What Is The Awareness Zone Type on PROA7 and PROA7PLUS?

The Awareness response types were added in firmware 03.1868.32.0 of the PROA7 and PROA7PLUS. There are two (2) options, Awareness or 24-Hr Awareness. These response types allow a user to configure a notification for Door, Window, or Motion Device types without reporting to a central station.

These response types were created due to feedback from users. End-users requested an option to receive a notification when a particular sensor is faulted, without sending any type of report to a monitoring station. There are many applications where this response type can be used.

One example is a user whose mailbox is at the end of a long driveway. This user can put a sensor in or on their mailbox to alert them when mail arrives (or to let them know that their mailbox was accessed at an unusual time). These users want to receive a notification for this activity, but they don't want an alarm to sound or a report to be sent to the monitoring station.

The primary difference between Awareness and 24-Hr Awareness is that a sensor programmed for Awareness is only active when the system is armed in the Stay or Away mode, and only after the exit delay time has elapsed. 24-Hr Awareness is always active unless bypassed. Both Awareness and 24-Hr Awareness response types allow a user to bypass the zone.

Wireless zone supervision of both Awareness zone types is optional. When either Awareness zone type is active and a fault occurs, a blue banner will be displayed on the PROA7 or PROA7PLUS screen. If the zone restores and then faults again, another notification will be added, and if enabled, sent to the user. Each notification displayed on the panel or the PROWLTOUCH remote keypad must be acknowledged with a valid user code at the panel before the display of that event will be cleared. You do this by tapping the blue banner icon on the Home Screen, entering your valid code, then hitting Acknowledge, or Acknowledge All. You'll be prompted to enter the code again. Once all Awareness events have been acknowledged, the blue banner will clear from the main screen.

Two devices that are particularly well suited to using the Awareness zone types are the PROINDMV Indoor, or PROOUTMV Outdoor Motion Viewer. When configuring these devices for the Awareness zone types, there is an option to capture a video clip (10s) or a picture. These images or videos, once captured, can be viewed by the user along with the Awareness event that shows on the panel's screen. After the event has been viewed and acknowledged, these images or videos can be reviewed at a later time in the panel by going to Cameras > Images and Recordings. These images are also sent to Total Connect 2.0 if remote access is being used.

In addition to a visual indication, the Awareness Response Types can be configured for an audible alert. Currently, there are three (3) options:

• Chime: This is the standard three-beep chime plus voice annunciation, there is no option for selecting a specific chime sound. This option will only cause a chime (and voice) if both Chime and Voice are enabled for the partition where the zone is being programmed and set to alert.
• Continuous Trouble Beeps: If this alert is selected, a fault on the zone will cause continuous trouble beeping until the event is acknowledged by entering a valid user code at the panel.
• Alarm: If this option is selected, a fault of the zone will cause an alarm sound. The alarm sound will continue until a valid code is entered, or until bell timeout, whichever comes first.

In addition, if the Awareness zone is not assigned to Partition 1 (Main Partition) you will be given the option to have it sound in the current (assigned) partition, the current plus the Main Partition, or in the Main Partition only. The Main Partition always refers to Partition 1. Chime and voice are enabled per partition, so be sure they are toggled on for the partition or partitions being selected if you set the zone to chime.