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Setting up Custom Triggers for Your Outdoor Warning System

Custom Triggers let you activate your Perry Weather hardware manually, on a schedule, or on a recurring basis. They’re useful for drills, scheduled announcements, end-of-day alerts, or any time you need your hardware to activate without a policy.

This article and the video below walks through the full setup process and explains what each option does.

Before You Begin

  • Custom Trigger functionality is only offered for our Plus and Advanced tiers of Perry Weather. If you wish to upgrade, please reach out to your designated account manager.
  • You’ll need at least one Perry Weather hardware unit connected to your account.
  • Only Owners, Admins, and Limited Admins can manage hardware in your account. If you’re not sure whether you have the right permissions, check with your account admin.

Setting Up a Custom Trigger

  1. Open the custom trigger setup
    1. Navigate to the Hardware tab.
    2. Click into the Triggers tab.
    3. Click Add Trigger, then select Custom Trigger.
  2. Name your trigger
    1. Give your trigger a clear, descriptive name. If you plan to set up multiple triggers, a name like “End of Day Siren - North Field” is easier to identify later than “Trigger 1.”
  3. Choose how the trigger activates
    1. Manual - The trigger only runs when you start it. Use this when you want full control over timing (drills, ad-hoc announcements etc.)
    2. Scheduled - The trigger runs automatically at a specific date and time you set. Use this for one-time future events, like a planned tournament or scheduled drill.
    3. Recurring - The trigger runs automatically on a repeating schedule at the frequency you choose. Use this for routine announcements (daily closing alerts, weekly tests etc.)

Note: The timezone for scheduled and recurring triggers is determined by the physical location of the hardware unit, not by your account settings or your browser. If you have units in different time zones, each will activate based on its own local time.

  1. Select the hardware units
    1. Choose which hardware units will activate when this trigger runs. You can select as many units as you need.

    2. If you select multiple units that are configured differently, a dialogue box will appear summarizing how the trigger will be sent across them. For example “2 units with Siren & PA Message, 1 unit with Strobe.” Review this summary to make sure the trigger will behave the way you expect.

       

  2. Configure the siren

    If you want the trigger to play a siren, enable the siren option, then set the following:

    1. Siren - Choose from the dropdown menu of available siren tones.
    2. Duration - Set how long the siren plays.

    3. Play Count - Choose how many times the sound plays.

       

  3. Configure the PA message

    If a selected unit has a PA, enable the PA Message option, then pick a Message Type:

    1. Saved: Select a message from your PA message library. To build or edit that library first, see How do I create my PA message library?.
    2. Custom: Type the message you want, up to 350 characters
    3. Set Play Message to how many times the message plays.

     

  4. Configure the strobe(s)
    1. If a selected unit has strobe capability, enable the strobe option to have it activate when the trigger runs.
    2. On a Visual Alerting System unit, each of the four strobes — Clear, Red, Amber, and Blue — can be configured independently. Select which color(s) you want to activate. You can choose one, multiple, or all four.
    3. If a strobe is already in use on a policy trigger, it cannot be used in a custom trigger. For more on configuring a Visual Alerting System, see Setting up Policy Triggers for your Outdoor Warning Systems.
       
  5. Review and save
    1. Before saving, you’ll see a review screen with the full configuration. Confirm that the activation type, selected units, siren settings, PA message, and strobe all look correct, then save.

Your trigger is now live. Manual triggers can be run any time from the Triggers tab. Scheduled and recurring triggers will activate the hardware automatically based on the settings you chose.

Custom triggers are not limited by your audible alert times. A manual, scheduled or recurring custom trigger runs at the time you set, including outside the audible alert times configured on the unit. The dashboard warns you when a schedule falls outside those hours. The trigger still runs.

Broadcasting PA Messages in Additional Languages

You can broadcast your PA messages in more than one language, so everyone on site hears the alert in a language they understand. In addition to English, you can add:

  • Spanish (Latin America)
  • French (Canada)

You can add a language using a saved message from your library or a custom message written directly in the trigger. Adding a language works the same way for both policy triggers and custom triggers.

Creating a Saved Message in Another Language

If you plan to reuse a translated message across multiple triggers, save it to your library first.

  1. Navigate to the Hardware tab and click into the Saved Messages tab.
  2. Create a new message.
  3. Select the language label for the message.
  4. Paste in your message in that language, then save.
Creating a Saved Message Final.gif

Adding a Language to a Trigger

  1. Create your trigger as usual and continue to the alert configuration step.
  2. Enables the PA Message option and set up your English message.
  3. Click Add Language, then pick a Message Type for the new language:
    1. Saved: Select a saved message you created in that language.
    2. Custom: Paste the translated version of your message into the field.
  4. Finish configuring the rest of the trigger, then review and save.

Your PA message will now broadcast in English and in the language you added.

Note: Perry Weather does not translate messages automatically. Paste in the exact text you want broadcast for each language. Because these messages often carry safety instructions, we recommend having a fluent speaker review the translation before you save.

Adding a second language Final.gif

Frequently Asked Questions

Can a custom trigger run alongside a weather-based alert?

Yes. Custom triggers operate independently of your weather policies. They won’t interfere with weather-based alerts, and weather-based alerts won’t interfere with them.

What happens if the hardware unit is offline when a scheduled trigger runs?

If a unit is offline at the scheduled time, the trigger won’t activate on that unit. The other units in the trigger will still activate as configured. Check the Event Logs tab on the Hardware Page for a record of which units activated successfully.

Need Help?

If you run into trouble setting up a custom trigger, reach out to your dedicated Perry Weather account manager and we’ll walk it through with you.

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