Due to convenience and security, the popularity of today’s video intercoms is growing rapidly. This article will highlight some of the most popular features and benefits of these intercoms and differentiate between some of the main types of intercoms.

Door phones are specifically designed to securely identify visitors before they open the door. Room-to-room intercoms, on the other hand, are primarily intended to communicate – typically audio only – from one room of a home or office to another. This is not to say that these categories are mutually exclusive, as there are some intercom systems that can offer both functions; However, most of the time this is not what the application requires.

Video intercom

The basic video intercom system consists of a handset and a 4 inch monitor, a black and white doorbell camera with integrated intercom and a power supply for the handset/monitor. The handset has a Speak, View and often a Door Release button. Today’s cameras typically offer IR illumination that enables night vision through bright LEDs attached to the doorbell camera.

The more advanced home intercom models offer color cameras that are in color during the day and black and white at night. Other features such as time and date stamped 32-frame memory are available to show you who was at the door even when you’re not at home. These intercoms will also be hands-free, so there’s no need to pick up the phone. Monitor controls for brightness, sharpness, speaker volume, and tone volume may not be available on the simpler models. Door status monitoring is also often not available on some economy models.

Consideration is installation

An important consideration is installation wiring and removal. Often the economy intercoms require a 4-wire cable between the monitor and the doorbell station. However, existing doorbell wiring is usually two wires, and this is where the seemingly more expensive intercom system, which only requires two wires, can prove to be the best deal when you add in the work of running and Türsprechanlage pulling new wiring. The premium video intercoms allow up to 300 feet between monitor and doorbell camera using only 2-conductor 18 AWG cable.

A neat feature of some doorphones is the ability to initiate a live display of activity outside your door, even when the doorbell isn’t activated. This is a strong safety and comfort value for many homeowners today. Because most of these video intercoms are easy to install and are surface-mount and weatherproof, many homeowners install them themselves. However, if the remote door opener option is to be used with an electric door opener, which makes installation difficult, a professional locksmith is recommended.

How a video door phone can make your home more secure

Being able to see who is at the entrance of your home with a video door phone is a great feeling in knowing who or what is arriving at your front door, whether it’s your mom, your best friend, a delivery or someone you don’t like . You don’t want to talk to him right away and you may need a few seconds to gather your thoughts.

Front door intercom

Door phones are also a great way to catch thieves if they have previously struck or are attempting to search your home by utilizing an image storage feature in the internal monitor that records an image of the last person they faced the camera.

This very handy feature is also a great way to get smaller questions answered, e.g. B. if someone tried to call you on a certain day or if someone said they stopped by at a certain time.

Most home video intercoms are fairly inexpensive, adding extra spice and features throughout the home while adding value to your home.

If you feel you need an additional internal monitor, e.g. B. one above and one below, this is possible and has a wonderful effect in communication when you talk between the two monitors.

Door phones

Most door phones allow you to open your gate latch with an opening feature on the internal monitors for ease of use once you know who’s at the gate to let it through, which is another useful security benefit when you have a gate entry.

An intercom to two of your entry points which are a back door and a front door can also be used for added security and generally most intercoms have two different ringer tones so you can easily tell if someone is in the back or front doors.

Most intercom systems operate on low voltage and use a mains plug supply to power the system, with low voltage cables included so they are easy to install.

When installing a video door phone, you must find a qualified installer to ensure continued operation and security.