Smoke alarm adjustments

Support
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1

Hi.

We ordered SLX-AD-T3 a sensor that mounts next to our smoke detector.

We have set off Our smoke detector 3 times in the past 18 months due to cooking. A topic for later :slight_smile:

All three times, they have dispatched the fire trucks even though we have called and canceled. It’s a policy that they come anyway.

I saw this topic in another thread.

“Another option, if you have not tried yet, would be to use the Zone type 16, Fire with Verification, which requires a second activation or about a full 30 seconds of triggering before sending an alarm signal.”

Can you walk me through this? How can I change my setting? It’s completely embarrassing to have the FD come for nothing more than burnt toast.

2

The Smoke verify (shortcut 1100) setting controls the number of sensor group 26 (fire) zone trips needed to report a fire alarm.

When turned off, hardwire and wireless smoke alarms are reported
immediately.

When turned on:

Wireless smoke sensors. The first trip of a group 26 RF sensor will
cause a local fire alarm. The second trip of any group 26 zone within the
siren timeout will cause that fire alarm to be reported to the central
station.

Provided you have an Alpha keypad, you can access programming.

You can use arrows to scroll up and down through the menus and # to select/save or * to go back. 1 and 2 are used to toggle options (1) on, or (2) off, and D is used to delete fields.

  1. Press [8] .
  2. Enter the installer code. The keypad displays Enter Command .
  3. Press [00] to enter system programming.
  4. Press [1100] for the shortcut to go to Smoke Verify .
  5. Press [#] to scroll to Onboard Options .
  6. Press [#][#] .
  7. The keypad displays SMOKE VERIFY OFF or SMOKE VERIFY ON . Press [1] to toggle the setting off or [2] to toggle the setting on.
  8. Press [#] to save the new value.
3

Have it turned on now per the instructions above and requested that the monitor station call me before calling the FD.

Can you elaborate your statement abide please. I have one sensor that is mounted next to my hardwire smoke detector. What do you mean by first trip and second trip if I have only one sensor.

Thanks.

4

With the Verify feature on, the first time the alarm is triggered from the Smoke, it will cause a local alarm. The second time it will send signal to central station.

Keep in mind, from the SLX-AD-T3 manual, the sensor will need to stay in alarm for at least one minute for the panel to verify it as an alarm and communicate to the central station when verify is enabled.

You will want to test locally to ensure functionality.

5

Okay, did all mentioned above. Called monitor and put into test mode. Then set the SD off via smoke. I got notification on my phone that there was a pending smoke/fire. The “alarm” in the house went off but monitor never got notified. Then I did it a second time and made sure the smoke continued for over a minute. Still they never got a notification in the monitor center that there was smoke/fire even though I got notification on my cell phone and the alarm in the house was going off.

6

I see what you mean. Below is the event history we see from when you ran your tests.

Event Time
Panel Disarmed 4/13/2020 6:41:11 pm
Smoke/Heat Pending Alarm (Awaiting Panel’s Programmed Delay)‎ 4/13/2020 6:40:52 pm
Panel Disarmed 4/13/2020 6:40:23 pm
Smoke/Heat Pending Alarm (Awaiting Panel’s Programmed Delay)‎ 4/13/2020 6:38:52 pm
Panel Disarmed 4/13/2020 6:37:19 pm
Smoke/Heat Pending Alarm (Awaiting Panel’s Programmed Delay)‎ 4/13/2020 6:35:58 pm
Panel Disarmed 4/13/2020 6:32:58 pm
Smoke/Heat Pending Alarm (Awaiting Panel’s Programmed Delay)‎ 4/13/2020 6:31:37 pm
Panel Disarmed 4/13/2020 6:29:23 pm
Smoke/Heat Pending Alarm (Awaiting Panel’s Programmed Delay)‎ 4/13/2020 6:29:08 pm

Did you run 5 separate tests? It looks like 3 of those were definitely in alarm for more than 1 minute but the panel didn’t send a verification signal after 60 seconds.

I think the issue is in panel programming. We’re not receiving that second signal that would trigger the call. Do you mind if we follow up with you tomorrow after talking to Interlogix about this?

I’m curious, do you have the Two Trip Error setting enabled as well?

7

This is what I did. I see nothing here about the *two trip error *setting.

8

I just want to be absolutely sure we are clear on what testing occurred:

Then I did it a second time and made sure the smoke continued for over a minute

Does this mean that you kept spraying the smoke for a full minute? Or do you mean you left the siren going for that long?

Leaving the panel siren going for a minute will not suffice, the actual sensor must activate twice. It should automatically activate twice if still detecting smoke 60 seconds after the first signal received by the panel. You should be able to replicate this by also holding down the test button for longer than a minute to be sure.

To clarify Smoke Verify means that one of the following must occur with RF smokes in order for the alarm to be verified and forwarded to the monitoring station:

  1. Two different RF smoke detector zones trip during one event
    or
  2. The one smoke detector is still detecting smoke 60 seconds after a trip. This doesn’t mean the panel siren is still going off, but that the RF detector has sent another signal to the panel.

You must not disarm the system between the two activations.

If this is how you tested, there may be a difference with how the Firefighter transmits. It may not actually send a second transmission. I’ll look into this on that sensor to be sure and report back.

9

This wasn’t address in your post …

This is what I did. I see nothing here about the *two trip error *setting.

Also, the SD went off for well over one minute not just the alarm panel. The actually smoke detector went off for over a minute.

Only two things change.

  1. monitor control now calls me before calling the FD
  2. I did was has been stated in previous posts.

Those are the ONLY two things that have changed. Again, I’m not sure what “two trip error” setting is.

I seem to have 3 individuals now responding to this thread so please read past posts to eliminate having to answer the same questions again. Thank you for your help.

10

I seem to have 3 individuals now responding to this thread so please read past posts to eliminate having to answer the same questions again. Thank you for your help.

I’ve read over the posts and the results of the tests don’t add up so that is why I want to be certain how the tests were performed.

Two Trip Error is a setting that works in conjunction with Alarm Verify - Alarm Verify requires two zones to trip within 4 minutes to forward the alarm to the central station.

Two Trip Error makes it so that if a second zone isn’t tripped, an error message is sent to the Central Station to let them know that one zone triggered an alarm but it wasn’t verified. These two options only apply to Sensor groups 10-20, and shouldn’t have an impact on sensor Group 26 (fire) unless the panel software is in error. I’m checking with Interlogix if there are any known errors regarding this when Smoke Verify is active. I haven’t heard back yet, but will post here ASAP when I do.

It sounds like Two Trip Error was asked about at the request of ADC support when they were consulted.

I understand the frustration, and I apologize, I don’t want to rehash the same instruction over and over. However I do want to be sure that the 1 minute time frame requirement is 100% clear. It probably is already, but to clarify:

The sensor that would need to be activated for over a full minute is the SLX-AD-T3. This means that the wired smoke detector would need to be activated and sounding for even longer than that, because it takes a few cadences before the SLX-AD-T3 signals to the panel.

The longest time between first activation and disarming the panel in your history appears to be 1:31. That should be long enough, but it doesn’t account for the time spent walking to disarm the alarm, and it doesn’t mean that the smoke detector was still sounding that long, just that the panel hadn’t been disarmed yet.

We have no way of actually telling from the history how long the smoke detector itself was activated, which is why I asked to be perfectly sure. That is the important time frame.

In order to actually activate twice, the wired smoke detector itself would likely need to sound for at least 1:10 due to the way the SLX-AD-T3 works.

The point in all of that is to say that in order to test, you would need to hold the test button on the wired smoke for a while longer than you think you need to. Hold the test button down for 1:30 at least. That would 100% ensure a definitive result.

11

Thanks for the detail, Jason

I’m pretty sure the SD went off for over a minute that’s why I ran the test so many times…

Next I will hold the wired SD test button for 1:30 and report back. It will be later today before I can do this test. Give me a couple hours.

If this still fails, I will just go back to the original setting and have control monitor just call me to verify the alarm.

12

The full minute seemed to do the trick. I held if for 1:30 and around 1:05 it triggered.

1 Like
13

That’s great news! Thank you for confirming. You should be good to go the way it is set up!