Alarm Sound+

Overview

When to use it

Use this symbol when you need to:

• Draw attention to a limit breach on an attended display, with a color and a sound.
• Let an operator silence an alarm without hiding that the value is still abnormal.
• Alarm on a state, such as a pump that has stopped, as well as on a number.
• Open a detail display automatically when an alarm starts.

Choose Alarm Table+ to list the alarms of many assets, with severity and history. Alarm Sound+ watches a single data source.

Before you begin

• Use one numeric, Boolean, string, or enumeration set (digital) PI Point or AF attribute.
• Ask your administrator to allow .mp3 and .wav files in the PI Vision web.config, or no sound plays. See the installation guide.
• Alarms are evaluated only on a live display, with the end time *. A display with a fixed end time shows Display not live.
• For a limit that changes over time, such as an attribute's limit trait, bind the symbol to a PI Vision calculation that returns True when the limit is exceeded, and alarm on that Boolean.

Add and set up the symbol

1. Select Alarm Sound+ in the PI Vision symbol gallery, and drag a numeric PI Point or AF attribute onto the display.
2. Right-click the symbol and select Configure Alarm Sound....
3. Under States, open Alarm. Set Operator (1) to ≥ and Value (2) to your alarm limit.
4. Open Default. Set Operator to < and Value to your alarm limit, or lower. See Clear the alarm only when the value is well back to normal.
5. Close the configuration pane. When the value is at or above the limit, the symbol turns red, the bell rings, and the sound plays.

Note: Browsers can block sound until the operator has clicked or typed on the page. See Troubleshooting and limitations.

Common tasks

Clear the alarm only when the value is well back to normal

Use this when the value hovers around the limit. With no gap between the two limits, every small swing across the limit ends the alarm and starts it again, and the sound restarts each time.

1. Right-click the symbol and select Configure Alarm Sound....
2. Under States, open Alarm. Set Operator to ≥ and Value to the alarm limit, for example 50.
3. Open Default. Set Operator (1) to < and Value (2) to a lower limit, for example 45.

The symbol enters the alarm state at 50 and returns to normal only below 45. A value from 45 to 50 leaves the state unchanged. The default pair, Alarm ≥ 100 and Default < 100, has no gap. If you lower only the alarm limit, the two ranges overlap, and a value in the overlap counts as an alarm. The alarm then ends only when the value falls below the new alarm limit, so also lower Default to get a gap.

Let operators acknowledge and silence the alarm

Use this when operators must silence the sound while the value is still abnormal.

1. Right-click the symbol and select Configure Alarm Sound....
2. Under States, open Acknowledge.
3. Set Enabled (1) to ON.
4. Choose the Background (2) and the Text (3) the symbol shows after acknowledgement.

An operator clicks the symbol in the alarm state:

The sound stops and the symbol turns to the acknowledged color with a crossed-out bell. It stays acknowledged until the value returns to normal, and then shows Default again. The next alarm raises the sound again. A click while the value is normal does nothing and does not silence the next alarm. The acknowledgement is stored in the operator's browser and belongs to that one alarm. Nothing is written to PI or AF. With Enabled OFF, a click does nothing and operators cannot silence the sound.

Choose and test the alarm sound

Use this to give a symbol a sound that operators can tell from other alarms in the room.

1. Right-click the symbol and select Configure Alarm Sound....
2. Under Sound, keep Source (1) on Default.
3. Select a sound in the list (2): Slow, Fast, Classic, Critical, Clock, High Pitch, or Security.
4. Select Preview (3) to play it in the pane, and select it again to stop.

To use your own file, first ask your administrator to copy it into the ext\sounds folder of the PI Vision installation. Then:

1. Set Source (1) to Custom.
2. Enter the file name (2) without a path, for example boiler_horn.wav.
3. Select Apply (3), and then Preview to check that the browser can play it.

The symbol plays the chosen file in a loop from the moment the alarm starts. If a pane error says the file could not be loaded, see Troubleshooting and limitations.

Alarm on a Boolean or state value

Use this for a value that is not a number, such as a pump status, a valve position, or a mode.

1. Drag a Boolean, string, or enumeration set data source onto an Alarm Sound+ symbol.
2. Right-click the symbol and select Configure Alarm Sound....
3. Under States, open Alarm. Choose TRUE or FALSE under Value (1). For a string, enter the text. For an enumeration set, pick a state.
4. Enter the Text (2) that operators see in the alarm state.
5. Open Default and enter its Text.

The symbol alarms when the value equals your choice, and every other value is normal. In the hero image, the pump symbol alarms when its status is FALSE, and it shows Pump running while the status is TRUE. A string value must match exactly, including case.

Change how the alarm looks

Use this to fit the symbol to your display, or to make an alarm impossible to miss.

1. Right-click the symbol and select Configure Alarm Sound....
2. Under General, set Style (1) to Round or Square.
3. Turn Text (2) and Value (3) ON or OFF, and set the Font Size (4).
4. Turn Icon (5) ON, and drag Size (6) to size the bell.
5. Under States, open Alarm and choose Background, Blink, and Pulse.

A square symbol stretches to the size you give it and puts the icon, text, and value in a row.

Blink flashes the background and Pulse grows and shrinks the symbol, in the alarm state only. The Text boxes in the state groups show only while Text under General is ON.

Open a display when the alarm starts

Use this to bring a detail display in front of the operator at the moment an alarm begins.

1. Right-click the symbol and select Configure Alarm Sound....
2. Under States, open Alarm, and set Open dialog (1) to ON.
3. Enter the display address (2), or select Search for Displays ... and pick one.
4. To pass an asset to that display, select Set asset context (3) and choose the asset.
5. Set Zoom to fit, Scale, and Size (4), the size of the dialog.

When the alarm starts, a floating dialog opens over the display and shows the other display.

The dialog opens once for each alarm start and does not open again while it is still open. The symbol never closes it, so an operator closes it with the X.

Use the symbol

The state decides the look and the sound:

• Click the symbol to acknowledge an alarm. This changes only the browser you click in. It writes nothing to PI or AF.
• Hover to see a tooltip with the label, value, and time, as set under Tooltip.
• Sound plays while the symbol is in the alarm state, from every symbol that uses the same file, and stops when the last of them leaves it.
• Double-click does nothing. The symbol has no trend pop-up.
• While you edit the display, clicks do not acknowledge.

Configure the symbol

Right-click the symbol and select Configure Alarm Sound.... The pane has the sections General, States, Sound, Tooltip, Help, and Data Quality.

General

States

Sound

See Choose and test the alarm sound. The Help section shows the web.config lines that allow .mp3 and .wav files.

Tooltip and Data Quality

Troubleshooting and limitations

Limitation: Acknowledgement is local to one browser. An operator on another computer still hears the alarm until that person acknowledges it as well.

Limitation: Alarm Sound+ keeps no alarm history and writes nothing to PI or AF. Use Alarm Table+ for history.

Limitation: One symbol plays one sound and watches one data source.