First Alert FA162C - Manual (Page 4)

– 4 –
SYSTEM OVERVIEW
General
Congratulations on your ownership of a First Alert Professional Partitioned Security System.
You've made a wise decision in choosing it, for it represents the latest in security protection
technology today.
This system offers you three forms of protection: burglary, fire and emergency. Your system
consists of at least one keypad which provides control of system operation, and includes
various sensors which provide perimeter and interior burglary protection, plus smoke or
combustion detectors designed to provide early warning in case of fire .
The system uses microcomputer technology to monitor all protection zones and system status
and provides appropriate information for display on the keypad(s) used with the system, and
initiates appropriate alarms. Your system may also have been programmed to automatically
transmit alarm or status messages over the phone lines to a central alarm monitoring station.
A Partitioned System
Simply stated, a partitioned system is a single physical alarm system that provides two
independent areas of protection intended for use by separate users. For the most part, you
need not know about other users and their structure in the system. However, when the system
is set up for 2-partition operation, you may see display messages from time to time which
indicate that the system is in use by another user; this is normal.
A partitioned system may
also have a "common zone" area, which is an area shared by users of both partitions.
Refer to the COMMON ZONE OPERATION section for details on using this feature.
Zones
Your system's sensing devices have been assigned to various "zones." For example, the
sensing device on your Entry/Exit door may have been assigned to zone 01, sensing devices
on windows in the master bedroom to zone 02, and so on. These numbers will appear on the
display, along with a description for that zone (on Alpha display keypads only, if programmed)
when an alarm or trouble condition occurs.