1Introduction
Strips Presence is an active infrared (IR) sensor for LoRaWAN. Mounted under a desk, it reports whether someone is sitting there. In object mode it reports whether something is in place, for example equipment or a painting. It also measures temperature. At 3 mm thick it is mounted out of sight. It is for indoor use. For outdoor and exposed places there is Strips Presence Ruggedized.
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, staff can mark a desk as cleaned.
What's in the box
- Strips Presence, with the adhesive already on the back
- One or two magnets on the sensor. They keep it in transport mode until you start.
- 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
2Before you start
A LoRaWAN sensor needs a little more preparation than a sensor that pairs with a hub. Have this ready first:
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
- Under the desk: the square end about 25 mm from the edge where the person sits, facing them. Strips can run along the edge, or with the rounded end pointing to the middle of the desk.
- A clear view: nothing in front of the square end, such as a frame rail, a drawer or a cable tray
- Indoors: the sensor is IP20. Keep it dry.
- 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. Many desks have a metal frame: mount Strips on the wooden top.
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.
Join the network
Take every magnet off the sensor. Strips leaves transport mode and 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.
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.
Configure (optional)
Strips Presence is delivered with the Default fast profile and reports presence from the start, so many customers never change anything. Choose another profile only if it fits the space better. Note that a settings reset does not bring back Default fast but the factory default (see Technical reference).
| Profile in the Config Tool | What it does |
|---|---|
| Default fast | The fastest response. Shows "vacant" 15 minutes after the person has left. |
| Office | For ordinary offices. A long timeout (60 minutes), so breaks and short meetings do not free the desk. |
| Office (Confirmed) | As Office, but the reports are sent confirmed. Needs software R12 or later (made after June 2022). |
| Office with Temperature | As Office, plus the average temperature once a day. |
| Public | For restaurants, cafés and receptions. A shorter timeout (20 minutes). |
| Object Detection Close | An alarm when an object comes into, or leaves, close range (about 1–10 cm, but not pressed against the sensor). |
| Object Detection Far | As above, at a longer range. |
| Disinfect Status Alarm | The cleaning status of a desk: dirty, occupied, cleaning or clean. Needs +Switch (or a magnet at the square end). |
| Custom Profile (Advanced) | Choose reports and settings yourself. |
- Open the Strips LoRa Config Tool and choose Strips Multi-sensor +Presence.
- 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.
Install
- Clean the underside of the desk. It must be clean, dry and at least +10 °C.
- Try the position with ordinary tape: square end about 25 mm from the edge, facing the person.
- Check that nothing blocks the view from the square end.
- Peel the film off the adhesive and press Strips firmly in place.
Test
Sit at the desk as normal for a few minutes, then leave it.
Ready
- Registered in the network server with the right region and keys
- Joined, and the messages are decoded
- Default fast kept, or another profile confirmed with status code 0300
- Signal checked at the final spot
- Under the desk, about 25 mm from the edge, with a clear view
- Occupied and vacant both seen
4Using the sensor
What it reports
- Presence: occupied or vacant
- Close / far proximity: an object present or removed, in object mode
- Disinfect status: dirty, occupied, cleaning or clean, with +Switch
- Temperature: reports or averages
- Battery level and heartbeat: once a day by default. A new sensor shows 99 %, which means full.
How presence detection works
At each poll interval, Strips sends a short IR pulse and measures how much light comes back. If the reflection changes by more than the threshold several times within the timeout, it reports occupied. If there are no changes for the length of the timeout, it reports vacant. The timeout should be at least twenty times the poll interval. Shorter intervals do not make the sensor more accurate, but they use the battery faster.
In object mode, Strips reports an object as present when the reflected light passes the threshold. It reports the object as removed when the reflection falls below half the threshold.
+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.
Strips Presence Ruggedized
Strips Presence Ruggedized is the same sensor wrapped in a transparent protective foil, IP67, for sheltered outdoor and exposed places. It is made for asset monitoring: whether a lifebuoy, a defibrillator or other safety equipment is still in place. Everything in this manual applies to it, except:
- Profile: use Object Detection Close or Object Detection Far, so that you get an alarm when the object is removed
- Mounting: with +Clip or the adhesive, with the square end facing the object
- Place: indoors or sheltered outdoors. Do not use it under water.
- No +Switch: the foil covers the front
- Temperature accuracy: ±1 °C at 0–30 °C
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.
| 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. |
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
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.
7Troubleshooting
| Problem | What to do |
|---|---|
| Always occupied, or occupied with nobody there | Something moves in front of the sensor, or the threshold is too low. Raise the Presence Threshold. |
| Never occupied | Check that the square end faces the person and that nothing blocks the view. Lower the Presence Threshold. |
| Vacant too late or too soon | Change the Presence Timeout, or choose another profile. |
| Disinfect status does not change | Turn on the Disinfect Status Alarm profile, and check that +Switch makes the LED blink. |
| 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 | Delivered with the Default fast profile: presence checked every 30 seconds, threshold 30, vacant after 15 minutes, and a heartbeat once every 24 hours. After a settings reset (00 on port 11) the sensor has the factory default instead: presence checked every 2 minutes, threshold 30, vacant after 60 minutes. |
| 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 |
|---|---|
| Presence Report | Occupied (true) or vacant (false) |
| Close Proximity Alarm | An object present (true) or removed (false), at close range (confirmed) |
| Disinfect Alarm | Dirty (0), occupied (1), cleaning (2) or clean (3) |
| +Switch Alarm | +Switch was moved |
| IR Proximity Report | The raw reflection value, for troubleshooting and tuning |
| Temperature / Average Temperature Report | Current or average temperature |
| Battery Report | Battery level (%) |
Settings
The settings that apply to Strips Presence, as in the Config Tool.
| Setting | What it does | Range | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| Presence Poll Interval | How often to check for movement. 60 s or more is recommended for people, 30 s or more for objects. | 15–180 s | 120 s |
| Presence Threshold | How much movement changes the state. Raise it for false positives, lower it if the sensor is not sensitive enough. | 1–10000 | 30 |
| Presence Timeout | How long without movement before the space counts as vacant. 15 minutes or more is recommended. | 10–10080 min | 60 min |
| Object Detect Oversampling Count | How many times in a row an object must be seen as present or absent | 1–100 | 1 |
| Temperature Poll Interval | How often the temperature is read. 0 = off. | 0.5–60 min | 2 min |
| Average Temperature Time | How often the average temperature is sent | 10–10080 min | 1440 min |
| LED Level | 0 = very limited, 1 = user actions and errors, 2 = all events | 0–2 | 2 |
9Specifications
| Sensors | Active IR presence, temperature, magnet sensor for +Switch (not on Ruggedized) |
| Detection range | Configurable, up to 50 cm |
| Temperature accuracy | ±1 °C at 0–30 °C |
| Radio | LoRaWAN 1.0.4, class A, OTAA |
| Frequency plans | EU868 · US915 · AU915 · AS923-1 · KR920 · IN865 · JP920 |
| Range | Up to 10 km in line of sight |
| Battery | Built-in LiMnO2, 480 mAh, well over ten years |
| IP rating | IP20, indoor (Ruggedized: IP67, indoor and sheltered outdoor) |
| Operating temperature | −20 to +60 °C |
| Dimensions | 195 × 15 × 3 mm |
| Weight | 11 g |
| Accessories | +Switch, +Clip (Ruggedized: +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-presence
- 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.