Smart Arm not working as expected

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1

I am using ADC’s Smart Arming feature, but it does not work as expected. I have it set to Disarm my system between 6 and 7a when activity is detected on 8 sensors and to disarm at 7a if no activity is detected.
I also have it set to arm between 9p and 5:30a when no activity has been detected for 30 min using 12 sensors.

Last night, there was no activity at all (home was empty, but I was testing features - system NOT armed away).
The system automatically armed stay at 5:30a and disarmed at 6:59a.

The disarm time seems right (no activity detected so it disarmed at 7a … almost).
But I don’t understand why it didn’t arm until 5:30a since no sensors recorded any activity during the entire time from 9p thu 5:30a.

2

But I don’t understand why it didn’t arm until 5:30a since no sensors recorded any activity during the entire time from 9p thu 5:30a.

That does look off. I can confirm there is no activity recorded in Alarm.com history during that time frame so I would expect it to have armed at 9:30PM

Can you try editing that rule and changing the parameter to 5:00 as a test and see if it follows the rule properly after resaving, or if it just arms at 5:00?

3

Sounds good - just edited rule. Will test tonight.

4

@jwcsurety
Interesting - edited the rule yesterday. No arming at all between 9:30p and 5a this morning.

5

I am seeing an arming event this morning in your history marked as a result of the smart arming automation rule, as well as the automatic disarm later.

It did arm the system at 5 AM instead of the expected after 30 minutes of inactivity. Do you see that in your history?

I’ll reach out and report this behavior to Alarm.com to resolve. I am not sure if this is a unique issue to the SEM.

6

Apologies - I do see that. Missed it during first look.

7

Alarm.com is recommending an available firmware update for your SEM before further troubleshooting. Can we start an OTA update for you for the SEM firmware? The panel needs to remain disarmed while the update is applied. (ADC estimates about 40 minutes)

8

Yes, please go ahead.

9

That firmware update is applying to your system now. Later this evening I would recommend editing that rule and setting it back to 5:30 then resaving it.

10

Thanks, Jason. That might have fixed it. I changed the arm rule to no activity for 30 min from 8:50p thru 10:30p (because I made the change at 8:40p, and I was on my way to the property and would arrive around 11p screwing up the experiment).
It looks like the system successfully auto-armed at 9:10p.
The only thing I want to verify is if the time range spans midnight and whether that has an unintentional impact.
I’m still on site, but will try to devise an experiment to test.

Thanks for helping with this and getting the SEM firmware updated!

11

That sounds promising. Ok, let us know after reverting that rule to what you were using before if it arms as expected.

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Hi @jwcsurety and team,

I reverted the rule to 9:30p through 5:30a and actually let it get to 9:30p before arming manually last night. No activity during the entire period and the smart arm activated at 5:30a.
I am thinking it might have to do with PM/AM (arming period extends through midnight).
I am going to try 9:30p to 11:50p and see how that works.

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Thank you for your follow up. I will let Alarm.com know and request they investigate this as a possible bug. Let me know if your new rule ending at 11:50 works normally.

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Hi Jason - unfortunately, it looks like it stuck with the pattern of just arming at the end of the programmed smart arm period (e.g. 11:51p in this case).

15

Alright, we will see if we can replicate this and have Alarm.com do some testing.

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16

I have a bit more info. I did get the system to smart arm as expected last night. I had a theory that I tested: instead of no activity at all, what if the smart arming actually needs some activity on one of the specified sensors that then ends during the specified range.
This worked as expected last night. “Living area” sensors had activity that ceased around 10:15p, and the system armed at 10:43p.
I’ll confirm tonight with a schedule range that extends beyond midnight.

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Well if that’s repeatable that is good news. That can’t be intentional and should be easy to resolve if the inactivity timer simply isn’t starting when the time window starts, only when activity occurs.

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It worked again last night with some motion occurring during the time window and then stopping for 30 min.

19

Final experiment complete: smart arming time range set to 9:30p to 4a. No activity during entire range. Smart arm occurred at 4a.
I think this is very good evidence that Smart Arm feature requires some activity on a selected sensor during the specified range that subsequently ceases.

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Yeah I don’t think we need anything else. I’m discussing this with Alarm.com and the details you have provided should make it easy to pin down. Thank you for your testing.

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