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Alarms (LIghts?)

Alarms (LIghts?)

Alarms (LIghts?)

(OP)
A siren may be started automatically or manually.

How do you use the "set off" expresion for each case?

Is "goes off" also appropriate here? Or is it for lights?

Can anyone show all possible uses?

Agustín Tomás

RE: Alarms (LIghts?)

The "set off" construction is unfortunate, because it uses the word "off" to refer to switching someting "on" or starting it, e.g. a light, a motor, a journey, or a fuze.  It can confuse people who are new to the language, and people who are not.

If "set off" refers to initiating an action or sequence of events, the "goes off" logically refers to terminating the action or sequence of events, as in a light, a motor, whatever is initiated by the fuze, or possibly a fuse.

I would use either construction only in the circumstance of "being tied to a horse and dragged forty miles ... by my tongue".

I.e., if you want to be understood, don't use those expressions at all.

Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

RE: Alarms (LIghts?)

(OP)
OK Mike,

Clear enoug. Thanks for that.

So, what short expresion would yo use to denote that:

a) the alarm was triggered/started automatically

b) the alarm was triggered/started manually /on pupose

c) the alarm stopped (?) (unknown reason)

d) the alarm was stopped (?) on purpose by someone.

e) the lights extinguished (went off ?), like in a black-out.

Agustín Tomás

RE: Alarms (LIghts?)

Hemingway made it look easy; writing short is very hard.

a) alarm started automatically

b) alarm started manually

c) alarm stopped, cause undetermined

d) alarm stopped manually  (or cleared or reset)

e) lights went out

If you're writing something technical, there may be a "style manual" that gives examples already found acceptable to your organization.  If there isn't one, start it.

Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

RE: Alarms (LIghts?)

I agree.  "Go off" can, under different circumstances, refer to either a starting or an extinguishing.  Better to avoid it.  (That and "inflammable".)

Hg

Eng-Tips policies:  FAQ731-376

RE: Alarms (LIghts?)

enabled and disabled

"Art without engineering is dreaming; Engineering without art is calculating."

Have you read FAQ731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

RE: Alarms (LIghts?)

I don't like enabled or disabled for any of the examples. I "enable" my burglar alarm when I leave the house. This does not mean the alarm condition exists at that time.

Initiated and active may be useful words.

RE: Alarms (LIghts?)

The alarm was triggered.
The alarm was reset.

Robert

RE: Alarms (LIghts?)

Activated / Deactivated

RE: Alarms (LIghts?)

the alarm sounded?

RE: Alarms (LIghts?)

The word "alarm" in an industrial context can mean a horn, and/or a strobe light and/or a rotary beacon and/or a lamp in a control panel, so it's not necessarily accurate to say an alarm "sounded".

A related source of confusion is that an alarm's state cannot always be described with a single binary digit.  I.e., a really annoying alarm like a horn or siren will commonly have a 'defeated' or 'silenced' state, where the triggering condition still exists, but the alarm itself has been manually turned off.

Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

RE: Alarms (LIghts?)

There are usually three stages of alarming:

1) Activate or Initiate ("Goes off")

2) Acknowledge (Action taken by user or operator to acknowledge the alarm although the condition of the alarm may still exist)

3) Deactivate, Clear or sometimes Reset (Alarm condition is no longer and the alarm indication is removed.  Many times this is automated once the user acknowledges the alarm.  Sometimes the user has to manually clear or reset the alarm in addition to acknowledging.)

______________________________________________________________________________
This is normally the space where people post something insightful.

RE: Alarms (LIghts?)

We use "Alarm Raised", "Alarm Acknowleged" (as controlnovice's description) and "Alarm Reset".

Depending on the situation it is either a manual action to reset the alarm or automatic and the detail of how and where the reset takes place is described elsewhere.

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