Monitoring Garage Doors with IoT Sensors & the B.One Gallery – Netvox R718F vs. Sensative Strips (Part 2)

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Last week, in Part 1 of this small series, I showed you which components you can basically use to monitor your garage door using IoT/LoRaWAN® and how to install and set up the Netvox R718 F Reed Switch Open/Close Detection Sensor. In this second part I do the whole thing with the Sensative Strips Multi-Sensor +Drip and answer the question of whether it is even suitable for this application.
Before I go into the sensor and its functions, the assembly and the setup, first of all: YES, from my point of view the Strips +Drip can also be used for this application, even if the description doesn't say anything about it explicitly.
Sensative's Strips Multi-Sensor +Drip is also a battery-powered LoRaWAN ® based IoT sensor. In contrast to the Netvox R718F, however, this one can not only detect opening and closing movements of objects, but also temperature, humidity/leakage and brightness (LUX). As a result, a wide variety of applications in all possible areas can be implemented with just one sensor. In the case of garage door monitoring, you can also be notified if there is a risk of damage to the garage or objects located there due to rainwater or bad weather conditions. The special thing about the Strips sensors is, in addition to the chic design, in my opinion, the extremely small size. The sensor is only around 3 mm thick, or around 6 mm thick with the base plate for leak detection, and can therefore be mounted very inconspicuously in the smallest of spaces. Here, too, it does not matter whether the use takes place in a private or business environment and whether indoors or outdoors. Also practical: in contrast to the Netvox, the Strip has an integrated battery and is therefore ready for use upon delivery. Of course, changing the battery is not that easy.
To understand how the sensor works, here is a brief look at its structure. It consists of the following components:
As with the Netvox R718F, opening and closing movements of your gate are simply detected by the approach and distance of the magnet and sensor, with the difference that no reed switch is used here.
The exact technical specifications can be found on the data sheet or on the manufacturer's product page if required.
When the Strips sensors are delivered, they are already ready for use and are only in sleep or transport mode. You only have to be woken up to start the join process with the B.One Middleware. It is important here again that the sensor was previously created in this. And the same applies here: when ordering with IoT PLUG&PLAY, this is done automatically for you, otherwise you have to take over the system yourself in the Middleware and Gallery before commissioning, as described for the Netvox R718F. A small peculiarity with the manual installation: unlike the Netvox, there is not exactly the Sensative Strips +Drip to choose from in the dropdown for the device selection in the Gallery, but the general device type "Sensative Strips".
To start the join process, simply remove the two magnets supplied from the sensor. If that doesn't work, then alternatively tap manually by holding the magnet 3 times to the side with the rounded corners. If the join process was successful, the LED display lights up green for a little longer. This activates the +Drip, but it is not yet ready a) humidity/water and b) record the opening and closing movements of your gate. For the former, you stick the sensor onto the supplied blue base plate with the two felt strips/moisture detection pads. For the latter you still have to activate the magnetic sensor. I explain how this works below in the section "Behaviour & Configuration options".
The actual assembly is then also super easy. Either you stick the whole thing to the destination using adhesive strips on the back of the blue base plate or you use the two through holes/hangings to mount the +Drip using dowels and screws. With the latter, simply drill holes, screw in screws and hang in the sensor. You then simply stick the magnet to the appropriate place on the garage door with the adhesive strip on the back. Good to know: if you want to reposition the sensor after sticking it on for the first time, this is still possible within 24 hours, at least according to the manufacturer, without losing the adhesive strength. However, I haven't tested this yet.
Now where is the ideal installation location on the garage or on the gate for the Strips +Drip? Of course, it also depends on the design of your gate and what data you want to record. In my case, I first tried attaching it to the gate rail. This seemed to work at first, but when the gate was opened and closed several times, it turned out that changes in status were not recorded 100% reliably in this way.
Attaching the sensor to the so-called upper edge of the forecourt proved to be better and more reliable, similar to the Netvox R718F. Here I decided on the adhesive variant and against drilling. In the same way, similar to the Netvox R718F, I attached the magnet to the metal fixture at the bottom of the gate (see photos).
Important for assembly:
In the Sensative Strips Guard Magnet Position Guide you will find very helpful graphics that illustrate the whole thing very well.
In the standard configuration, the Strips +Drip only measures whether water/moisture is present. If the felt strips/moisture detection pads of the blue base plate become saturated with water by the threshold of 10% or more, the so-called "Flood Alarm" is triggered. In order to also record the gate movements, you must first activate the magnetic sensor.
How to change the Configuration and thus activate the Magnetic Sensor:
In principle, adapting the configuration works just like with the Netvox R718F (see above), only with the difference that Sensative provides a much more convenient option for generating payloads with the Strips Configuration Application. Here you don't have to deal with how exactly this is structured. I have already shown you an example of a payload configuration via app in my article "Sensative Strips Payload Configuration Part 1: Customization via App". In this case I made the following configuration (see also the following screencast):
After going through all the steps in the app, my final payload is as follows: 01030000620422000062061B00000258. You then send this via the middleware as a downlink to your sensor. As already mentioned in part 1, you get access to the middleware after ordering a GatewayPLUS. Important: Since the strips sensors are also type A devices, you have to send a so-called "open frame" again to receive the downlink. To do this, simply hold the supplied magnet 3x on the side of the rounded corners. If it worked, the LED flashes 3x.
Now the sensor behaves as follows:
Tip: You might be wondering what it's all about plug & play, don't feel like configuring anything yourself and can do without values such as temperature or humidity/leakage? Then you can simply use the Strips Multi-Sensor +Guard instead of the +Drip. Here the magnetic sensor is already activated by default.
You now also know how to mount the Sensative Strips Multi-Sensor +Drip in your garage, set it up/activate it initially and configure it, and you have a comparison to the Netvox R718F. In the next and last part of this series of articles I will go into the visualization of the two sensors in the B.One Gallery and draw a final conclusion. So stay tuned ;-)
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