Cloud Portal alerts help you know when a sensor reading crosses an important threshold, when particulate readings may be affected by fog or humidity, or when a sensor stops reporting data.
Alerts are configured per sensor in the VisiblAir Cloud Portal. Sign in, open the sensor configuration, and select the Alerts tab.
The main Enable Alerts checkbox controls the alert settings for that sensor. If it is off, metric threshold alerts, muted weekdays, PM pause options, and offline sensor alerts are not active for that sensor.
Each sensor has its own alert configuration. Changing alert settings on one sensor does not change the settings on another sensor in the same account.
A metric threshold alert compares a new sensor reading to a value you choose. You can configure up to 10 metric rules per sensor.
Each rule has three parts:
Alerts are checked when the sensor sends a new sample to the cloud. If a reading crosses an enabled threshold, the portal records an alert event and sends email if recipients are configured.
To be notified when a room may need more ventilation, configure a rule such as:
When a new sample reports CO2 above 1000 ppm, the sensor creates an alert event and sends email to the configured recipients, subject to the cool-off period.
Alert emails can be sent to the account email, to additional visible recipients, and to BCC recipients.
Use valid email addresses and separate multiple addresses with commas. If an invalid recipient is entered, that address may be skipped.
The cool-off period limits repeated emails for the same alert condition: the same sensor, metric, condition, and threshold value. It is not one shared timer for every alert on the sensor. The default is 60 minutes.
For example, if CO2 remains above 1000 ppm for several samples, the portal does not send a new email for every sample. It waits until the CO2 above 1000 ppm cool-off period has passed before sending another email for that same alert condition.
Other alert conditions have their own cool-off timing. If PM2.5 above threshold sends an alert at 2:00 AM, CO2 above threshold can still send an alert at 3:00 AM. If PM2.5 is still above the same threshold at 3:30 AM, it can send again because more than 60 minutes have passed since the PM2.5 alert. The CO2 alert at 3:00 AM does not reset the PM2.5 cool-off timer.
Changing the metric, the above/below condition, or the threshold value makes it a different alert condition for cool-off purposes.
Set a longer cool-off period for slow-moving situations where repeated notifications would not be useful. Set a shorter cool-off period when faster follow-up is needed.
Tier 2 alerts are follow-up notifications for conditions that remain active after an initial threshold alert. They are useful when the first alert can go to the day-to-day contact, while a persistent issue should notify another person or escalation list.
When a metric threshold alert first triggers, the portal starts a Tier 2 watch window for that same sensor, metric, condition, and threshold value. At the end of that window, the system checks recent samples. If the condition was still true for most samples in the window, it sends a Tier 2 email and records a persistent alert event.
Use these fields together:
Current portal behavior expects both the Tier 2 To and BCC fields to be filled before Tier 2 emails are sent. If you do not need private recipients, use an appropriate operational address in the BCC field so the Tier 2 configuration is complete.
Tier 2 applies to metric threshold alerts, not to offline sensor alerts. It follows the same threshold condition that created the initial alert. It is available for the main air-quality and environmental metrics, but not currently for wind speed or PM4.0 persistent-alert emails.
A classroom sensor can send the first CO2 alert to the facility contact when CO2 goes above 1000 ppm. Tier 2 can then notify a facilities manager if CO2 remains above 1000 ppm through a 30-minute watch window.
Muted weekdays suppress threshold alert checks for full calendar days. Muted days use the sensor timezone shown in the portal. If the sensor timezone is missing or invalid, the system falls back to America/Toronto.
This is useful for predictable periods when notifications are not wanted. For example, a school may mute alerts on Saturday and Sunday, while keeping weekday alerts active.
Outdoor particulate matter readings can be affected by fog or very high humidity. The Alerts tab includes options to pause PM alerts when those conditions are likely.
These pauses apply to PM metrics only. Other alert metrics, such as CO2 or temperature, continue to be evaluated.
Offline alerts are separate from metric threshold alerts. Enable Alerts when sensor stops sending data for 15 minutes when you want to be notified if a sensor has not reported recently.
The offline alert processor runs on a schedule, so an offline email may not arrive exactly 15 minutes after the last sample. In production, the check currently runs hourly. Treat the 15-minute setting as the offline detection threshold, not as an exact email delivery time.
Offline emails are sent to the account owner and any configured additional recipients. Duplicate offline messages are suppressed for a period so a sensor that stays offline does not send constant emails.
For an outdoor sensor installed at a remote site, turn on Enable Alerts, then turn on Alerts when sensor stops sending data for 15 minutes. If the sensor stops reporting, the next scheduled offline check can email the configured recipients.
Repeated alerts are expected after the cool-off period expires if the same condition is still true. Increase the cool-off period if you want fewer repeat notifications.
For most indoor CO2 use cases, start with one CO2 threshold, send alerts to the account email, and keep the default 60-minute cool-off period. Add extra recipients or muted days only when the basic alert flow is working as expected.