Strips Guard, Even Outdoors!

At Sensative, we’re continually looking for unique ways that Strips Guard, the thinnest magnet sensor in the world, can be used. Indoors is not the only place Strips Guard can let you know if something is open or closed.

Strips Guard is weatherproof. What this means for you is that, on places like garden and pool gates, shed and garage doors and even mailboxes, Strips Guard can be placed to let you know if something is opened or, if the postman has dropped that important letter off in your mailbox.

While Strips is weatherproof, it’s important to note the distinction between that and waterproof. You shouldn’t use Strips to stir your drink and when you use it in an outdoor application, it shouldn’t be mounted where there will be standing water.

Generally though, if you mount Strips in a vertical position in an outdoor application, it should provide you with years of trouble free performance. On a gate or door, mounting Strips in the place where it has the least exposure to heavy rain or moisture is always a good idea, as it would be with most electronic devices used outdoors.

A few other items to keep in mind when using Strips in an outdoor application; distance, the gap and Faraday’s cage.

1. Distance – While Strips has excellent range, 40m indoors and, up to 100m line of site, it’s not unlimited. Mounting Strips Guard too far from your Z-Wave hub may mean one of two things. It may be out of range and not be detected and two it could search for a device that is plugged in to use as an extender in order to reach the hub. The first is easy to determine as you simply test Strips where you want to mount it before the final placement and make sure the hub can detect an open/close event. The second means that Strips will communicate with the hub but, you will see a decrease in the battery life. This may be OK for most but, it’s important to keep in mind.

2. The Gap – In most internal applications, Strips and its magnet are easy to place within the recommended 5mm of each other in order to be seen as closed. Outdoor, this gap may be greater. A solution to this would be to add a piece of wood or plastic under Strips to bring it closer to the magnet. Metal should be avoided for reasons explained under the third item to keep in mind.

3. Faraday’s Cage – are devices which limit the transmission of radio frequencies either in or out. Often created to protect the device in the cage or the environment outside of the cage, placing Strips on a metal surface or within a metal structure such as a mailbox, can end up meaning its radio signal becomes greatly limited. Similar to how you fixed the gap issue, placing a plastic or wood piece between Strips and the metal surface, for example, a gate, would allow the radio signal to be transmitted more freely. For mailboxes, we recommend you test Strips thoroughly in the mailbox before you mount 

So, there you have it. Some interesting ways to use Strips Guard to make your life easier. Keeping in mind the items described, Strips can work just as hard for you outside your home as inside.

Have any other innovative ways to use Strips? Send your idea in an email to stripstips@sensative.com.