a building alarm system includes addressable notification appliances connected to a system controller , with each notification appliance having a status indicator and an alarm indicator . the status indicator , such as an led , provides for system test modes that avoid disruption of building occupants . to test the alarm system , the system controller selects which notification appliances to operate in response to a test alarm input and communicates to each selected appliance an instruction to operate its associated status indicator without operating its associated audible or flashing visible alarm indicators . in a troubleshooting mode , the system controller polls each of the notification appliances and receives an answer in response to the poll from any of the appliances . the controller operates the led indicators of those appliances which answer the poll . this allows a technician to locate for troubleshooting only those appliances having an nonoperating led indicator , perhaps due to a failure to respond to its poll . according to another aspect , each addressable notification appliances includes a microprocessor and a manually - activated switch . the microprocessor is programmed to transmit a first message in response to an activation of the switch . the system controller receives the first message from the activated appliance and in response transmits a second message instructing the appliance to operate its associated alarm indicator for a test time interval .