Ghost Alarms

What Are Ghost Alarms?

A "Ghost Alarm" is a new client account that gets created when a signal is received that does not match any existing Patriot account.

When a signal is received without a matching client number to log it under, Patriot will insert that client account, so that it now has a place to log the unmatched signal. This automatically created account will be given the client name ***Ghost Alarm***. Such clients are easily found by selecting the Sort By Name order option in the Search Clients pop-up. The Ghost Alarm accounts will appear near the top.

Converting a Ghost Alarm to a normal account

If a ghost account needs to be changed to a normal account then open the ghost and change the name to the client name, then set up the account as normal. These client records can then be edited and updated with the appropriate details, just like with any other account. However if you do not want to use the ghost account, then delete it.

If you are using the "Ignore Area" option on Base Account, and you have ghost accounts on other areas, you should delete these ghost accounts. Otherwise signals will continue to be logged under the ghost accounts, rather than the base account.

When the ghost accounts are created, they will not have any templates assigned. This means that any signals received will be logged using the Default Global Action Plan (set under System Wide Settings -- Response Settings). You can change the way individual signals are handled by opening the account, and adding event types or a template to the Event Types tab, the same way you would with a standard client.

Creating a Catch All Ghost Alarm account

It is sometimes required to have all ghost alarms from a particular port ID to be logged under one account. The benefit being that no extra accounts are needed to keep a record of all ghost alarms. If a new customer is setting Patriot up and connecting directly to live data then it is possible that a large number of ghost alarms will be created in a short time.

To Set up the catch all account:

• Create a new client account and give it a name like "Ghost Capture Port 01".
• Set the client ID to 'GHOST'.
• Check Set Area box.
• Set the Port ID to the Port you wish to capture.

Once you have created this capture account, any signal on that port that does not have a matching account will logged under this account.