WHAT IS ALARMCALM?

AlarmCalm is a powerful, flexible false fire alarm management solution that’s simple to install and easy to configure.

False alarms remain one of the biggest issues in fire, with the Fire Industry Association estimating that false alarms cost the UK economy alone in excess of £1bn per year. AlarmCalm reduces unwanted alarm disruption and risk to businesses and building occupants and helps minimise the chance of costly false fire alarm call out charges.

Available on the MxPro 5, Go, and AxisGo and  range of panels, AlarmCalm is easy to configure – even for sites with complicated cause and effect.

Intuitive software allows you to program effective false alarm management strategies thanks to the use of ‘building areas’. Independent of detection zones, building areas are virtual areas assigned to parts of a building to allow precise programming of alarm verification and investigation delays to outputs.

An optional, intelligent alarm acknowledgement loop device – the AlarmCalm Button – is also available for use in settings where building occupants are able to play a part in false alarm identification.

How It Works

AlarmCalm is fast, easy to use and simple to configure. It can scale from small installations to large sites with complicated cause and effect.

Using Alarm Verification and Investigation Delay technology, AlarmCalm allows additional time to respond, verify or investigate an alarm before the fire system goes into full alarm state.

AlarmCalm uses Advanced's new Building Area concept which allows alarm management strategy within a building to be easily managed.

Complete false alarm management

Complete FAM
False Alarm Management (FAM), is built around configurable time periods that occur either side of a latched fire condition.The time period before a latched fire condition is specified as Alarm Verification and the period after is Investigation Delay. They both offer significant but different FAM options and are managed in the same way with our DynamixTools software which has been designed with ease-of-use and speed of configuration in mind.

Simultaneous Verification Rules
Verification can occur simultaneously in multiple areas. Users can set the maximum number of Building Areas in verification at any one time before a full fire condition is indicated.

Verification Mode
AlarmCalm allows devices that support multiple sensitivity modes to verify an alarm using different settings based on time and day. For example, combined optical/heat detectors can change to heat-only mode to verify the alarm.

Multiple Verification Options
The verification strategy for each Building Area is highly flexible. The following options are supported:

• Allow verification: yes/no
• Extend verification period/silence verification outputs using an AlarmCalm Button
• Verified by 2nd device within the same Building Area
• Verified by mode change. For example an optical/heat detector can confirm fire if it confirms a signal in both smoke and heat modes.

Multiple Verification Inputs
Verification can be set quickly and simply according to device type in each Building Area. Heat, smoke, multi-sensors, call points or any input modules can be used as verification inputs. They can be set individually or by device type.

Multiple Verification Outputs
Sounders, beacons and relays in each Building Area can be operated during the verification period. They can be quickly set by all devices of each type or individually by point.

Multiple Verification Timers
With Type B (Displayed) alarm verification, AlarmCalm delivers a number of adjustable timing parameters. The verification time starts from the instant the smoke in a detector increases above alarm threshold or any other applicable input device is activated. The panel will turn on any programmed verification outputs for the Building Area during the verification time. Verification hold time helps ensure that transient signals are displayed on the panel long enough to be acknowledged and investigated, but still trigger full alarm conditions when necessary. If the alarm signal clears before the verification time period has elapsed the system returns to normal operation after the verification hold time has elapsed. This can be more or less than the verification time. If the smoke or signal from a device remains above the alarm threshold when the verification time elapses, the panel will go immediately into full alarm condition.

False Alarm Management and Networks
Each panel is configured with its own verification strategy allowing each panel’s strategy to be changed without affecting the network. By default all network nodes will be aware of verification alarms occurring at other nodes. The effects of this can be limited:

• Network display of verification can be suppressed
• Maximum areas in verification can be monitored network wide
• Global alarm acknowledgement from other panels can be included or excluded by sector.

Global Acknowledgement
Panel inputs (e.g. a button on the panel) can be configured to extend the verification period regardless of the Building Area in verification or output delay. Options include:

• Alarm Verification Only
  Verification alarm in and Building Area is acknowledged without any effect on verification outputs.
• Alarm Verification with Silence
  Verification alarm in any Building Area is acknowledged and outputs are turned off.
• Delaying Outputs/verification
  Dual function acknowledges both Investigation Delay and Verification Alarms.

Investigation Delays to Outputs
Output delays are managed by AlarmCalm in exactly the same way and flexibility as verification delays. Day/night settings can be applied as well as the option to set the maximum number of Building Areas to be investigated. Delayed alarm inputs can be set quickly and by all devices of each type, or individually by point.

Sounder Ringing Style
Sounders can be programmed to turn on using different ring styles to distinguish each stage of the verification or investigation delay periods.

Full Event Log
All verifications and delays are recorded in panel event logs.