System and method of sensor installation validation

1. A detector comprising:

a housing;

an environmental condition sensor carried by the housing; and

control circuits coupled to the environmental condition sensor;

a program, debug and test interface coupled to the control circuits; and

non-volatile memory, where the control circuits acquire input signals from the environmental condition sensor and store installation information pertinent to the detector's setup and validation steps performed at a time of installation of the detector including installation verification parameters related at least to range testing of the environmental condition sensor, the installation information is loaded into storage circuits of the non-volatile memory coupled to the control circuits, wherein when the detector is powered up, it checks to see if an installation flag data bit is set, where the installation flag data bit is set when the detector is first put into test mode and wherein the installation information is detected and stored in real time for later retrieval through the program debug and test interface.

2. A detector as in claim 1 which includes an access port, coupled to the storage circuits through which the loaded installation information is retrieved.

3. A detector as in claim 2 which includes at least one local output device and where the device can be activated to indicate installation status.

4. A detector as in claim 1 where, responsive to a predetermined event, the control circuits acquire one or more input signal values from the environmental condition sensor.

5. A detector as in claim 4 where the predetermined event includes at least one of a valid alarm, a false alarm, and a setup.

6. A detector as in claim 1 where at least one of alarm information and setup information are stored in the storage circuits coupled to the control circuits.

7. A detector as in claim 6 which includes access circuitry to retrieve at least one of the stored alarm information and the stored setup information.

8. A detector as in claim 1 which includes access circuitry to retrieve the installation information loaded into the storage circuits.

9. A detector as in claim 8 where the environmental condition sensor comprises at least one of a glassbreak sensor, a position sensor, and motion sensor.

10. A method comprising:

providing an environmental condition detector;

control circuits of the environmental condition detector setting an installation flag data bit when first placed in test mode and obtaining and storing real-time data on storage circuits of the environmental condition detector, the real-time data pertains to setup and validation steps performed on the environmental condition detector at a time of installation including at least range testing of the environmental condition detector; and

subsequently retrieving the stored data from the storage circuits through a program, debug and test interface to determine if the setup and validation steps were performed properly.

11. A method as in claim 10 where obtaining and storing real-time data on storage circuits includes obtaining and storing event related data.

12. A method as in claim 11 where events corresponding to the event related data include at least one of glass breakage, motion of an object, and installation of the detector.

13. A method as in claim 11 where obtaining and storing real-time data on storage circuits includes providing glass breakage data, or motion data separately from the installation data.

14. A method as in claim 13 where the installation data includes at least one of test mode data and setup data.

15. A method as in claim 13 where the installation data is stored automatically.