If you have moved into your first home or are interested in improving the security of your property there are a lot of different choices to be made. When choosing the right system to suit your needs there is a lot of jargon and technical language used.
The following is a glossary of terms to help you find the right system for your property.
- The ACPO stands for the Association of Chief Police Officers.
- A Bellbox is a fitting which emits an audible and visual alert.
- Corrective Maintenance is call out work for fixing faults in systems.
- A Door Contact is a switch with magnetic components used to detect if a door is open or closed.
- Engineer Reset is a term used to describe systems which can only be reset by a qualified fitter.
- FSB stands for fully supervised loop.
- GPS stands for global positioning system. Many systems contain these to relay data to call centres and other security staff.
- Hybrid Alarm Systems have functions of hard wired and wireless alarm systems.
- I.O is shorthand for inputs and outputs which are required for communicating data inside systems.
- Jamming is intentional obstruction or interference with electrical signals.
- A Keyholder is a trusted person who has the keys or access codes for a security system in case of a false alarm. Keyholders are usually required for call out.
- LPC stands for Lost Prevention Council.
- A Mastercode is an operator’s access number which has privileges over domestic user codes.
- NACOSS stands for the national approval council for security systems.
- An Opening Report is a signal sent to a receiving centre from the alarm to notify that it has been disarmed.
- A Panic Alarm is a function of a security system which when activated puts the system on full alert. The panic alarm function can be used if the system is set or unset and can trigger a silent alarm in monitored systems.
- Quick Arm is a function available on some security systems which allows short cut functions to be assigned for use in emergencies.
- A Ready Light is a light on the security system which indicates that all zones are secure and the system can be armed.
- SPKR is shorthand for a speaker, vital in all audible systems.
- A Tampering Device is a device added to a security system to detect if any of the components have been accessed.
- URN stands for unique reference number, an individual number given to each security system by the police.
- Viper is the industry name for a motion sensor.
- A Walk Test is a practical test of a motion detector.
- Zones are used to distinguish different areas of a property. They can help to locate where a break in has occurred which is useful in large properties.