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AVTECH Room Alert Buyers Guide
The AVTECH Room Alert monitors are highly functional environment monitors with great value for your money. They have the features you'll love and are also absolutely rock solid. From the most economical of the range, the Room Alert 3 Wi-Fi, all the way through to the powerful Room Alert 32S, you'll love the convenience and value.
On this page:
- Room Alert Feature Summary
- Improve Security with Room Alert PRO Monitors
- Room Alert Integration Options
- Sensor Compatibility Summary
- AVTECH Sensor Types
- Sensor Compatibility Summary
- Frequently Asked Questions
Each Room Alert model has an embedded web server. The web server enables you to carry out configuration and monitoring duties all from your web browser. Managing an estate of many monitors from the web server can be a repetitive, tedious and error prone. Fortunately, AVTECH have a solution for you. See the Room Alert Integration section further down.
Room Alert Feature Summary
Room Alert 3 Wi-Fi | Room Alert 3E | Room Alert 3S | Room Alert 12E | Room Alert 12ER | Room Alert 12S | Room Alert 12SR | Room Alert 32E | Room Alert 32S | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Warranty | One Year | One Year | Three Years | One Year | One Year | Three Years | Three Years | One Year | Three Years |
Mounting | Wall | Wall | Wall | Wall | Rack | Wall | Rack | Rack | Rack |
Network | Wi-Fi | Ethernet | Ethernet | Ethernet | Ethernet | Ethernet | Ethernet | Ethernet | Ethernet |
Power over Ethernet (PoE) | |||||||||
Digital Sensors Digital sensor ports only support connecting digital sensors. Digital sensors measure within a range of values, like a temperature range. | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 8 | 8 |
Switch Sensors Switch sensor ports only support connecting switch sensors. Switch sensors only measure one of two states, the normal state and the alarm state. Take the smoke sensor as an example, it has a normal state which indicates no significant smoke is present and an alarm state that indicates that a significant amount of smoke is present perhaps indicating a fire. | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 16 | 16 |
Analog Sensors Analog sensors provide values as voltages between 0-5VDC. Common analog sensors include current loops and extreme high and low temperature sensors. The Room Alert 3 WiFi and Room Alert 3E do not support analog sensors, but you can buy the Digital Temperature & Analog Sensor to add support at the cost of one of your digital sensor ports. | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
Light Tower & Relay PortsA port for connecting a Light Tower to your Room Alert. There are two port types. The Room Alert 4E / 4ER has a six terminal port to plug in the AVTECH External Light Tower. The Room Alert 12E, 12ER, 32E and 32W all have RJ11 connectors dedicated to the light tower. But the light tower must be the model with the built-in light tower adapter. The Room Alert 3E also supports the light tower but does not have a dedicated port. You must use one of your digital sensor ports to connect the light tower. | 0 | 0 [1] | 0 [1] | 1 [1] | 1 [1] | 1 [1] | 1 [1] | 2 [1] | 2 [1] |
Relay Output PortsTwo pin port (0.3A@125VAC / 1A@24VDC) for connecting an output relay to your Room Alert. | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
Built-in Sensors | Temperature | Temperature | Temperature | Temperature | Temperature | Temperature | Temperature | Temperature, Humidity, Power | Temperature, Humidity, Power |
Supplied External Sensors | None | None | None | 1 x Digital 7.5m Temperature / Humidity Sensor | 1 x Digital 7.5m Temperature / Humidity Sensor | 1 x Digital 7.5m Temperature / Humidity Sensor | 1 x Digital 7.5m Temperature / Humidity Sensor | 1 x Digital 7.5m Temperature / Humidity Sensor | 1 x Digital 7.5m Temperature / Humidity Sensor |
Secure HTTPS | |||||||||
Secure Email Alerts | |||||||||
Built-in UPS An Uninterruptable Power Supply or UPS keeps your monitoring system alive during power outages giving your monitoring system time to send alerts. |
[1] A Light Tower can be connected to the Room Alert 3E, Room Alert 3S, Room Alert 12E & 12ER, Room Alert 12S & 12SR and Room Alert 32S using a Light Tower Adapter. The Room Alert 12S, 12SR and 32S all have dedicated ports for connecting the Light Tower with Adapter. On the Room Alert 3E and 3S you need to use one of the digital sensor ports. You can buy a light tower with integrated light tower adapter for use with the Room Alert 3E, 3S, 12E, 12ER, 12S, 12SR, 32E and 32S.
Improve Security with Room Alert PRO Monitors
AVTECH Software have introducing a new line of improved Room Alert PRO monitors with new security features built-in from the beginning. Many businesses are becoming increasingly security conscious due to new government regulations as well as well founded concerns about bad actors attempting to steal their information.
The new Room Alert PRO range updates the tried and tested Room Alert range with new security features like the built-in website using encrypted data on the network. In addition, SNMP support has been updated to support SNMP v3 implementing encrypted datagrams as well as encrypted SNMP traps.
Room Alert Integration Options
RoomAlert.com is a cloud based service for monitoring Room Alert monitors and newer Axis cameras combined with a download area for device firmware updates and Device ManageR software and plugins. The service has a number of different subscription levels, Lite, Personal, Professional and Enterprise. The level of your subscription dictates what level of access to the RoomAlert.com service you receive. If you require a level of access afforded by a higher level of subscription, you can upgrade your subscription to the higher level at any time.
Room Alert Manager
Room Alert Manager is AVTECH's all-in-one software solution for the discovery, management, monitoring, alerting, logging, graphing, automatic action and more of AVTECH's IT & facilities environment monitoring products. Complete with its unique range of features, Room Alert Manager runs as a Windows Service and will continuously and automatically discover Room Alert devices network-wide and display multiple units through a single IP address. Multi-level user access is available through Room Alert Manager’s web interface, accessible from anywhere.
Room Alert Manager offers the perfect complimentary software platform to AVTECH’s products, making it easy for users with multiple Room Alert devices to monitor and document environment conditions, improve reliability, and decrease unplanned downtime as part of their business continuity plan.
Room Alert Manager includes powerful features that allow users to send alert notifications when issues or events are detected by their Room Alert monitors and sensors. Room Alert Manager allows for unlimited alerting of customizable alert notifications to individuals and groups, hierarchies, dependencies and scheduling. It also allows for Actions on Alert/Alert clear conditions such as toggling Light Tower LEDs, Send Web URL requests and more. All this is possible through a single local software installation, with no rules and no agents.
Ideal for managing multiple deployments or single units, Room Alert Manager also allows users to take automatic actions to resolve issues, automatically log sensor data in an embedded SQL database for one click export, view graphed data over a user-specified amount of time with the ability to toggle between graph and sensor displays, monitor alert status for multiple units, set monitoring thresholds, set multiple IP addresses, securely update firmware and so much more. Users can categorize devices based on their own custom criteria, so users can group devices by type, location, or any other metric that allows for easier device management.
Manage in the cloud with RoomAlert.com
RoomAlert.com gives you worldwide visibility of your environment data, with built-in alerting, logging, reporting and management. You'll no longer need to guess what your data center temperature is, you'll be able to see in real time exactly what the temperature is from any web connected device like your smart phone or tablet. All Room Alert monitors send your data readings straight up to RoomAlert,com where it is stored, logged and, if necessary, triggers an alarm for you.
RoomAlert.com Subscription Levels
Each Room Alert monitor includes a 12 month Personal subscription to RoomAlert.com. You can upgrade your subscription at any time to a higher subscription level. If after your twelve months subscription you do not renew, then your subscription reverts to the Lite level. The Lite subscription gives you limited access to the cloud service but does not give you access to the Downloads area nor personal technical support.
You do not need to use the cloud based service. Your RoomAlert.com subscription is the gateway to all support services including access to firmware updates, software, plugins and different levels of technical support as well as cloud monitoring of different capacities.
Base Account | Personal | Professional | Enterprise | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
RoomAlert.com Features | |||||
Users | 1 User | 2 Users | 10 Users | 25 Users | |
Registered Devices | 1 Device | 10 Devices | 25 Devices | 50 Devices | |
Registered Links | 10 Devices | 25 Devices | |||
Data History | 1 Day | 30 Days | 180 Days | 365 Days | |
Monitor360™ Sensors | 10 Sensors | 25 Sensors | |||
Configured Alerts | 1 Alert | 10 Alerts | 25 Alerts | 75 Alerts | |
Unlimited Notifications | |||||
Advanced Alerting | |||||
Saved Reports | 1 Report | 3 Reports | 7 Reports | 25 Reports | |
Public URLs | |||||
Network Camera Monitoring | |||||
Downloads | |||||
Firmware Downloads | |||||
AVTECH Device Discovery | |||||
Room Alert Link™ | |||||
Room Alert Manager™ | |||||
Device ManageR to Room Alert Import Tool™ | |||||
AVTECH Device ManageR™ (legacy) | |||||
AVTECH Device ManageR™ Plugins (legacy) | |||||
Support | |||||
Support | Online FAQs & Resources | Email Support | Email, Chat & Phone Support | Email, Chat & Phone Support |
Avtech Sensor Types
AVTECH Software have three types of sensors that you can fit to your Room Alert monitor. Each of the different sensor types suit the different purposes that the sensors fulfill.
Digital Sensor
A digital sensor is the most commonly sold sensor for your Room Alert monitors simply because temperature sensors are the sensor most commonly attached to a Room Alert monitor. A digital sensor is able to measure a range of values within a range of values specific to the sensor. A temperature sensor will provide a temperature reading within the quoted temperature range for that sensor type for instance. The connector used on the digital sensors is a RJ-11 connector (see image to left). When a digital sensor is plugged into a Room Alert monitor it is automatically detected by the monitor and data is recorded appropriately. For instance, if a temperature sensor is plugged in then temperature data is logged. If a combined temperature and relative humidity sensor is plugged in then temperature and relative humidity data will be logged.
Switch Sensor
A switch sensor is always in one of two states. It is either in a normal state or an alarm state. A switch sensor is not suited to measuring across a range of values. It is designed to measure when something has gone wrong like a smoke sensor or a water sensor.
There are two main types of switch sensors: Normally Open (NO) and Normally Closed (NC). In simple terms Normally Open and Normally Closed are interpretations of the state of the voltage sent from the sensor to the monitor. A Normally Open sensor keeps voltage on the line when everything is okay i.e. the smoke sensor has not detected smoke or the water sensor has not detected water ingress. A Normally Closed is the opposite. It does not have voltage on the line when the switch is okay. Normally Open is the most common usage given the nature of Room Alert switch sensors. Normally Open is safer from the perspective that failure / disconnection of the sensor will automatically be detected as an alarm condition due to the voltage on the line disappearing.
Analog Sensor
Analog sensors are similar to digital sensors in the sense that they are able to measure from a range of values. The most common analog sensors are the extreme high and low temperature sensors.
Analog sensors are compatible with the Room Alert 12S / 12SR, 12E / 12ER as well as the Room Alert 32S / 32E. Analog sensors can also be fitted to Room Alert 3S / 3E and Room Alert 4E / 4ER by using the analog port on the Digital Temperature & Analog Sensor.
0 – 5VDC analog sensors connect to Room Alert via low-voltage two-wire cable, such as speaker wire.
Analog sensor cable is polarized (+/-).
Monitor Channels
The above photo of a Room Alert 3E is annotated to show the sensor channels. The Digital sensor is marked as an External Environment Sensor Channel and the switch sensor is labeled as a Switch Sensor Contact Set.
The digital sensor is the simplest sensor to attach to the monitor. Simply insert the RJ-11 connector into the connector marked as External Environment Sensor Channel. The digital sensor will then be auto-detected by the monitor.
The switch sensor is slightly more complex. You need to insert the two wires at the end of the switch sensor into the Switch Sensor Contact Set.
Sensor Compatibility Summary
A table illustrating sensor compatibility support for each Room Alert monitor.
Sensor Type | Room Alert 3 Wi-Fi | Room Alert 3E | Room Alert 3S | Room Alert 12E | Room Alert 12ER | Room Alert 12S | Room Alert 12SR | Room Alert 32E | Room Alert 32S | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Temperature | Digital | |||||||||
Outdoor Temperature | Digital | |||||||||
Fluid Temperature | Digital | |||||||||
Extreme Temperature | Digital | |||||||||
Temperature / Humidity | Digital | |||||||||
Spot Flood | Switch | |||||||||
Rope Flood | Switch | |||||||||
Mains Power | Switch | |||||||||
Active Power Sensor | Digital | |||||||||
Mini UPS | Switch | |||||||||
Current Loop | Analog | [1] | [1] | |||||||
Air Flow | Switch | |||||||||
Smoke | Switch | |||||||||
Motion | Switch | |||||||||
Room Entry | Switch | |||||||||
Fuel Level | Switch | |||||||||
Water Level | Switch |
[1] You can attach analog sensors like the extreme high and extreme low temperature sensors by using the Temperature & Analog sensor connector attached to a digital port.