Objective: Learn how to configure your door sensors to monitor how often a door is opened within a set time period. This feature helps you enforce usage limits for doors, such as those on fridges or freezers, ensuring proper temperature control and operational efficiency.

Use Case Scenario

For fridges, freezers, or restricted access areas, you may want to limit how often doors are opened to avoid temperature fluctuations, or energy waste. With ConnectedFresh Door Sensors, you can set thresholds to trigger alarms when doors are opened too many times in a specific timeframe.

Step 1: Configuring the “Door Occurrence” Alarm

1. Access the Door Sensor Settings:

• Navigate to the Location View or Sensor View and select the sensor you want to configure.

2. Set the Monitoring Duration:

• Define the time window (e.g., 30 minutes, 1 hour) during which the system will count door openings.

3. Set the Open Occurrence Thresholds:

• Input the maximum number of times the door can be opened within the defined timeframe.

• Example: If you set the duration to 1 hour and the threshold to 10, an alarm triggers if the door is opened more than 10 times in that hour.

4. Customize Severity Levels:

• Set different thresholds for alarm severity based on the number of occurrences:

• Warning: 5 openings within 30 minutes.

• Minor: 8 openings within 30 minutes.

• Major: 10 openings within 30 minutes.

• Critical: 15+ openings within 30 minutes.

5. Set Automatic Alarm Clearance:

• Configure when the alarm should clear and the counter should reset:

• After a Set Time: The counter resets automatically after the defined duration ends (e.g., every hour).

• Manual Clearance: Optionally, alarms can be cleared manually, which also resets the counter to zero.

6. Optional Reset Conditions:

• Set a secondary condition to clear the alarm after an additional number of door openings.

• Example: After 5 more openings (user-configurable), the system clears the alarm.

7. Save Your Settings:

• Save your changes to activate the monitoring.

Step 2: Understanding Alarm Behavior

1. Alarm Trigger:

• The alarm triggers when the door is opened more than the allowed number of times within your configured duration.

• Severity levels help prioritize which alarms require immediate attention.

2. Alarm Clearance:

• Automatic Clearance: The alarm clears, and the counter resets automatically after the configured time period ends (e.g., 1 hour).

• Manual Clearance: You can clear the alarm manually at any time, which also resets the counter to zero.

• Optional Reset by Occurrences: If configured, the alarm clears after a certain additional number of door openings.

3. Counter Reset:

• Once the alarm clears (either automatically or manually), the system resets the door-open counter to zero and resumes monitoring.

Step 3: Best Practices for Monitoring Door Occurrences

1. Define Reasonable Thresholds:

• Choose limits that reflect typical door usage patterns. For example:

• Fridges: 10 openings per hour during peak times.

• Restricted Storage: 5 openings per hour.

2. Adjust Settings for Off-Peak Hours:

• Consider using stricter thresholds during closed or off-peak hours to minimize unnecessary door usage.

3. Monitor and Respond Quickly:

• Frequent door openings can cause temperature fluctuations. Responding promptly helps prevent spoilage and operational inefficiencies.

Conclusion

By configuring “Door Occurrence” alarms, you can monitor and limit how often doors are opened within a specific timeframe. This feature helps you maintain storage efficiency, ensure temperature stability, and reduce unnecessary energy costs. With customizable thresholds and reset options, you can tailor the system to match your operational needs.