If you own an ADT alarm system in your house or your business establishment, it is crucial to know how to arm and disarm it once you leave the house and once you come home or go to your workplace. This instructs your system to turn on all of its sensors and to look for any intrusions or other issues when you are not available. Arming your ADT alarm is fairly easy, however, there are a few other options that you might find beneficial for some reasons.

The Basic Arming Process

There are three primary ways through which one can arm their ADT alarm. The most elementary is to go to the principal alarm control panel and then press the Away button that is often on the wall inside the house. This informs the system that you are leaving the premises completely without any individual left behind. It will monitor all the sensors from entrance doors and interior movement sensors. It is through the main door that the system will start beeping and give you the recommended time within which you are expected to exit before the system fully arms. The time of the usual is thirty seconds, but the time may depend on the circumstances.

If someone or a pet exists on the premises when you have to go, you should then press the Stay button rather than the Away button. This ensures that perimeter sensors are on and continually scanning the surroundings for intrusions from outside while interior motion sensors are turned off to prevent the system from producing false alerts. This model is also sometimes labeled Instant or Maximum on your alarm panel An example of this is when a company has a home security system and they need to alert the security company of a particular situation.

It is normally required that a person must have a valid access code.

Usually, after pressing Away or Stay at the main panel, the system will make you key in a valid alphanumeric access code. This goes further in confirming the authenticity of the sender, thus, the authority to arm the system. If the right code is not entered for the system, then it will not be possible to arm the system. Supply this code to all the normal, incorporated users of your method. Alter it if the codes might have been spilled over time residents transferred to different rooms.

Arming with a Key Fob

Some also can be armed remotely with an electronic key fob that many ADT systems contain. Little button-like remotes that you get with your system can be pushed to set or reset the panel from outside the home, before getting in or coming out of the home. Typically, the key fob buttons have the same commands as the Away and Stay arming modes as the main panel. Pressing one button turns the perimeter on, and the second press arms everything with interior motion turned off. For this, you merely have to press the button on your key fob which corresponds to the type of arming that you want to do when you go through your last exit.

Keypad Arming

Besides, the homes that have the touchscreen ADT Command panel option have another way of arming. Command panels have an integrated keypad that can be used for arming, by pressing a numeric number instead of Stay and Away buttons. Pointing the remote control at the TV set and entering the access code to be followed by zeros and arms in Stay mode. When you input your code and then enter ‘1’ it puts the system into Away mode. This keypad offers similar fluidity to the primary panel buttons with extra measures for security that include the use of a code.

If you are one of those people who always forget to manually set your timer, one of the features that you have to look for which is a must-have is the automatic arming timer.

For an improvement from the conventional way of manually setting your system to arm at certain times, many ADT panels have automatic arming options based on the time of day or week through programming of the schedule. You can use the my ADT portal online or the mobile app to set up the defined routines and have your ADT system automatically switch to Stay or Away mode on the selected days and times you set. This offers a bit of additional comfort if you do not always have to think about arming if you have a consistent weekly schedule. Many users prefer to set it to the auto arm during the night and disarm it during the day mode or option.

You can also create routines for some features to turn on and off independently like indoor cameras instead of complete system activation. Some of the features of the scheduled auto arming include flexibility in most of its features to fit your lifestyle. Every single setting that you have chosen will appear under the Auto Arming option when the manual viewing of the panel is done.

Fighting with the Information Weapon: the Efficiency of Geo Location

Smartphone geolocation is yet another convenient feature for remotely powering your ADT system to be automatically armed depending on your current location. Another interesting feature that you can get through the myADT mobile app is geo-fencing around your home. This is likely to happen when the phone's location sensor can detect that you are outside the fenced area, therefore meaning system arming has been triggered. As with the outer ring, there is also an automated disarming process upon entering the perimeter. This makes it possible to have security activation, free from actually touching the smartphone through detection of the closeness of the device.

Exiting Properly After Arming

Remember that your system does not arm fully to the ‘wait for alarm’ state until after the exit delay countdown has occurred once you have pressed the button for the arming that you prefer or the key fob. This means that you get ample time to walk through the doors of the exit without setting the alarm system on. Ensure you close the doors you opened before, and do it before the delay expires. Your panel will emit a fast beep for the last 10 seconds before being armed to give you the alert. If any of the above conditions are met, the siren will turn on the moment the person opens any of the protected doors or moves within a range covered by the motion detector.

Disarming After Arming

Wave your hand across the exit door while you are still outside and your home security will be disarmed upon getting in through the entry door. Go straight to the panel and input your access code or if possible press the Disarm icon. If you are already equipped with an exit delay, the key is to enter your code directly on the panel to turn off the system. This is perhaps through the same key fobs or the mobile application that was used to arm the security system can also be used to disarm the entry doors. All that is required is to press the Disarm button corresponding to the one used to start the arming process of the panel.

Advanced Arming Options

In addition to Stay and Away status, some ADT panels include other arming modes like Night that you will learn when using your system: 

Stay – Perimeter armed with interior sensors off Away – Possessing all the inside protection that a Duplex can offer with all the weapons incorporated inside the car. Night – Limited with some sensors as some of them are turned off. Stay – This option is similar to the Instant but with an entry delay. Maximum – Same as Away, but without entry delay.

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