Can you arm an area even if a zone is violated?

[123]

If I open the Rear Door to my home (Burglar Entry/Exit 1) and attempt to arm (Away or Stay) the area from a keypad, it beeps and says "Intrusion Violated Rear Door" and disallows the arming function.

On the other hand, if I transmit an "a1" or "a2" command (Arm Away/Stay), my M1 will proceed to arm the area and automatically bypass the violated Rear Door zone.

Arming via a keypad behaves conservatively, whereas arming via a command is much more liberal. Is this by design? Can "auto-bypass" be done with a keypad?


PS
It is a little disconcerting to see it operate this way ... if you don't notice the area is "Not Ready to Arm" you can easily arm it with one or more zones open (provided they are bypassable).

 

[gatchel]

You can check the force arm option to allow arming from the keypad. This will allow the area to arm and then the zone will be monitored once it is secure

 

[mustangcoupe]

............if I transmit an "a1" or "a2" command (Arm Away/Stay), my M1 will proceed to arm the area...........

I'm not sure what you mean about transmit an a1 or a2. But I also noticed if I try and arm from a telephone (while away from home and a zone is violated it will bypass and still arm.

I asked about this awhile back and was told that was so the system would still arm and you would not be completely unarmed. (as if I left a window open and forget to set the alarm) it would automatically bypass the window and still arm If I called in and told it to arm (I would expect it to say system armed with X zone bypassed but is doesn't...)

 

[123]

mustangcoupe, thanks for quick reply!

I'm sending commands to the M1 via its M1XEP Ethernet interface from my PC. ELK publishes a document, called the ASCII Protocol Interface Specification, describing these commands. "a0" is part of the command that disarms an M1 while "a1" arms it in Away mode, "a2" in Stay, etc.

The behaviour you've described, as a result of arming via the telephone interface, is exactly what I'm experiencing using the commands. Violated zones get automatically bypassed and the area gets armed ... with doors and windows open.

I think I understand ELK's rationale for doing it this way ... some form of arming is better than none ... but it can lead to a false sense of security if you overlook to check the area's Ready/Not Ready status before arming. I was able to arm the house while the patio door was wide open.

I think I'll add a some logic to my Premise driver and have it handle arming like a keypad. If the area is "Not Ready to Arm" then the driver will refuse to arm the M1. You'll have to explicitly bypass a violated zone in order to successfully arm the area.

 

[harleydude]

123,

I found the same issue when developing the driver for Girder. I choose the path of adding logic to the driver to make sure the system was ready prior to arming.

I understand Elk's rational, however for my own peace of mind, I would rather be notified if something was not right rather than have the system blindly do something that I might not really want.

 

[123]

harleydude, I agree; ELK was generous to offer a very liberal arming technique but I, too, would prefer to be warned rather than have a violated area automatically bypassed; I'll add some logic to the driver.