Intruder and fire alarm status signals
In addition to notifying our alarm receiving centre (ARC) when your alarm activates, there are a number of other signals that alarm communicators need to send to ensure the safety and security of your property.
These signals provide information about the status of your alarm and give you an opportunity to take action to rectify the problem.
A list of the most common signals is provided below. By default these are classed as important for you or someone nominated by you (a keyholder) to be made aware of. Therefore by default our ARC will notify you, the site or a keyholder by phone when these are received.
| Low battery | All alarm systems we look after contain a back-up battery that will power the system for many hours. If power is not restored before the battery levels reach a critical level, the ARC will contact a keyholder by phone so they can get to site to restore the power. If power is restored to the alarm, it will re-charge the battery. |
| Tamper | The alarm constantly monitors all detectors, their wiring and all its component parts. This signal is sent when it detects someone interfering with some part of the alarm. |
| Trouble / Fault | The security alarm has identified a fault. This is a general fault signal and is likely to be something that will require a technician to attend. |
| Fire fault | This is similar to a Trouble/Fault signal but with a fire alarm where it has identified some sort of fault. This may be something as straight forward as a power failure or something more involved that will require a technician to attend. |
| Single path fail | One path that the alarm communicator uses to signal activations cannot be detected and it has sent a signal on the other path. This may be the telephone line or the radio path. This means the alarm has no backup path for communicating activations until the other path is restored. (Not applicable for digital communicators or RedCARE). |
| Polling fail | The security network regularly ‘talks’ to the alarm communicator. This is known as polling. If the network cannot ‘talk’ to the alarm communicator it is deemed the polling has failed and there is a potential communication cannot take place if it is required. (Not applicable for digital communicator) |
| STU software fault | The alarm communicator has identified a problem with it’s on-board software. (RedCARE and RedCARE GSM only) |
There are other signals that provide information or to log when an event occurs. All of these ‘management signals’ have a function and we have a responsibility to inform you when they are received. However, many of these may be considered low-priority because there is limited action that can be taken by you to rectify the problem.
These signals may be received at any time day or night. To avoid unnecessary disturbance to yourself or your keyholders, all of these signals can be automatically emailed from the ARC to the email addresses of the keyholders provided rather than calling by phone.
Please note that if an email address is not available for the person responsible for the alarm (the owner of the property or someone with responsibility for it in a business) it is recommended that we contact you or your keyholders by phone rather than using e-mail addresses for any of these signals received.
A list of the most common ‘management signals’ is provided below. By default these are classed as low priority signals and we will auto-notify you of their receipt on the email addresses you provide. Therefore it is important that you provide a valid e-mail address and keep us up-to-date with any changes you may make.
However, we would point out that there is always the option for us to contact you or any of your keyholders by phone for any (or all) of these signals if you would prefer, or if there is no e-mail address available. Which of these ‘management signals’ would not be considered as low priority will be different depending on your own personal needs.
Please note this is a generic list and that not all systems have all these types of signals utilised. If you wish to make any alterations to how we action your alarms as standard please contact us directly or perhaps discuss with your technician on their next visit.
| 24 hour test signal fail | The alarm communicator sends a routine test signal every 24 hours to test the line. If this is not received it is an indication the telephone line may not be functioning correctly (digital communicator only) |
| Zone omit | The alarm has been set with one or more of the detection devices isolated. |
| Mains fail | The main electrical supply to the alarm has been disconnected for 60 minutes. All alarm systems contain a back-up battery that will power the system for many hours. If power is restored to the alarm it will re-charge the battery. If power is not restored, a further alert will be sent before the battery levels reach a critical level and the ARC will contact a keyholder by phone. |
| Late restoral weekly report | When a fault is repaired, the alarm will send a signal to confirm the alarm has been restored back to normal operation. If a signal is not received or alarm or fault condition has not been repaired a report will be generated and sent via e-mail after a week. This report can only be sent via e-mail and will be repeated each week until the fault condition has been restored to normal. |
| Link down | Communication with your property has been lost because there is a problem with the RedCARE Network itself. Note: if the alarm was set at the time of failure, a keyholder would be notified by phone as well as an e-mail being sent. (RedCARE or RedCARE GSM communicators only). |
| GSM low | The alarm communicator can still function via the telephone line but the radio signal is too low for reliable communication to take place on the radio path. (RedCARE GSM Only). |
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