ALARM.COM only sends sensor notifications once after alarm triggered..then no activity notifications

Support
1

When system is in DISARMED state, every door sensor open/close is registered and shows up under “ACTIVITY” on website, or in “HISTORY” on app. This is good.

However, when system is in ALARM state, each sensor can trigger the alarm only once.
Once that sensor is triggered, it’s like it becomes invisible to the panel.
No new activity is recorded during that ALARM state, unless it’s a new sensor.
So opening/closing doors, activating motions, DOES NOT show up as ACTIVITY once that sensor has already been triggered once during that alarm.
SIMON XT system, but it seems issue is with ADC, not the panel.

RESULT: Once alarm has triggered, I lose the critical information of what sensors are triggering at what time. This is important data for several reasons obviously, as a crime may be in progress.

  1. If burglar went out back door to alley, I can alert police to go to alley side.
    Without sensor notification, I don’t know which exit they used.
    Maybe I want to consult neighbor’s cameras, it’s harder to do without that critical info.
  2. I want to know if burglar is still on premises. What zone is he in? Seeing motions trigger, or seeing if the door has opened/closed again are important clues.

The only way to regain sensor notification is to DISARM panel.
Once disarmed, I again get notifications for every sensor activity again (other than motion).

This means that I will most likely be wanting to disarm the panel immediately if there is a break in, in order to see those sensor triggers again.
But I also want to let the siren to continue, so that the burglar will hear the alarm and he is incentivized to leave quickly. So there is a conflict of interest there.

This seems counter to practicality. Is there some reason for this?
Can I get ADC to show all activity even during alarm state?

Also, is there some reason SIMON XT silences alarm after 5 minutes?
If a burglar takes 5 minutes in the building to get within ear shot of the ALARM PANEL, he may not even be aware that alarm has triggered, and may take his sweet time, instead of grabbing something quick and running. That’s important if police take a long time to arrive. I know one way around this is to wire separate sirens to the exterior, or directly to entrance way areas.
Thanks.

2

Happy to assist

Once alarm has triggered, I lose the critical information of what sensors are triggering at what time. This is important data for several reasons obviously, as a crime may be in progress.

To clarify, you are looking to track the movement of a potential intruder in real time via the sensors that are triggered during an alarm event.

In this scenario Zone 1 is triggered, setting off the alarm, then zones 2 and 3 are triggered and activity for all three can be seen in history, but if Zone 1 is triggered again during the same alarm event (prior to disarming the system) that zone does not show up again in history, is that correct?

Also, is there some reason SIMON XT silences alarm after 5 minutes?

This is the default setting and can be changed via the Siren Timeout setting in programming. This value can be set anywhere between 2-254 minutes. To do so:

  • Scroll to System Programming > OK
  • Enter Installer Code > OK
  • Scroll to Timers > OK
  • Scroll to Siren Timeout > OK
  • Enter period between 2-254 minutes then click OK
  • Press Status until you reach main screen
3

Based on how you have described in the scenario above, you will want to disableSwinger Shutdown at your panel.

Swinger Shutdown determines whether the panel prevents the same sensor from activating an alarm more than once in a single arming period (on) or not (off).

  • Note: Swinger Shutdown does not affect smoke and fire sensors.

The default for this setting is on. to disable this feature:

  • Scroll to System Programming > OK
  • Enter Installer Code > OK
  • Scroll to Reporting > OK
  • Scroll to Report Options > OK
  • Scroll to Swinger Shutdown > OK > Delete

After disabling Swinger Shutdown you will want to test the system then check history in Alarm.com. Does this match up with your desired scenario above?

4

Thanks Tyler, I looked at that and it was disabled already, which seemed odd, like possible malfunction…
Then there was another setting for SENSOR ALARM RESTORAL REPORT.
I think that was the one which got it to keep triggering after the first trigger during an alarm.
Thank You.

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