Aqara Spatial Multi Sensor FP400 Assessment

The Aqara Spatial Multi-Sensor FP400 makes use of a 60GHz mmWave radar with a 4T4R antenna array. In contrast to a primary movement sensor, it tracks the place individuals are in a room. It might probably observe as much as 10 individuals without delay and provides a stay headcount, which is double the five-person restrict of the FP2. Positioning works on a 0.5 x 0.5 m grid, and as there is no such thing as a digicam, no photos are captured.

You possibly can set as much as eight zones, so automations can react to the place somebody is slightly than simply whether or not the room is occupied. For instance, the lights can observe you from the couch to the eating desk. AI-assisted mapping detects room boundaries and entrances throughout setup. Aqara’s AI Spatial Studying is designed to scale back false triggers from pets, transferring air and robotic vacuums. There are additionally three sensitivity ranges, an adjustable absence timer and a built-in ambient mild sensor.

When wall mounted, a single sensor covers as much as 10 x 8 m with a 120° area of view. Nook mounting covers 7 x 7 m, and ceiling mounting at 3 to 4 m covers 5 x 6 m for movement and 4 x 5 m for presence. The sensor measures 64 x 64 x 29.5 mm and wishes USB-C energy (5V 1A), so there is no such thing as a battery choice. The Amazon model doesn’t embody the mounting bracket.

The FP400 swaps the FP2’s Wi-Fi for Zigbee and Matter over Thread, and management is native. It really works with Alexa, Apple Residence, Google Residence, Residence Assistant, Homey and SmartThings. You possibly can add it to the Aqara Residence app with out an Aqara hub if you have already got a Thread Border Router, although utilizing Zigbee with a third-party Matter platform requires an Aqara hub.

The primary limitation is that over Thread, third-party platforms solely see one total presence sensor and one mild sensor. Zones and headcount keep throughout the Aqara app, so you have to to make use of Aqara’s ecosystem to get essentially the most out of it.

This is applicable when the sensor is added on to a Matter platform with out being configured first. Should you arrange zones within the Aqara app beforehand, a Thread connection can expose the whole-area sensor plus as much as eight zone sensors, which I cowl in additional element within the integration part under.

The opposite variations price figuring out about are options the FP400 has dropped. The FP2 affords fall detection and sleep monitoring, and neither is on the market on the FP400. The FP2 additionally permits as much as 30 zones in contrast with eight right here. For many rooms, eight zones might be loads, however when you depend on fall detection or sleep monitoring, the FP2 stays the higher selection.

The FP400 appears virtually similar to the FP2. It’s a small white puck with a standing LED and reset button, mounted on a versatile magnetic stand. The stand has a rubber ring on the bottom so it doesn’t slide round when positioned on a shelf or desk.

Within the field, you get a USB-C to USB-C cable, a metallic plate that the magnetic base attaches to, an adhesive pad and a screw package. There is no such thing as a energy adapter, so you have to a spare USB plug. The model retail model provides a bracket, however the Amazon model doesn’t embody one.

One element from the guide that’s simple to overlook is orientation. The Aqara brand must be upright (or totally the wrong way up) as a result of the radar antennas are aligned to it. Mounting it at an angle will throw off the positioning.

The IPX5 ranking means it copes with splashes and humidity, so it’s appropriate for kitchens and loos. I examined mine within the kitchen.

Setup is extra concerned than a standard movement sensor. The sensor must be mounted on a wall (both within the nook or central) or ceiling, and it’s USB powered, so some thought is required when deploying these inside your property. In contrast to the battery-powered FP300, you can not merely stick it wherever. You want a socket or a tidy cable run to an acceptable peak, and that’s prone to be the largest limiting issue for most individuals.

For my check, to maintain the set up so simple as attainable, I positioned this on the fridge in my kitchen, because the sensor has a magnetic backside, then powered it with a Ugreen energy financial institution. This labored properly for testing, however it’s not a long-term answer, and you’ll see gaps within the historical past graphs when the ability financial institution ran flat.

If you first energy it on, the Aqara Residence app picks it up robotically. The FP400 ships in Thread mode, and if you wish to use Zigbee you must change it over at this level. The app connects over Bluetooth, downloads the Zigbee firmware and transfers it to the sensor, which takes a number of minutes. I switched mine to Zigbee and paired it with my Aqara Hub M3, as this unlocks essentially the most options. You possibly can change protocol later, but it surely means pairing the sensor once more from scratch.

The sensor additionally needs to be angled accurately for it to work. You then want to decide on the set up methodology (wall, nook or ceiling) and set its peak, which have to be between 150 cm and 400 cm. Aqara recommends 1.5 to 2 m for wall and nook mounting, which balances standing and seated detection, and three to 4 m for ceilings. Mount it too low and it’ll choose up pets extra usually. Mount it too excessive on a wall and you find yourself with a bigger blind spot immediately in entrance of the sensor.

Nook mounting is usually the best choice for smaller rooms, because it makes full use of the 120° area of view and avoids the blind spots both facet of a sensor mounted in the course of a wall. For bigger areas, the centre of a wall offers you essentially the most distance.

As soon as bodily put in, you must calibrate it by setting the detection zone, which requires you to stroll alongside the sting of the house in a circuit. The map fills in as you stroll, and as soon as the boundary is closed you may affirm it. This step is non-obligatory. Should you skip it, the AI mapping will try and work out the room structure, together with entrances, over the subsequent few days. I favor the walk-through, as it’s fast and you realize the boundary is appropriate from the beginning.

Then, you must go away the room and permit it to calibrate itself with out something within the room transferring. This takes a minute or so, and after that the sensor is able to use.

General, the method is properly guided, and the app explains every step clearly. It’s nonetheless extra work than an extraordinary PIR sensor, and I might count on most individuals to spend a while adjusting the place and settings earlier than they’re utterly pleased with it.

The FP400 is managed via the Aqara Residence app. I paired it with my Aqara Hub M3 over Zigbee. The structure might be acquainted when you’ve got used the FP2, though the FP400 has fewer zones to configure and some new AI options.

If you open the sensor, the very first thing you see is a stay map of the room on a grid. Every sq. represents 0.5 x 0.5 m. The sensor’s place is marked on the wall, and the areas exterior its area of view are greyed out. The detected room boundary from the calibration stroll is overlaid on prime. With my sensor on the fridge, the map reveals the 120° unfold properly. It additionally makes it apparent that the corners closest to the sensor should not coated, which is a helpful sanity verify that you’ve got mounted it in a wise place.

Zones are created from the Zone Administration menu or by lengthy urgent on the map. You faucet the grid squares to construct every zone, then give it a sort, resembling a desk, couch or eating desk, together with a color. You can even add furnishings, entrances and exits, and interference sources resembling followers or crops, which the sensor will then filter out.

Beneath the map there’s a presence card exhibiting the present standing and the way lengthy it has lasted, plus an illuminance card with the present mild stage. After I took the screenshots, it was studying 13 lux within the kitchen earlier than dawn.

Faucet both card to see the historical past for that sensor. The presence log reveals every occasion with a timestamp and period, resembling “Presence detected for two min 32 sec”. The sunshine sensor has a day and week view, and my week peaked at 502 lux. The graphs work, however they’ve a few tough edges. The historical past screens are fastened to GMT+00:00, so throughout British Summer time Time the log timestamps are an hour behind the principle system card. The system card confirmed 05:10:21 for a similar occasion that the log recorded at 04:10:21. The lux graph additionally joins the dots throughout intervals when the sensor was offline, which in my case was when the ability financial institution ran flat. That produces lengthy straight traces throughout the graph slightly than an apparent hole, and it may be deceptive if you’re not conscious of it.

The settings menu is pretty in depth:

• Swap the Set up Methodology: Change between wall, nook and ceiling mounting with out eradicating and re-adding the sensor.
• Set up Info: Enter the mounting peak and different particulars, which Aqara says improves accuracy.
• Residence Display Format: Defaults to Adaptive View, which zooms in in your mapped space, or you may change to Full View.
• Monitoring Settings: Detection behaviour, coated under.
• Absence Affirmation Interval: A customized delay earlier than the sensor reviews “No Presence”. That is helpful for stopping lights from switching off if you are sitting nonetheless.
• AI Spatial Studying: An non-obligatory calibration that learns the room’s environment.
• Superior Features: A Lab part with experimental AI options.

Monitoring Settings is the place many of the tuning occurs. Presence Detection Sensitivity has three ranges. Excessive is beneficial for bedrooms, research and small workplaces, Medium for bogs and small assembly rooms, and Low for big or cluttered rooms with crops and curtains that may trigger false triggers. Proximity Sensing Distance units how shut somebody must be to set off the proximity operate: Far is round 3 m, Medium round 2 m and Shut round 1 m. Detection Path may be left on Default, which reviews presence with out route, or switched to Left-Proper Detection, which tells you which of them facet somebody approached from. That might be helpful for a hallway or doorway. Mounting Path Correction is about to Auto by default, and I didn’t want to vary it.

A number of of those settings, together with sensitivity and the absence affirmation interval, may be set per zone. That’s helpful, as a settee zone would possibly want a protracted timeout, whereas a zone by the kettle can clear shortly.

AI Spatial Studying is beneficial as soon as the sensor is in its remaining place. You begin it after which go away the room empty of individuals and pets for a couple of minutes whereas it builds an image of the static house. It’s much like the calibration step throughout setup and is price rerunning when you transfer furnishings or the sensor.

Two options sit within the Lab part, and each had been off by default on my unit:

• Present Rely: Permits the stay headcount and hourly depend. With out it there is no such thing as a depend knowledge in any respect.
• AI Enhanced Individual Detection: Makes use of AI to categorise robotic vacuums, pets and transferring toys as “interference targets” so they don’t register as individuals.

It’s a little odd that headcount, one of many FP400’s most important promoting factors over less complicated presence sensors, is hidden behind a Lab toggle. The firmware launch notes recommend that is altering, although. My sensor shipped on firmware 0051, and model 0060 was ready within the app. It lists an optimised radar algorithm and fixes for false detection in corners, with wall mounting, when sitting or mendacity on a mattress, and close to hanging lamps. It additionally fixes coordinate jitter and packet loss, and it turns present depend reporting on by default. These fixes cowl a number of frequent mounting eventualities, so I like to recommend putting in the replace as quickly as you will have paired the sensor.

Aqara can also be upfront in regards to the accuracy of the headcount. Its documentation states that with a number of individuals in a room, the depend may be out by one to 3 individuals due to overlapping radar factors and other people blocking one another. It suggests utilizing the depend as a development slightly than an actual determine. That may be a cheap rationalization of how mmWave radar works, but it surely does restrict how a lot you may depend on the depend for automations. The AI Enhanced Individual Detection remains to be labelled as a Lab characteristic, and early reviews recommend it could take a second or two to determine whether or not a medium-sized pet is an individual. I might deal with each as helpful extras slightly than one thing to base vital automations on for now.

The decrease half of the menu covers the same old Aqara choices. You possibly can see the hub the sensor is related to (Hub M3 in my case), verify sign energy, replace firmware, change the communication protocol (Zigbee or Thread), view logs and configure automations. There’s additionally a System Substitute choice, which helps you to swap in a brand new sensor with out rebuilding your automations. That may be a small however helpful addition when you ever want to interchange a defective unit.

General, the app is properly organised and provides you much more management than a typical movement sensor. The descriptions subsequent to every choice make the settings simple to know with out a guide. My most important criticisms are the GMT-only historical past graphs, headcount being off by default on launch firmware, and the truth that some options, such because the headcount and AI detection, solely work totally within the Aqara app.

The Aqara app has a variety of automation triggers for the FP400, and that is the place it has a transparent benefit over a primary movement sensor. Accessible triggers embody:

• Occupied or unoccupied, both for the entire room or a person zone
• Occupied or unoccupied for a set period
• Somebody approaching or leaving the sensor
• Getting into from the left or proper when Left-Proper Detection is enabled
• The variety of individuals being better than or equal to a set determine
• Everybody within the room being stationary, or individuals transferring
• Illuminance rising or dropping previous a set stage

The apparent use is lighting. With zones, you may have one set of lights reply to the eating desk and one other to the kitchen counter, all from a single sensor. Combining presence with the built-in mild sensor means lights solely activate when a zone is occupied and the room is darkish sufficient, which avoids them approaching throughout the day. Earlier than presence sensors, this might have wanted a number of PIR sensors, and even then, lights would change off when you sat nonetheless for too lengthy.

In a kitchen, a easy occupied and darkish set off for under-cabinet lighting works properly, paired with an extended absence affirmation interval so the lights keep on if you are standing nonetheless on the worktop. The Proximity Sensing Distance setting additionally opens up some helpful choices, resembling turning on a show or a particular mild solely when somebody walks near the sensor.

The headcount triggers are essentially the most novel addition, though I discovered it more durable to consider sensible makes use of in a house. Adjusting heating or air flow when a number of individuals are in a room is essentially the most wise instance. Given Aqara’s personal warning that the depend may be out by one to 3 individuals, I might not use it for something the place precision issues.

Automations created within the Aqara app run regionally on the hub, so that they preserve working in case your web connection drops. Should you favor to maintain all of your automations in a single place, the zones may be uncovered to different platforms as an alternative, which I cowl subsequent.

How a lot of the FP400 you should use exterior the Aqara app is dependent upon the way you join it, and that is essentially the most complicated a part of the product.

There are three most important choices:

1. Thread, added on to a Matter platform: You do not want an Aqara hub or the Aqara app. You simply want a Thread Border Router, resembling an Apple TV, HomePod, Google Nest Hub or a Residence Assistant setup with a Thread radio. The FP400 then seems as one total presence sensor and one mild sensor. Zones should not obtainable.
2. Thread, configured within the Aqara app first: You possibly can nonetheless skip the hub, however you employ the Aqara app on the identical community to arrange zones, sensitivity and the absence interval. The sensor can then expose the whole-area presence sensor, as much as eight zone sensors and the sunshine sensor over Matter.
3. Zigbee through an Aqara hub: This requires a hub such because the M3 or M100 and unlocks all of the options, together with the Lab capabilities. The hub then shares the presence, zone and light-weight sensors with different platforms via its Matter bridge.

For Residence Assistant customers, choice two or three is the one to decide on. With Zigbee via an Aqara hub, the FP400 seems in Residence Assistant’s Matter integration with an illuminance sensor and an occupancy sensor for the entire space, plus an extra occupancy sensor for every zone. So as to add it, you generate a Matter pairing code within the Aqara app underneath the hub’s third-party Matter ecosystems settings. The code is legitimate for 10 minutes. This course of is a bit clumsy, as you must change between the Aqara app and the Residence Assistant companion app, but it surely solely wants doing as soon as.

There are a couple of quirks. New zones seem in third-party platforms with the identical generic identify as the principle sensor, so you must rename every one to maintain observe of which is which. Aqara additionally warns that some platforms don’t assist zones being added or deleted after pairing, so it’s best to complete your zone setup within the Aqara app earlier than sharing the sensor. The headcount, route and AI detection options should not uncovered over Matter, so automations utilizing these want to remain within the Aqara app.

Zigbee2MQTT customers could also be tempted to skip the Aqara hub altogether and pair it immediately. On the time of writing, assist is restricted, and early reviews recommend most entities are unavailable or don’t report knowledge. The FP300 is supported, so it appears doubtless assist for the FP400 will observe, however I might not purchase one for Zigbee2MQTT till it has been added.

In contrast with the Wi-Fi primarily based FP2, this can be a clear enchancment for anybody utilizing Residence Assistant, Homey, SmartThings or a number of ecosystems without delay. Zigbee and Thread each kind a mesh community that’s higher suited to sensors than Wi-Fi, and every little thing runs regionally. It’s irritating, although, that getting the total characteristic set nonetheless pushes you in direction of shopping for an Aqara hub.

The Aqara Spatial Multi Sensor FP400 is that can be purchased now from Aqara for £80.

The Presence Sensor FP300 is on the market on Amazon for £50.

The Aqara Presence Sensor FP2 is £67 and the FP1E is £40.

The FP400 prices £13 greater than the FP2. For that cash, you get double the monitoring capability, a bigger detection space and a a lot better selection of connectivity. Nevertheless, you lose fall detection, sleep monitoring and 22 zones. In case you are pleased with Wi-Fi and wish these options, the FP2 remains to be price contemplating whereas it stays on sale.

The FP300 is the higher choice for most individuals who solely have to know whether or not a room is occupied. It’s battery powered with a claimed three-year battery life, so set up is way simpler, and it provides temperature and humidity sensing. It doesn’t assist zones or multi-person monitoring, although.

The FP1E is the most cost effective approach into Aqara’s mmWave sensors at £40. It’s Zigbee solely, so that you want a hub, and it doesn’t provide zones, however for easy room occupancy it does the job.

Exterior Aqara, there are many cheaper Tuya-based mmWave sensors, in addition to the Every little thing Presence vary, which is fashionable with Residence Assistant customers. The Every little thing Presence Lite and One provide zones and goal monitoring via ESPHome, however they depend on Wi-Fi and require extra tinkering. The FP400’s benefit is its polished app, Matter assist and broad ecosystem compatibility.

The Aqara Spatial Multi Sensor FP400 is a worthwhile replace to the FP2. The transfer from Wi-Fi to Zigbee and Thread is an important change, and it makes the FP400 far simpler to make use of throughout Apple Residence, Google Residence, Alexa, SmartThings, Homey and Residence Assistant. Monitoring as much as 10 individuals, the bigger 10 x 8 m protection space and the eight configurable zones make it one of the succesful presence sensors you should buy at this value.

The Aqara app can also be a energy. The walk-through calibration is fast, the zone map is simple to know, and the settings are properly defined. Per-zone sensitivity and absence timers make it attainable to fine-tune every space of a room, and the firmware replace obtainable at launch addresses many frequent false detection eventualities.

It’s not with out its downsides. It wants a everlasting USB energy provide, which makes placement tougher than a battery sensor. The headcount and AI individual detection are nonetheless Lab options, and Aqara admits the depend may be out by one to 3 individuals. The GMT-only historical past graphs are a minor irritation, and the connection choices are extra complicated than they need to be. It additionally loses the FP2’s fall detection, sleep monitoring and better zone restrict, which can matter to some consumers.

In case you are shopping for a zone-capable presence sensor for the primary time, the FP400 is the one I might suggest in Aqara’s vary, notably if you have already got an Aqara hub or a Thread community. Should you already personal an FP2 and it does every little thing you want, there may be much less purpose to improve until you wish to transfer it off Wi-Fi or want the bigger protection space.