A: Firstly check your smart unit is linked to the App (see question ‘My phone won’t connect to the Smart alarm unit?’ to resolve). Ensure you haven’t turned the sensor off via the Disarm option within the App. When sending an instruction from the App to the smart alarm unit, there can sometimes be a time lag (which can be 30 sec – 10 mins approx). Given the latter it is best practice to set one function at a time, wait a few minutes and then test operations BEFORE adding a new instruction into the App.

A: Naturally, there are many different types of vans and vehicles out there to which the Vanolarm units can be installed. Some will come with internal insulation to the rear, whilst may will have been plywood lined with storage units installed to the outer All these can act as soundproofing and although inside the vehicle the siren will sound at a deafening 113db, outside the volume can be greatly reduced. This said, we already know 94% of people ignore siren alarms. Although the siren intends to dissuade thieves from attempting to gain access the main utility of the siren, with regards to Vanolarm, is to activate the noise/sound/voice sensor on the GPS smart reporting unit. Should you still wish to achieve a louder alarm sound from outside the vehicle we recommend fixing the alarm directly to the vehicles inner metal bodywork, near to the door handle/lock yet away from insulated/ply lined panels.

A: Your original Vanolarm siren units will come pre-installed with the 3 x AAA batteries necessary for instant setup. However, when these batteries finally expire you can simply replace them with like for like single-use batteries or use rechargeable batteries. For long life utility, we recommend 3 x Lithium 1.5v AAA rechargeable batteries where possible.

A: Using 2 x double-sided self-adhesive pads provided, remove protection paper to one face and firmly adhere pads to rear of Audible siren alarm in cut out areas to suit. Then remove protection paper to another side of pads and adhere Audible alarm unit to the inside are of the vehicle door the door (as near to the door handle as possible). Ensure all surfaces are clean and dry before applying.

A: Remove screw to bottom edge, take blue triangular plastic piece supplied in the box, insert one corner into the small slot to one side of where the screw was remove, then push/drag blue plastic piece along one edge of alarm unit (opening up the joining edges). Repeat to the other edge and then gently separate top edge with your hands to give two separate half of the alarm unit. Access can then easily be made to reach batteries, for replacement or linking key fobs/remotes etc. See Q1 above, which includes a section within video on how to open units. 

Firstly our apologies to those that have recently purchased a Vanolarm system and have been attempting to change the vibration sensitivity settings using the paper instructions. Our latest print run unfortunately incurred a editing error meaning the instructions for setting up the sensitivity were wrong.

Setting Vibration sensitivity for the Audible siren unit: 

Firstly put the key fob/remote control into arm mode. On the key fob press and hold the unlock button (2nd key down), the light around the lock key (top circular key) will come on. You will then hear a few short rings, ignore these, and keep holding the unlock key (2nd key down), the light around the lock key with go off, keep holding the unlock key until the light comes back on around the lock key and then immediately release the unlock key. You are now in arm mode

The 7 sensitivity settings are set via the lock key (circular top key) using ‘Do, re, me, fa, so, la, ti’ tones. Press the lock key (top circular button) once to get the ‘Do’ tone, press again to get the ‘re’ tone, a third time for the ‘me’ tone and continue this method until you reach the sensitivity setting you are happy with. ‘Do’ is the most sensitive and ‘ti’ is the least sensitive. Finally press the unlock key (2nd key down) once, the light around the lock key should go out and your sensitivity setting has been set.

When we initially designed Vanolarm we thought an option to change the type of Siren sound the Audible alarm emitted could be beneficial to our users. With this in mind the initial Vanolarm products and some paper instructions included options to change the Audible alarm ring tone.

Since this initial application we at Vanolarm have recognised that, in hind sight, allowing the siren to automatically rotate the three variable ring tones, rather than the same (one) repeating ring tone, actually draws more attention to the siren when ringing. As this can therefore be seen as increasing the overall performance of the Vanolarm system, we have chosen to now make the variable ring tone our fixed default setting. Subsequently we are removing the ‘Changing the Audible Alarm Tone’ settings and users should no longer be able to change ring tones going forward.  

If simply using the vibration technology, GEO fencing or Magnetic door sensors then there is no need to consider the distance between the Smart GPS device and the Audible siren sensors. This said if using the noise sensor within the Smart GPS device to listen out for the Siren from the Audible alarm units then there are some best practice protocols to consider. 

Firstly check your noise sensor can hear your sirens. Go to the App and Arm the Noise sensor. Wait for a success message to ensure the Smart alarm sensor had been activated and then wait a further minute prior to testing by setting off the Audible siren alarm accordingly. Place each unit 1m away from each other when testing (allow at least 1 min between each test. We recommend only testing using in App messages to ensure phone signal delay does not complicate matters). 

If there are issues with the noise sensor not sending alerts then follow the following instructions:-

From your phone send a text to the sim number of the sim card inserted into your Smart GPS device, text should read ‘ vols,65# ‘ the unit should then text back a message reading ‘ vols:65 ‘ (this confirms the instruction has been accepted). Go to your App, Disarm the noise sensor (ensure success message), wait one minute and then Arm noise sensor again. Then repeat above testing. 

Once the noise sensor is proven to work we recommend placing the smart GPS alarm between 140cm and 200cm from each Audible siren alarm to ensure best performance. The minimum distance between units should be 300mm and the maximum 240cm. 

Why is distance important? Well its due to the decibel parameters set within the Smart GOS noise sensor. To reduce false alarms from ambient noise outside the vehicle then its necessary to manage the decibel limits the noise sensor listens too. If we move the 115db siren too close or too far away from the smart Gps noise sensor then these consequential decibel range will vary and the noise sensor may not (although still very probable ) hear the sirens accordingly. 

If you are unable to meet best practice locations then we suggest several tests in other locations prior to fully relying on the noise sensor alone. 

In most cases we always suggest installing your Vanolarm siren units to the main metal work frame of the vehicles bodywork if possible, however we realise this is not always possible. With this in mind this video quickly demonstrates how easily the siren sensors can be fitted to the door panelling and still work in the manner expected. We do recommend testing various sensitivity settings to suit your particular panelling environment. Please note, we don’t recommend fitting the siren sensors to felted or padded panelling.

We assume you have linked the siren to one fob as per instructions and video found here under Q1 https://vanolarm.co.uk/install-help-audible-vibration-unit/

If the sirens have been linked to one fob and some of the units are not disarming when the disarm button is pressed then this suggest something is blocking the radio frequency from the fob reaching the siren sensor.

Vanolarm is designed to work within a standard van environment and the radio frequency used by the Key fob/Siren units can easily pass through standard metal/fiberglass and glass panelling etc. In some instances when panelling out vehicles, for habitation or body work protection, reflective foiled insulation can be used. Such installation can reflect external radio frequencies. In these instances we suggest relocating the siren alarm unit to a location where the insulation is fixed and when arming externally then arm from a location directly adjacent to where the sirens are fitted. Alternatively disarm externally and then when in the vehicle disarm again to ensure all sirens have been deactivated correctly. When arming carry out the latter in reverse.

Other items that can interfere with the RF signal are heavy metal item surrounding the siren, drill boxes, generators, etc. Also if electrical l located near to the sirens can also interfere (rather than block) with the RF signal, items such as transformers, led lighting strips etc. Again in these instances we recommend the above resolution to ensure all sirens can be easily armed/disarmed via the fob.

If you only had one key fob linked to the sirens then the only ways to disarm them is to remove the batteries. From there you will be able to carry out a fix for a stolen/missing key fob.

To do this, once all batteries are removed, firstly carry out ‘adding a remote control’ to the alarm as per video Q1 above (this assumes your system had more than one Fob supplied, if not please contact support@vanolarm.com to arrange/purchase a replacement)

Once this is done, you will then need to remove the linked fob from the siren (effectively removing the same link as the stolen/lost fob). See paper instructions ‘removing remote control from audible alarm’. 

Then you will then need to relink a same siren to the new fob again (at which time new encryption is created). 

Lastly link remain sirens to same fob (if more than one siren sensor).