good dashboards for apple watch?
Reed, the HA cards you show on your video, can you explain more about them?
same would love to know how he gets this working he has an article but its not really straight foward i feel like hes leaving some parts out.
How does this work across multiple floors? Will the max range help with vertical distance if I have a sensor in a room on a main floor and a different one in the room above it?
The max range will for sure help with that. I only have one story but there are also more settings to configure for Espresense to fine tune it even more. espresense.com/configuration/settings#calibration
i'd take this a bit further by implanting a bluetooth device inside my skull so i don't need a pesky apple watch! jk
Completely new to these, and just realized I got ESP8266 instead of ESP32's, can these do the same thing? Did just order some also though.
Very cool Reed. How can we use this in combination with mmWave sensors? This one is slow to respond, but it is individual specific. The mmWave sensor doesn't care who, but it's quicker. Any ideas on using both together? I guess mmWave for things like music, but ESPresence for music, etc.
Yes automation videos coming soon!
Problem with ESPresence is that it doesn't really work for guests. You need millimeter-wave or something similar to have "real" room presence detection. But that is alot more expensive.
Oh that sucks 😂 or what if you just don't want to walk around with a smartwatch?
Hi Reed, Can you please give a couple examples of automations. Possibly where two or more people in a room and one of more leave but light stays on until room is empty. Thanks mate.
That's pretty cool but does it suck the watch battery?
Will it work for only one device detection at a time or multiple devices detection at the same time?
I really don't understand the purpose of this! So basically it detects your devices in your home, is it for lost and found case?
Try using Wifi signal instead of bluetooth. By monitoring the relative signal strenght you get a pretty decent sensor.
New to the field. Thought about getting the new aqara presence but would love an alternative. I’m on HomeKit, wondering could this be done on homebridge? is there a millimeter solution for HomeKit/homebridge that you know of?
Great! Now give your dog a bleutooth tracker and make your smart hubs yell when he's in a room he's not supposed to be
2:40 Hello, I thought motion detection could be useful for security when sleeping, if someone breaks into the house or a room? What would be best, as I've seen thingies like esp, Aqara, motion sensors, millimetre wave. The esp delay would be too slow in a dangerous situation.
Did you find something useful?:)
Great video as always, Reed!
Although, I'm curious... Are you planning to use the ESPresence in conjunction WITH the Aqara FP2s? I'm setting up my FP2s now, and your ESPresence videos now has me thinking of running both!
Thanks! ESPresense will be an extra layer of customization for automations on top of using mmWave with the FP2.
@@reedssmarthome nice, that makes perfect sense! Thanks for the reply, man, and looking forward to seeing how you tie everything together!
Reed, can you do a how to on your other channel? Stay cool in our AZ heat this weekend!
I really wish Espresense worked with ESP Home, would love for it to just run on my EP1s without having to have a separate ESP32 in each room.
Cool! Thanks Reed.
Can you explain some uses for this? I'm not understanding.
You can turn on/off devices like lamps, ac, fan, play music, turn on coffee machine, etc
Is there a way to get faster response? Or is it just something like BT beacon intervals
I've done the same, just with mm-wave sensors. So it will also work for my guests and other familiy members.
🤔 would it also work with Tile? Or other devices
I made these a couple of months back. After having tweaked the distances it works amazingly :D
If you are using multiple phones or watches I can recommend pairing with the esp32 base stations for a 100% unique ID :)
Great tip, thanks!
What was your method of tweaking the distances? Ive got mine all installed, but Im finding that in a multistory house that its hard to tell what floor the device is located on exactly.
Try our the Bermuda custom integration in hacs.
It's basicly the same thing but it's using Bluetooth proxies and their room placement instead.
Does this work with multiple people/devices in the same room?
Great idea.. cannot get it working but great idea. I get firmware installed but after that nothing else works as it should according to instructions...
I had the same experience. I added the wifi, and even though it says it's not able to connect, I see it show up on my network w/ a new IP address. From there, it won't join Home Assistant. I can see in the logs where it detects my watch when I get close to it, but without being added to Home Assistant, it's all for naught
@@MacDork suddenly is just working lol
@@TheCowboysdude lol ty
@@MacDork I'll take it lol
I really want something like this but faster and more accurate for really tight sensing, like think specific locations in a single room. As well as the ability to recognize different devices and trigger things. Why? I want to do an art installation type setup that detects individual users in a given small display space and adjusts that space to the user it detects. Any thoughts?
Which 3D printer do you use?
Is there a way of doing room presence that doesn't involve MQTT?
I am very interested in exploring these, but what is the real cost for deploying these 'everywhere'? Each location will need an ESP, a case (not all of us can 3D print and those that can have filament costs), and a power supply. Looks to be ~$15 per location? Still do-able foe me who only wants ~5 or 6.
Can this detect any Bluetooth device as opposed to registering a specific one?
Any recommendation for a beacon?
I really don't want presence detection to be limited to the availability of a device within a range. That seems very restrictive to me. I'll admit that when compared to MMW, this is a lot less expensive, but it also seems to be much more limited to me. Thanks for the idea, though.
combine it with aqara presence detetction
@@davidbeiler6364 I think I'd want something a lot more responsive if I were going to combine it with anything.
@@yourpalfranc aqara presence detection are!
@@davidbeiler6364 Yes, the reviews I've seen seem to suggest that they're responsive. But, in this review, he said several times that it was sluggish to connect.
@@yourpalfranc The Aqaras are pretty fast, but almost any BT device will be slow AF. I have some switch bot buttons and they, at best, take about 2-3 seconds to turn on, but sometimes it might take them even 15 seconds (HA must send multiple requests due to timeouts) even with me having BT proxies in multiple rooms.
TBH, next time, I would just avoid BT devices for any home automation that should happen real time (switches, presence detection, door locks, etc.).
Txs for yet another great video. Im just at the beginning of presence detection and have mmWave. I love the simplicity of this of only ot was quicker. Entering a room turn on the light won't work. Wonder why ot takes seconds to register.
Secondly goven this is person specific how would you register tje whole family?
I appreciate it Thomas! The speed of it just comes with the nature of bluetooth and how often it communicates with the devices.
You can register multiple devices. So I have my Apple watch, iPhone and my wife's iPhone. Then if someone is in the room and it doesn't have one of those I know it's my kids or Luna. Even though I might put on one Luna too.
Any chance you could post the yaml for the dashboard?
A perfect solution for Annie Wilkes, nurse Ratched and Jack Torrance. Creepy af :x
Does it also work with other smart watches like my Garmin forerunner245 ? Its has Bluetooth connection to my phone?
And do you have a video with the cheapest way to get(hardware)to run Home Assistant? Because raspberry pi's aren't available (sadly)
I had a hard time with this a few months back. My Apple Watch kept changing Bluetooth id names. Did they fix that?
That’s a security feature I think 🤔
Is it safe to have this system in front of your house that unlocks your gate when your watch is just a few centimetres away?
because I wanted to use nfc tags but they can't be read by smartwatches
I personally wouldn't tbh
So Reed, I know you synced or used your watch. Do you have to put every bluetooth device up to the unit to learn all the different people so it will know who is in the room?
I don't waer watch at home i walk around my house BUK NAKED what do u suggest?
Brilliant - thanks!
So you need to have MQTT up and running for this to work?
Do you know a good I depth MQTT walk through? I’ve tried looking at it before but so much just doesn’t make sense.
Yes you need MQTT up and running. It's been a while since I set mine up but I think I watched Lewis ua-cam.com/video/dqTn-Gk4Qeo/v-deo.html
MQTT can be difficult to wrap my head around. Basically it's a protocol or a way for the machines to talk to each other.
Hey, I love your videos so much. The only issue for me it is that the wifi on my ESP32 keeps deconnecting, so I can't complete the configuration😔 I don't know what to do🤣
Hey Reed, nice video. Like your bar stools..can you share make/model/purchase site info? Thanks.
Thanks, www.afw.com/bourbon-30-swivel-barstool-with-back
How does this compare to your old solution with the pi zero w?
I was just thinking the same thing. What happened to a Room Assistant
is there any way to add a passcode protection to cards or pages in home assistant?
Do you have a recommendation for laundry machine use detection? Vibration sensor? Power detection for both 120 and 240 volts?
Use a smart plug(unless you have laundry machine plugged into 240V???(I'm Polish so in Europe this is pretty normal because 240V is standard and something about 400V is high voltage))
Most smart plugs can detect real time wattage so you can do something like this:
IF 'laundry machine' WATTAGE > 5(sample error + lights/screen)
Say start a timer for 1h
Say 'laundry machine completed cycle.'
Tried many ways, wash cycles were wildly varied. I've had 100% accuracy using a photoresistor hotglued to done led.
I have a far out idea if this could be used to turn lights on etc, put one waterproof case out at the gate so it knows you are home and like activates lights etc for you getting in to the house?
Hey reed, i have some espresence sensors too, but i seem to have neglected them, because i couldnt really figure out how to use the ibeacon tracking for automations, can you make a video on this?
Sure thing!
Can you do this with Amazon Alexa?
Thought you were using room assistant?
I was but for a while I couldn't add more rooms due to the pi shortage. Lots of people recommended Espresense and I thought I'd give it a try for how inexpensive it is. Basically the same thing though.
Cool!
I believe it's also possible with esphome, no? Using esphome it is a bit easier to manage all devices.
I would also be interested to learn more about tracking BLE devices with ESPhome. I played around with it a little, but I didn't manage to track my Apple watch.
Why yes. This uses the METRIC system!
Does it work with Homeseer? Is the setup the same? Love your videos!
I'm not sure but you might be able to get it to work. You would need to get MQTT working and it seems like some people have done that forums.homeseer.com/forum/homeseer-products-services/general-discussion-area/99336-homeseer-mqtt-plugin
Then you would need to figure out how to make a custom sensor for your watch or phone's bluetooth to track it.
It will work with HomeSeer is your are running one of the MQTT plugins such as mcsMQTT.