Strips Comfort for LoRaWAN manual

1Introduction

Strips Comfort measures temperature, relative humidity and ambient light (lux) where it is mounted, and reports them over LoRaWAN. At 3 mm thick with an adhesive back, it suits rooms where a visible sensor is not welcome: offices, flats, cellars and attics. It is for indoor use.

It works with any LoRaWAN network server (LoRaWAN 1.0.4, class A, OTAA) and reaches up to 10 km in line of sight. The battery is built in and lasts well over ten years. With the +Switch accessory, it also works as a button.

In the Strips LoRa Config Tool, this sensor is listed as Strips Multi-sensor +Comfort.

What's in the box

Strips Comfort, with the adhesive already on the back
One or two magnets on the sensor. They keep it in transport mode until you start. Keep one for magnet commands.
The LoRaWAN keys (DevEUI, JoinEUI and AppKey). They come on a label in the box and also by e-mail.

No tools or screws are needed. +Switch and +Clip are sold separately.

Parts of the sensor

Front and back of Strips: square end with LED, rounded end with antenna, label with region and DevEUI on the back

The square end (by the logo) has the LED. The rounded end holds the antenna, and it is where you give commands with a magnet. The label on the back shows the region and the DevEUI.

2Before you start

A LoRaWAN sensor needs a little more preparation than a sensor that pairs with a hub. Have this ready first:

Strips sends by radio to a gateway, the gateway to the network server, the network server to your application; settings go back as a downlink

You need

A LoRaWAN gateway within range, powered on and online
An account on a LoRaWAN network server (for example The Things Network, ChirpStack, Loriot or Actility), with the gateway added to it
The keys for the sensor: DevEUI, JoinEUI (also called AppEUI) and AppKey
The region printed on the sensor's label (for example EU868 or US915). The network server and the gateway must use the same region. In US915 and AU915, they must also use the same sub-band.
The Strips payload decoder in your network server or application, so the messages can be read (see Support)

Choosing the place

For room climate: an inside wall, away from direct sun, radiators, other heat sources and draughts
For light: where the light falls the same way as in the rest of the room. Do not mount it behind curtains or inside cupboards.
Indoors: the sensor is IP63. Keep it away from water.
Range: up to 10 km in open line of sight, much less through walls and floors
No metal: do not mount Strips directly on metal, magnetic surfaces or inside a metal structure. If it has to go on metal, put padding between them.

Strips Comfort on an inside wall, away from a sunny window and a radiator

3Step by step: from box to ready

Eight steps. Register the sensor in the network server before you take the magnets off. Then join it, choose what it should report, and mount it last.

Unpack

Check that the sensor and its magnets are there, and find the keys. Leave the magnets on until you join.

Register the sensor in the network server

Add a new end device in your network server, with activation OTAA.
Choose LoRaWAN 1.0.4 (MAC version), regional parameters revision RP002-1.0.1, and the frequency plan for the region on the label. In US915 and AU915, choose the same sub-band as the gateway.
Enter the DevEUI, JoinEUI (AppEUI) and AppKey. Check them carefully: one wrong character and the join fails.
Add the Strips payload decoder to the device or the application.

Done when: the device is listed in the network server, waiting for its first join.

Join the network

Take every magnet off the sensor. Strips leaves transport mode and sends a join request.

One or two magnets on Strips; take them all off and it sends a join request

If the magnets have already been off, or you are joining the sensor again, start the join with the magnet instead: move it to the rounded end three times, for three green blinks.

Done when: a short green blink shows the join request was sent, and a few seconds later one long green blink confirms the join. The network server now shows the device as joined, with its first messages.

Five short red blinks means the join failed. See Troubleshooting: the usual causes are wrong keys, the wrong region or sub-band, or no gateway in range.

Check the signal where it will sit

Hold Strips at the place where it will be mounted and send an uplink: move the magnet to the rounded end three times. Then look at the message in the network server.

Good: the link must carry at least SF9. As a rule of thumb, look for an SNR above −5 dB and an RSSI above −115 dBm. That leaves a margin to the SF9 limit (about −12.5 dB SNR).

A weaker link forces the network server's adaptive data rate (ADR) onto SF10–SF12. Each message then takes much longer to send, which costs battery and capacity. If the sensor is still on SF10–SF12 a day after installation, improve the link.

If the message does not arrive, or arrives only now and then, move the gateway or the sensor, or add a gateway.

Configure

From the factory, Strips Comfort sends only a daily heartbeat. Choose a profile to get temperature, humidity and light.

Profile in the Config Tool	What it does
Temperature, Humidity, and Light	A report each time temperature, humidity or light changes. Temperature and humidity are read every 10 minutes, and a change of 1 °C or 4 % RH triggers a report.
Temperature and Humidity	As above, without light. They are read every 2 minutes.
Periodic - Temperature, Humidity, and Light	All three values at a fixed interval (60 minutes in the profile). This suits logging and graphs.
Custom Profile (Advanced)	Choose reports and settings yourself, for example temperature alarms, light levels or +Switch.

Open the Strips LoRa Config Tool and choose Strips Multi-sensor +Comfort.
Choose a profile, check its reports and settings, and change a value if needed.
Copy the payload the tool creates, and send it as a downlink on port 11 from your network server.
Send an uplink with the magnet (three times at the rounded end). Strips is a class A device: it only receives a downlink right after it has sent something.

Done when: Strips answers with status code 0300 (OK). Any other code means the setting was not accepted. See Status codes.

Without the magnet, Strips picks up the downlink at its next message, at the latest with the daily heartbeat. So a setting can take up to 24 hours to arrive, and on a busy network longer.

Install

Clean the surface. It must be clean, dry and at least +10 °C.
Peel the film off the adhesive on the back.
Press Strips firmly in place.

The adhesive is permanent. Taking the sensor off can damage the sensor or the surface. See Removing Strips.

For rough or temporary surfaces, use the +Clip accessory (sold separately).

Test

Wait for the first reports after the profile has arrived, and check that the values are plausible for the room. Breathe on the sensor or cover it with your hand to see humidity and light change.

Done when: temperature, humidity and light arrive in your application.

Ready

Registered in the network server with the right region and keys
Joined, and the messages are decoded
Profile chosen and confirmed with status code 0300
Signal checked at the final spot
Temperature, humidity and light arriving
Mounted on an inside wall, away from sun, heat and draughts

4Using the sensor

What it reports

Temperature and humidity: on change, at a fixed interval, or as averages
Light (lux): on change, or when it passes a high or low level that you set (two pairs of levels)
Temperature alarms: at a low and a high level, if you turn them on
+Switch: each slide, if +Switch is fitted
Battery level and heartbeat: once a day by default. A new sensor shows 99 %, which means full.

+Switch

+Switch is a slider that sits on the front of Strips (sold separately). Strips reads its position with its built-in magnet sensor, and sliding it sends a +Switch report, which your application can use as a button: lights on or off, home or away, or a request for a service.

Before you remove the adhesive: slide +Switch back and forth. It should move smoothly from one end to the other and stay there, not spring back. Then return it to its starting position.
Align it: line up the straight edge of +Switch with the bottom of the sun in the Sensative logo printed on Strips.
Fix it: peel off the adhesive and place +Switch carefully in that position.
Check both positions: slide it towards the square end, then towards the rounded end. The LED blinks right after each move.
Press it home: press gently on +Switch and allow 24 hours for the adhesive to set.

Turn on the +Switch Alarm report in the Config Tool. To remove +Switch later, lift off the top slider first, then remove the base plate with dental floss.

Confirmed messages and network outages

Alarms are sent confirmed: Strips waits for an acknowledgement from the network server. If none arrives, for example because the gateway is off, Strips goes into resend mode. It tries again after 1, 2, 4, 8 minutes and so on, up to once a day. After 7 days without an acknowledgement, Strips resets itself and goes into standby (see below).

Operating modes

Mode	What it means
Transport	Magnets on, deep sleep, almost no battery used. This is how Strips is delivered.
Joined	Normal operation: connected to the network and reporting.
Resend	A confirmed message has not been acknowledged. Strips retries with longer and longer gaps.
Standby	Not joined, after a reset or after 7 days in resend mode. Strips sends a join request once a day until it gets in.

Strips cannot be switched off. Once the magnets have been removed, it can go back into transport mode only if it has never joined. This applies if the join failed, or if the magnets were put back before it sent a join request.

LED signals

LED	Meaning
● Short green	A magnet at the rounded end. An extra short blink after a three-swipe pattern: the command was accepted. Also shown when an alarm is acknowledged.
● Long green	Joined, reset or starting up
● Short orange	Strips is sending a report, or a join request when it is in standby
●● Orange, then red	Duty-cycle limit: too many messages for the network. The message goes out a little later.
● 5 short red	The join failed. After a resend: the message still had no acknowledgement.
● 3 short red	Strips sent a confirmed report, but got no acknowledgement (ACK) from the network server
● 2 short red	A report was not sent, because Strips is in resend mode
● Long red	The magnet was detected while Strips is in standby (not joined)

You can turn the LED down with the LED Level setting: all events (default), user actions and errors only, or very limited.

5Magnet commands

You give commands by moving a magnet at the rounded end of Strips. Use the magnet that came with it, or any small magnet.

Magnet moved to the rounded end of Strips and away, three times

Command	How	Result
Send an uplink / join	Magnet to the rounded end three times, for three green blinks	A short extra green blink. If joined, Strips sends a message and picks up waiting downlinks. If not joined, it sends a join request.
Reset	As above, but on the third time hold the magnet at the rounded end for 10 seconds	Two long green blinks. Strips leaves the network and restarts. Its settings are kept.

Between each swipe, move the magnet about 20 cm away from Strips and wait 2 seconds before the next one. Too quick or too close, and Strips counts the swipes as one. Watch how it is done: wake-up and uplink (video) and reset (video).

The magnet reset does not clear the settings. To return the settings to factory defaults, send the downlink 00 on port 11 (or 0100 on port 10). The sensor stays joined.

6Maintenance and removal

Battery

The battery is built in and lasts well over ten years. It cannot be replaced. Frequent reporting, a weak link and high spreading factors all shorten it. To get the most out of it:

Mount Strips away from metal, within good reach of a gateway
Report only what you need. The profiles in the Config Tool are tested for battery life.
Keep the poll intervals at their defaults unless you need faster response

In the cold, the battery level can read lower than it really is. This is expected: the reading takes the temperature into account and does not show the real charge.

The battery is a lithium manganese dioxide (LiMnO₂) cell, one of the most stable lithium chemistries. Do not open the sensor, and do not puncture it or heat it above +80 °C. When the battery is empty, dispose of the whole sensor as a battery, for recycling. Near the end of its life the battery normally swells a little; this is expected.

Removing Strips

Floss behind Strips, pulled along its length

Use dental floss or a thin string.

Moving to another network server

Delete the device from the old network server.
Reset Strips with the magnet.
Register it in the new network server and join it again.

The settings stay in the sensor.

Once the sensor has joined, do not pack or store it with the magnets back on.

7Troubleshooting

Problem	What to do
Joined, but no temperature, humidity or light	They are off from the factory. Choose a profile.
Temperature reads too high or too low	Check the place: direct sun, a radiator or a draught nearby gives misleading readings.
+Switch does nothing	Turn on the +Switch Alarm report in the Config Tool, and check that the LED blinks when you slide it. If it does not blink, the alignment is off.
Join Request in the network server, but no Join Accept	Check the region, the LoRaWAN version (1.0.4), the regional parameters and the keys. In US915 and AU915, the network server must use the same sub-band as the gateway.
Nothing at all in the network server	Check that the gateway is on and online, and listed as connected. Check that Strips is in range and not on metal. Check that the region on the label matches the network server. Strips may still be joined to another network server: reset it with the magnet and try again.
"MIC mismatch"	The keys are wrong. Check that they belong to this sensor and are typed correctly.
"DevNonce too small"	Delete the device from the network server and add it again. Then reset Strips with the magnet and join again.
A new setting has no effect	Strips receives the downlink at its next message, up to 24 hours later. Send an uplink with the magnet to fetch it sooner, and look for status code 0300. On a busy network it can take several messages before the downlink gets through.
Messages missing or irregular	Check RSSI and SNR. The sensor may be too far from the gateway, or behind metal. Some channels can also be disturbed by interference on the same frequency band, for example from a nearby cellular transmitter or an RFID reader. In US915 and AU915, check that the sub-bands match.
Short green, then short red	Duty-cycle limit: the network server thinks the sensor sends too often. The message goes out later.
Battery shows 99 % on a new sensor	That is full, by design.
Keys missing	They are on a label in the box and were sent by e-mail. Contact Sensative if you need them in digital form.
The LED does not react to the magnet at all	The battery may be empty. Check the last battery level the network server received. The battery cannot be replaced, so an empty sensor has to be replaced. If the battery level was fine, contact Sensative support.

8Technical reference

For integrators. The Strips LoRa Config Tool builds the downlinks, and the payload decoder reads the uplinks. Both are linked under Support.

Ports and factory settings

Port 11	Configuration downlinks from the Config Tool. `00` returns all settings to factory defaults.
Port 10	Commands. `0100` also returns the settings to factory defaults.
Port 10, `08XXXX`	Leave the network and wait: `08XXXX`, where `XXXX` is a number of minutes as two bytes in hex. Strips leaves the network and sends no new join request until that time has passed; for example `0805A0` waits 1 440 minutes (24 hours). Useful for joining sensors at the office to check them before they are shipped to a customer for mounting.
Factory settings	Heartbeat once every 24 hours. Temperature, humidity and light are off until you choose a profile.
Class and activation	LoRaWAN 1.0.4, regional parameters RP002-1.0.1, class A, OTAA

Status codes

After a configuration downlink, Strips answers with one of these codes:

Code	Meaning
0300	OK
0301	Bad settings
0302	Bad payload length
0303	Value not accepted
0304	Unknown command

Reports

Report	Content
Temperature Report / Alarm	Current temperature, and alarms at the low and high levels
Average Temperature Report / Alarm	Average over a set period, and alarms on the average
Humidity Report	Relative humidity, when it changes by the set threshold
Ambient Light Report / Report 2	Light changes, or crossing of the light levels (two pairs)
+Switch Alarm	+Switch was moved
Battery Report	Battery level (%)

Settings

The settings that apply to Strips Comfort, as in the Config Tool.

Setting	What it does	Range	Default
Temperature Poll Interval	How often the temperature is read. 0 = off.	0.5–60 min	2 min
Temperature Send Immediately Threshold	Change from the last reported value that triggers a report	0.1–60 °C	2 °C
Temperature Low / High Alarm Level	Temperature at or beyond which the alarm triggers	−20 to +120 °C	off
Temperature Alarm Hysteresis	How far back the temperature must go before a new alarm can trigger	0.1–60 °C	1 °C
Average Temperature Time	How often the average temperature is sent	10–10080 min	1440 min
Average Temperature Send Immediately Threshold	Send an average only when it has changed this much	0.1–60 °C	0 (off)
Average Temperature Low / High Alarm Level	Alarm levels for the average temperature	−20 to +60 °C	off
Average Temperature Alarm Hysteresis	Hysteresis for the average alarms	0.1–60 °C	1 °C
Humidity Poll Interval	How often the humidity is read. 0 = off.	0.5–60 min	0 (off)
Humidity Threshold Level	Change in humidity that triggers a report	1–100 %	4 %
Ambient Light Poll Interval	How often the light is read. 0 = off.	0.5–60 min	1 min
Ambient Light High / Low Level 1	Report when the light goes above or below these levels. With no levels set, every change is reported.	0–65535 lux	0 (off)
Ambient Light High / Low Level 2	A second pair of levels, for Ambient Light Report 2	0–65535 lux	0 (off)
Magnet Poll Interval	How often the magnet sensors are checked. All other intervals are multiples of it. Lower is faster but uses more battery.	1–10 s	1.5 s
LED Level	0 = very limited, 1 = user actions and errors, 2 = all events	0–2	2

9Specifications

Sensors	Temperature, humidity, ambient light (lux), magnet sensor for +Switch
Temperature accuracy	±0.2 °C
Humidity accuracy	±1.8 % RH
Radio	LoRaWAN 1.0.4, class A, OTAA
Frequency plans	EU868 · US915 · AU915 · AS923 · KR920 · IN865 · JP920
Range	Up to 10 km in line of sight
Battery	Built-in LiMnO2, 480 mAh, well over ten years
IP rating	IP63, indoor
Operating temperature	−20 to +60 °C
Dimensions	195 × 15 × 3 mm
Weight	11 g
Mounting	Adhesive backing; +Clip for rough or temporary surfaces
Accessories	+Switch, +Clip

10Support

Strips LoRa Config Tool, which creates the configuration downlinks: strips-lora-config-app.service.sensative.net
Payload decoder (open source): github.com/Sensative/strips-lora-translator-open-source
Support, FAQ and downloads: sensative.com/support
Product page and product sheet: sensative.com/sensors/strips-comfort
Technical support request: through the form on the support page

Sources: Sensative Docs, Strips for LoRaWAN pages, FAQ Strips LoRaWAN, Troubleshooting Guide Strips LoRaWAN and +Switch (read 24 October 2026); Strips LoRa Config Tool (profiles, reports and settings); Rev B datasheets; specifications from the sensative.com product data.