Intercom and Door Entry

Door entry is the most frequently used electronic system in a building: it runs dozens of times a day and a fault is noticed immediately. In apartment blocks and residential complexes, maintenance therefore matters as much as installation.

Audio or video

An audio system only carries speech. With video door entry, the monitor inside the flat shows the person at the door; knowing who has arrived without opening the door makes a clear security difference, especially where the entrance opens directly onto the street. Models with recording can store images of visitors who called while nobody was home.

System structure

Door panel. Houses the call buttons, camera, microphone and speaker. In buildings with many flats, keypad panels allow dialling by flat number — tidier and less failure-prone than long rows of buttons.

Flat monitors. Carry video, speech and door release. Internal calling between flats can be enabled.

Lock and automation. Electric, electromagnetic or motorised locks are chosen by door type and traffic. Garden gates and car park doors can be connected to the same system.

Concierge unit. In complexes and large buildings a central unit is installed at the security point; incoming calls can be routed there first.

Retrofitting existing buildings

Rewiring is not always necessary in older buildings. Two-wire systems allow a move to video door entry over the existing bell cable, removing the cost of chasing walls and pulling cable. Whether the existing infrastructure is suitable is determined by measurement during the survey.

Together with access control

Where door entry and access control share a door, residents pass by card and visitors are announced by bell. The wiring plan is drawn up during installation so the two systems do not conflict over the same lock.