Security Systems Glossary

24 Hour zone - A device that remains armed constantly. Examples of 24 hour devices are Fire and Panic.
Alarm Screens - These are standard window screens that have a special wire woven in the screening. They are designed to detect someone cutting the screen.
Alpha Display - A Keypad that displays the condition of the system in text rather than with LED's.
Arming - The process of "Turning On" the alarm system.
Audio Detector - A device designed to detect a break-in by analyzing the sound waves generated by the breaking of glass etc.
Bypass - The act of temporally disconnecting a part of the system.
A bypassed device can not trigger an alarm.
Central Station - A remote location that is designed to monitor signals from alarm systems.
Complete Protection - Protection that will detect both the opening and forcible entry through a door or window.
Contacts - Devices designed to detect the opening of a door or window.
Controlled zones - Zones that can be turned on or off by an authorized user of the system. Examples of Controlled zones are door contacts and motion detectors.
Disarm - The process of turning the security system off.
Dual Detector - Any device that uses two different sensing technologies to detect an intrusion. Dual detectors are thought to be less susceptible to false alarms.
Entry Delay - A predefined period of time that the user has to disarm the system.
Exit delay - A predefined period of time that the user has to leave the premises after arming the system.
Fire alarm verification - A fire zone feature that attempts to minimize false alarms by not signaling an alarm when a smoke detector trips the first time.
Instead the control will automatically reset the detector and only activate the fire alarm if the smoke detector trips again.
Floor Mats - Thin mats with pressure switches designed to be placed under rugs to detect someone walking in the area.
Foil - Metallic tape placed on glass or walls to detect the breaking of the material.
Force Arming - The act of arming a security system with one or more devices in trouble. When armed in this manner the faulted devices will not detect any intrusion. On some systems if the device that was in trouble returns to its normal state it will become an active device capable of detecting an intrusion.
Hard wired - A system that uses wires to connect all of the devices to the control.
Heat detector, Fixed - A detector that will trigger an alarm when the temperature at the device reaches a preset limit.
Heat detector, Rate of Rise - A detector that will trigger an alarm if the temperature at the detector increases at a preset rate.
Interior zones - Devices that would be activated by normal movement within the premises. Examples of interior zones are motion detectors or contacts on bedroom doors.
Keypad - A device used to arm or disarm the system. This is the device that is used to interface with the system.
LED - Light Emitting Diode. An electronic device that lights up when power is applied. These devices are used as various status indicators.
Leased - A system where the Security Company maintains ownership of the equipment.
Microwave - A motion detector that uses high frequency radio waves to detect motion. Similar to an ultrasonic.
Monitoring - The sending of alarm, trouble, and other signals to a remote location such as a Central station.
Motion detector - A device designed to detect movement within the premises.
Examples of motion detectors are Microwave, Ultrasonic, and PIR.
Owned - A system where the purchaser owns the equipment.
PIR - A device that uses Infra Red energy to detect motion within the premises.
Panic - Manually activated devices used to summon help. These devices can either be silent or cause the sounders to activate. If silent is desired the system must be monitored.
Partial protection - Protection that will detect the opening of a door or window.
Partition - A zone or group of zones programmed as an area within the premises. For example if you kept your stamp collection in a room, normally not used, you could have all of the detection devices in that room programmed as a partition. In this manner that room will still be protected even when the main house system is disarmed. Also works well for gun cabinets, safes, etc.
Perimeter: zones- Devices connected to exterior doors and windows.
Photoelectric eye - A device that uses a beam of light which when broken will trigger an alarm. There are 2 parts to a photo electric eye, the transmitter, which sends out the light, and the receiver which "sees" the light. The light used in these today is not visible.
Point of Protection - A single detection device such as a door contact or motion detector. Multiple points can be wired to a single zone, such as all rear windows.
Pull Station - A manually activated device generally used to activate the fire alarm.
RF - Radio Frequency. Used to describe wireless transmission of signals.
Remote program - The ability to access the program in the control panel and make changes.
Seismic detector - A device designed to detect the vibrations caused when breaking glass, wood or other materials.
Sensor reset - Certain devices, such as smoke detectors, must be manually reset after tripping. This reset process generally involves removing power from the detector for a few seconds.
Shock detector - See seismic detector.
Smoke detector - A device that detects the presence of smoke. There are 2 basic types of smoke detectors, Ionization and Photoelectric.
Stand by - Battery provided to power the system in the event of an electrical outage.
Stress detector - A device that detects the stress in beams when walking above or near the detector.
Swinger shunt - An option on some controls which will automatically by pass any zone after a pre set number of trips, during an armed cycle. Some controls will reactivate the zone if it remains normal for a period of time.
UL - Underwriters Laboratories. a non profit organization that sets standards for security devices, the installation of security systems, and the monitoring of security systems.
Ultrasonic detectors - Motion detectors that use high frequency sound waves to detect motion within the area.
User codes - Codes that are used to arm, disarm, or perform other operations of the system. Some controls have levels of authority which can limit what functions a user can perform. In a partitioned system user codes can also be assigned to the various areas.
Walk test - A function that allows an authorized user to test the detection devices. You should test all devices on a regular basis.
Watch mode - Sometimes called Chime or Monitor. An arming level that will only activate a sounder at the keypad when a door or window is opened.
Wireless - A system that uses Radio waves or RF to send intrusion or status signals from detectors to the control. A supervised system also monitors the condition of the transmitter as well as its battery. These systems will alert you if a transmitter fails or its batter starts to get low. An unsupervised system does not monitor the condition of the transmitters or batteries.
Zone - A point or group of points in a system. Making each detection device its own zone greatly reduces troubleshooting of problems and false alarms.