Due to convenience and security, the popularity of today’s video intercoms is growing rapidly. This article will highlight some of the more popular features and benefits of these intercoms and distinguish between some of the major types of intercom systems.
Door intercom systems are specifically designed to safely identity visitors before answering the door. Room to room intercoms, on the other hand, goliath türsprechanlage are principally designed to communicate–typically audio only–from one room of a house or office to another. This is not to say these are mutually exclusive categories because there are some intercom systems which can offer both capabilities; however, most of the time this is not what the application demands.
The basic video intercom system will consist of a handset and 4-inch monitor, black and white doorbell camera with integral intercom and a power supply for the handset/monitor. The handset features a Speak, View, and often, a Door Release button. Today’s cameras usually offer IR illumination, which provides night vision through bright LEDs that are mounted on the doorbell camera.
The more advanced home intercom models will offer color cameras, which will be color during day and black and white at night. Other features such as 32-picture memory with time and date stamp are available to show you who was at door even when you are not at home. These intercom systems will also be hands-free so there is no handset to pick up. Monitor controls for brightness, sharpness, speaker volume and chime volume may not be available on the more basic models. Door status monitoring is also often not available on some of the economy models.
An important consideration is installation wiring and distance. Often the economy intercom systems will require a 4-conductor cable between the monitor and the doorbell station. However, existing doorbell wiring is usually two wires, and here what appears to be the more expensive intercom system that only requires two wires may turn out to be the best deal when you add the labor in to run and pull new cable. The premium video intercom systems will allow as far as 300 ft. between monitor and doorbell camera with just 2-conductor 18 AWG wire.
A nice feature on some door intercom systems is the ability to initiate a live viewing of activity outside your door even when the doorbell is not activated. This is a strong safety and comfort value for many homeowners today. Since most of these video intercom systems are simple to install and are surface mounted and weatherproof, many homeowners install these themselves. If, however, the remote door release option will be used with an electric door strike, which does complicate the installation, a professional locksmith is recommended.
Retail pricing on door intercom systems varies widely, but good systems can be found for as little as $150, to over $500 for the full featured, color video intercom systems.
How A Video Door Intercom System Can Make Your Home Safe
Having the ease of seeing who is at the entrance to your home with a video door intercom is great feeling of knowing who or what is arriving at your front door, whether it your mum, your best friend, a delivery, or someone you don’t wish to speak to immediately and might need a few seconds to gather your thoughts.
Front door intercoms are also a great way to catch thieves if they have struck before or if they are trying to scope out your home, by utilizing an image memory function inside the internal monitor that records a picture of the last person to stand on front of the camera.
Having this very handy feature is also an excellent way to get minor questions answered, for example, if someone tried calling over to see you on a goliath türsprechanlage certain day, or if someone said they came over at certain time.
Most home video intercom systems are fairly cost affective, creating some extra spice and features around the house, while adding value to your home.
If you feel you need an extra internal monitor, e.g. one upstairs and one downstairs, this is possible and has a wonderful effect with communication as you talk between the two monitors.
With most door intercom systems you can open you gate latch with an open function on the internal monitors for ease of use, once you know who is at the gate to let through, which is another useful safety benefit to have if you a have a gate entry.
Having an intercom facility to two of your entry points, being a back door and front door can also be utilized for extra security, and generally most intercoms have 2 different ring tones, so you can easily know if someone is either at the back or front doors.
Most intercom systems are low voltage, and use a power plug supply to power up the system, incorporating low voltage cabling so can be easily installed.
When installing a video door intercom, you will need to find a qualified installer, for long lasting operation and security.