Apex "Alarm is Off" Constant Notifications

[ETReef]

Hello All,

I was wondering if anyone can please help me understand what is turning my Apex Alarm on, and causing it to send notifications constantly. I keep getting "Alarm is off" but I don't ever see anything telling me what turned the alarm on in the first place.

I have included a screenshot of my alarm log, and my Email Alarm code below.

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated!

 

[hikebikebrew]

I've been getting a similar response on one of my apex's as well. Seems to come and go. A few nights ago I had about 20 notifications including some false trips from my ATO optical sensor.

Interested to see if anyone else is having similar experiences.

 

[David_CO]

It happens when an alarm triggers then clears faster then it can write the data. I don’t know the exact technical reason but it is certainly annoying.

From my experience LDK’s are the biggest cause of these atleast the old exposed contacts kind I don’t have any of the new ones. I see you have one in the code above I would bet it’s the offender.

You can remove the line for the LDK temporarily to see if it was the culprit. In my experience it will go away on its own after a few hours. If you take the LDK flip it contact side up, wipe it dry (probably dry already) then leave it there for 20 mins before returning to its normal spot.

 

[Gtinnel]

I agree with above that this problem often is caused by optical sensors, or float switches. They can be momentarily trigger that will set the alarm but then go off before the information even gets recorded. You should be able add a line to your alarm code that will force the error to exist for a certain amount of time before it turns the alarm on, which also makes sure it’s on long enough to record what caused the alarm.

If you add
Min Time 000:30 Then ON
then whatever is causing the error will have to stay on for 30 seconds before alarming. I have that code on mine to get rid of a lot of nuisance trips.

 

[ETReef]

It happens when an alarm triggers then clears faster then it can write the data. I don’t know the exact technical reason but it is certainly annoying.

From my experience LDK’s are the biggest cause of these atleast the old exposed contacts kind I don’t have any of the new ones. I see you have one in the code above I would bet it’s the offender.

You can remove the line for the LDK temporarily to see if it was the culprit. In my experience it will go away on its own after a few hours. If you take the LDK flip it contact side up, wipe it dry (probably dry already) then leave it there for 20 mins before returning to its normal spot.

Thank you for your input! I think you were spot on with the LDK being the culprit. I removed the LDK line from my alarm config and I have not had any alarms triggered since. Confirmed there was no signs of water on my sensor, but at least I know what was causing the alarms now. Thanks again!

 

[ETReef]

I agree with above that this problem often is caused by optical sensors, or float switches. They can be momentarily trigger that will set the alarm but then go off before the information even gets recorded. You should be able add a line to your alarm code that will force the error to exist for a certain amount of time before it turns the alarm on, which also makes sure it’s on long enough to record what caused the alarm.

If you add
Min Time 000:30 Then ON
then whatever is causing the error will have to stay on for 30 seconds before alarming. I have that code on mine to get rid of a lot of nuisance trips.

Thanks for the suggestion! It definitely makes sense to add a short delay to the alarm code so that I don't receive a notification unless the sensor is actually in a closed state for more than a split second.

However I was thinking of using the Defer command as I see used in my ATO code. Something like:
Defer 000:05 Then ON

Would Min Time be a better command in this situation?

 

[hikebikebrew]

Read This First! Defer and Min Time statements

The Defer and Min Time statements are both outlet timers. Defer - will delay or defer an outlet from changing its state for X amount of time. Min Time - will insure an outlet stays in its current state for a Minimum Amount of Time. The Defer and Min Time statements are the exception to...

forum.neptunesystems.com

 

[Gtinnel]

Thanks for the suggestion! It definitely makes sense to add a short delay to the alarm code so that I don't receive a notification unless the sensor is actually in a closed state for more than a split second.

However I was thinking of using the Defer command as I see used in my ATO code. Something like:
Defer 000:05 Then ON

Would Min Time be a better command in this situation?

I’m not great at the programming aspect of the apex and just kinda learn it as I need to. I struggle to wrap my head around the difference between defer and min time and after reading my post again my description wasn’t great.

Here is my understanding (and I may very well be wrong) about what each does.

If you have the defer statement the error will have to be present for that amount of time before it turns the alarm on, which will work to filter out “noise” on optical or float switches. It will prevent you from getting alarm off notifications constantly if it’s a switch causing the problem.

If you use the min time it will force the alarm on condition to stay in the on status for the set amount of time. This will allow it to record what caused the alarm to turn on in the first place.

So defer will ignore the quick errors and min time will tell you what it was. I guess the question is do you just want to filter out the errors or know what caused them?

 

[ETReef]

Read This First! Defer and Min Time statements

The Defer and Min Time statements are both outlet timers. Defer - will delay or defer an outlet from changing its state for X amount of time. Min Time - will insure an outlet stays in its current state for a Minimum Amount of Time. The Defer and Min Time statements are the exception to...

forum.neptunesystems.com

Thanks for the link! This page lead me to the comprehensive manual section on Min Time/Defer. I have a much better understanding of the two now. Clearly I should spend more time in that manual..

 

[ETReef]

I’m not great at the programming aspect of the apex and just kinda learn it as I need to. I struggle to wrap my head around the difference between defer and min time and after reading my post again my description wasn’t great.

Here is my understanding (and I may very well be wrong) about what each does.

If you have the defer statement the error will have to be present for that amount of time before it turns the alarm on, which will work to filter out “noise” on optical or float switches. It will prevent you from getting alarm off notifications constantly if it’s a switch causing the problem.

If you use the min time it will force the alarm on condition to stay in the on status for the set amount of time. This will allow it to record what caused the alarm to turn on in the first place.

So defer will ignore the quick errors and min time will tell you what it was. I guess the question is do you just want to filter out the errors or know what caused them?

Thanks for the clarification. I think you are exactly right. Defer would keep the alarm from turning on, unless the sensor was tripped for X amount of time. Where Min Time would allow the alarm to turn on immediately, but the alarm would be forced to stay on for X amount of time.