This section provides answers to some of the most frequently asked questions around Solink Video Alarms.
What are the different offerings for the video alarms service?
The following tiers are available for Solink Video Alarms:
Self-Monitored: This is the default alarm service provided to Solink users. You are permitted to assign 1 alarm contact at this level. This alarm contact is responsible for responding to alarms and dispatching emergency services, if necessary.
Self-Monitored+: An additional subscription that provides AI person detection for alarms. When an alarm is triggered, Solink's AI reviews the footage and determines if there is or is not a person present, removing much of the work an alarm contact would spend reviewing false alarms.
Professionally Monitored Video Alarms: This subscription provides you with monitoring agents who review each alarm and contact your alarm contacts only when necessary. You are permitted to assign up to 3 alarm contacts per location.
How do I arm and disarm the alarm?
You should use an alarm schedule to ensure your alarm system operates automatically. The alarm schedule automatically arms and disarms the alarm system based on the configured day and time.
It is important that the daily schedule starts when you expect the last person to leave the premises and ends. To learn more about alarm schedules, see Alarm Schedule.
You are required to manually arm and disarm the alarm - see Arm/Disarm Methods for more information on available methods to arm and disarm.
How are alarms triggered?
Alarms use your existing camera infrastructure to detect motion when the system is armed. You can configure a motion zone for each of your alarm cameras, so only a specific part of a camera view is looking for motion.
For more information on best practices for setting up alarm motion zones, see Alarm Motion Zones: Quick Tips.
Will Solink dispatch police when an alarm is triggered?
If you are subscribed to Professionally Monitored Video Alarms, the following scenario can potentially lead to dispatching police:
When an alarm event is triggered, the Solink platform sends a video clip of the event that triggered the alarm to the monitoring service.
The monitoring service reviews the video and verifies whether or not there is suspicious activity at the location or if the alarm is a false alarm (not suspicious). If the video shows nothing suspicious, the alarm is canceled.
If the video shows a threat to person or property:
The monitoring service will dispatch police (after a short period of fact gathering), assuming a clear threat is evident (e.g., a perpetrator cutting open a safe). In a real emergency, the monitoring agent sends a text message to all alarm contacts and starts calling alarm contacts, starting with the primary alarm contact.
If the agent believes there is a potential threat but it is not clearly evident, the monitoring agent sends a text message to all alarm contacts for the location. If the agent does not receive a response, they will wait for a period of up to 5 minutes before cancelling the alarm. It is the responsibility of the alarm contacts to ensure they can receive text messages and phones calls during the armed period as the safety of your business may depend on their responsiveness.
If you are not using Professionally Monitored Video Alarms, the Solink platform sends a text message with video of an alarm event to the alarm contact(s) for the location. In this case, the responsibility for evaluating the situation and dispatching police for a location rests entirely with the alarm contact(s).
How are users notified when an alarm is triggered?
Please take note of the differences between the user notification process for Self-Monitored and Professionally Monitored Video Alarms customers:
Self-Monitored: The alarm contact receives an email (required) and SMS (if optional phone number configured) for every alarm event detected by the system. These messages include a link to a video recording of the alarm event, which allows your alarm contact to review the video and determine whether or not to dispatch authorities.
Professionally Monitored Video Alarms: Alarm contact(s) are notified of alarms via SMS and/or a phone call from the monitoring service. The monitoring service will review and ignore alarm events where there are not a threat to person or property (i.e., false alarm). For more information about what to expect on outreach, see Professionally Monitored Video Alarms: How it Works. We also encourage all alarm contacts to add our monitoring partner into their mobile contact list.
What is the difference between an alarm contact and an alarm administrator?
An alarm contact is responsible as the main point of contact for a potential or real threat to person or property. It is expected that this person is available via SMS or phone during all armed periods.
Alarm administrators (in addition to standard users) are able to configure the alarm system for a location, including specifying the alarm contact(s).
Alarm administrators can configure an alarm schedule and set specific regions of interest for each camera to detect motion when the alarm system is armed.
A single person can be both an alarm administrator and an alarm contact, although there is no requirement for these roles to be performed by the same person.
How is an alarm administrator role configured?
Please reach out to our Support team for assistance with configuring an alarm administrator role.
How many alarm contacts can I have per location?
The number of alarm contacts you can assign to a location depends on which type of subscription you have:
Alarm Tier | Number of Alarm Contacts Permitted |
Self-Monitored | 1 |
Self-Monitored+ | 1 |
Professionally Monitored Video Alarms | 3 |
Where are Alarm Events located?
Alarm Events are located on the Alarms page > Recent Alarm Events tab in the Solink platform:
To learn more about Alarm Events, see Recent Alarm Events.
Note: If you are using the Solink app on a mobile device, there is an Alarms filter on the Events tab that will show alarm events (Events > Alarms tab > All tab, as shown in the image below):
What does "video verification" mean?
Video verification refers to the ability to review video and determine whether or not there is a threat to person or property.
What happens if my location loses power or internet connectivity?
Solink video alarms require power and internet connectivity. Backup power should be provided for Solink's on-premise device, video cameras and any associated equipment. Please contact Solink Support to discuss backup options.
One of my alarm cameras is down, what should I do?
You can verify if any of your alarm cameras are offline via the Alarms page > Alarm Configurations tab > hovering over a location:
The yellow number displayed within the location in the above image (4/5) indicates 4 out of 5 alarm cameras are currently online. When you hover over the location, you can see the name of the camera(s) that is currently offline.
You can also click on the location to see the offline camera(s):
There are a number of reasons your cameras can be offline. Refer to this troubleshooting guide to try some initial troubleshooting steps to get your camera(s) back online.
If you still require assistance, please reach out to our Support team via live chat or at 1-888-335-9844.
Does Solink support outdoor alarms?
Yes - you can learn more about Solink Outdoor Alarms here. Outdoor alarms are available for an additional fee per camera.
You can also learn more about indoor vs outdoor alarm cameras via Alarm Camera Package.