How To - Configure an Alarm in SiteWorx Sense

Updated by Steve Corbesero

Users can configure alarms based on SiteWorx Sense Device data and trigger incident notifications via Email or SMS, allowing them to understand when their SiteWorx Sense Device data deviates from the established baseline or norm.

To create a new alarm: 

  1. Navigate to the Sense Application, and click Alarms
  2. Click the Configuration option on the SiteWorx Sense home screen.
  3. On the Configuration screen, click the New Alarm button.
  4. Using the drop-down menus, select the Site, and target Datasource you would like to configure the alarm.  
  5. Select whether the threshold should be above or below, and then set the threshold level. 
    1. Note that the threshold type is dependent on the Datasource selected.
  7. Enter a value for the Dead Band. 
    1. Once the Dead Band is established, text displays next to the field, explaining how the alarm will behave with the selected settings.
  9. In the Severity field, set the level of severity (Low, Medium, or High)
  10. Click the Enabled button to activate the alarm.
  11. Click the Save button to confirm the settings and create the alarm.

Don't forget to configure an Alarm Subscription to receive SMS or Email notifications for your new alarm!

Alarm Configuration Example:

Alarm Configuration Example
All sensors are inherently noisy. The Dead Band (sometimes called the hysteresis gap) defines the range above or below the Alarm Threshold level for which the alarm will not move into an OK state. Providing a dead band value ensures that a user doesn't receive an alarm notification every time the noisy sensor data bounces around the threshold value.

Alarms for Cumulative Sensor Data

While similar to traditional SiteWorx Sense Alarms, Alarms for cumulative sensor data require a user to enter an interval for the threshold.

The threshold and interval chosen by the user will depend on how urgent the alarm is, and how granular the user needs the data to be to detect an anomaly. 

Example: Send me a text when power meter 0033 uses over 0.03 kWh in 15 minutes.

  • Every 15m, SiteWorx will check at the end of that interval whether or not the power meter has used over 0.03 kWh of energy. If it has, at the end of that interval, the user will get a notification. 
  • At the beginning of each interval, the alarm will “reset” and check the threshold at the end of that subsequent interval.

Editing Existing Alarms

To edit an existing Alarm:

  1. Navigate to the Sense Application, and click Alarms
  2. Click the Configuration option on the SiteWorx Sense home screen.
  3. Click the Data Source name of the Alarm
  4. Make necessary changes, and click Save
Because all event history is, in fact, history that cannot be changed, incidents before alarm edits remain in the event table, but with an asterisk (*) next to the event date in the table. This asterisk indicates that the alarm details have been modified since the incident occurred. 

Disable Existing Alarms

To disable an existing Alarm:

  1. Navigate to the Sense Application, and click Alarms
  2. Click the Configuration option on the SiteWorx Sense home screen.
  3. Click the radio button in the Enabled column of the Alarm Configuration Table to enable or disable

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