Smart Intercom for motorized front gate

Forums › Gadgets, robotics, home automation, electronics (including wearables) › Smart Intercom for motorized front gate

mmd

27 posts

Geek

#291909 13-Dec-2021 00:26

My folks are having a whole new fence with a motorized front gate installed. They're being offered several no-name brand intercom systems, so someone can press a bell outside the gate, it rings inside the house and the rubbish low resolution screen installed in the house allows you to see the video feed and let them in. The 'smartest' offering that was made available to them was this Panasonic unit (https://www.panasonic.com/nz/consumer/telephones-video-intercoms/video-intercoms/video-intercom-kits/vl-svn511.html), but in all honesty its still far from 'smart' as it only lets you check the video feed on your phone from WiFi, but not if you're out.

While I see a lot of video intercom systems around, none seem to have a physical relay (?) output that will also trigger the motor to open the gate if we want it to be opened. For example the Google Nest Doorbell has all the features we want, but wouldn't open the garage door itself. Its also probably too visually fancy looking for a south auckland home and would be smashed or stolen etc. in a week.

We're also not so keen on doing something custom where the reliability comes into question. I'd hate for my folks to have to deal with it suddenly stop working because there was a power cut overnight or something.

If you have a motorized gate - what are you using?

billgates

4705 posts

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#2831124 13-Dec-2021 07:45

What is their budget for the intercom?

Do whatever you want to do man.

Xile

155 posts

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#2831181 13-Dec-2021 09:02

I use a Ring Video Doorbell. Can't open the gate with it though but can be used away from home.

mmd

27 posts

Geek

#2831196 13-Dec-2021 09:16

billgates:

What is their budget for the intercom?

I haven't really considered this. But the others we've seen are all in the $500-$800 range.

billgates

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#2831258 13-Dec-2021 10:48

@mmd Best recommendation for $800 would be Fanvil i31S. It can output DC 30V @ 1A if you power the device via PoE. You will need to use a 3rd party VMS like Blueiris, NXwitness or anything else that supports ONVIF for recordings and have a app on phone for cloud notifications etc.

https://www.fanvil.com/Uploads/Temp/download/20210913/613ebce67cb7d.pdf

Do whatever you want to do man.

mmd

27 posts

Geek

#2831262 13-Dec-2021 10:51

billgates: Best recommendation for $800 would be Fanvil i31S. It can output DC 30V @ 1A if you power the device via PoE. You will need to use a 3rd party VMS like Blueiris, NXwitness or anything else that supports ONVIF for recordings and have a app on phone for cloud notifications etc.

Thank you - are you aware of options that are more expensive? For example, if something at $1000 is a lot better than this option, we wouldn't discount it.

billgates

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#2831279 13-Dec-2021 11:12

@mmd Axis is the best for intercom from both quality and cyber security point of view. Between $1800 and $2k you can get Axis A8004-VE or I8016-LVE. Both are vandal proof. A8004 will be easy to mount and you will see that when you look at photos for both models.

If you need something cheaper then Axis A8105-E. It is mostly plastic but hard plastic. There is a flush plate option available too but if vandalism is not a concern then you can just straight mount it to a pole like A8004. It also is 1080P vs 720P on the A8004. I have the A8207-VE but I got extremely lucky and score one for $900 from US as the store was going under where I bought it from. These retail for $3k.

Fanvil I31S is good and is vandal proof but will take some work to get it integrated into a 3rd party VMS for the apps notification to work. Axis is going to be a lot easier to work with.

Do whatever you want to do man.

FailedWOF

45 posts

Geek

#2833017 15-Dec-2021 19:47

I have a Ring doorbell on the outside of the gate, and have my gate hooked up to HomeKit with Node-RED and a raspberry pi so I can open it remotely. Works a treat.

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mmd

27 posts

Geek

#2833451 16-Dec-2021 13:54

billgates: @mmd Axis is the best for intercom from both quality and cyber security point of view. Between $1800 and $2k you can get Axis A8004-VE or I8016-LVE. Both are vandal proof. A8004 will be easy to mount and you will see that when you look at photos for both models. If you need something cheaper then Axis A8105-E. It is mostly plastic but hard plastic. There is a flush plate option available too but if vandalism is not a concern then you can just straight mount it to a pole like A8004. It also is 1080P vs 720P on the A8004. I have the A8207-VE but I got extremely lucky and score one for $900 from US as the store was going under where I bought it from. These retail for $3k. Fanvil I31S is good and is vandal proof but will take some work to get it integrated into a 3rd party VMS for the apps notification to work. Axis is going to be a lot easier to work with.

Thank you. I'll investigate all the options and reconsider. We weren't considering that high a price point, but given it essentially covers all the things we want, it may be a good option.

FailedWOF:

I have a Ring doorbell on the outside of the gate, and have my gate hooked up to HomeKit with Node-RED and a raspberry pi so I can open it remotely. Works a treat.

How reliable have you found this? I see your post in the automated gate thread for the actual install. Very professional! Have you seen how it operates when the power cuts out and comes back on? I ask this because I got dad a basic Sonoff to play around with, and he hooked it up to the garage opener, but one night came out to find the garage door wide open after they'd experienced a power cut.

FailedWOF

45 posts

Geek

#2833559 16-Dec-2021 15:46

mmd:

How reliable have you found this? I see your post in the automated gate thread for the actual install. Very professional! Have you seen how it operates when the power cuts out and comes back on? I ask this because I got dad a basic Sonoff to play around with, and he hooked it up to the garage opener, but one night came out to find the garage door wide open after they'd experienced a power cut.

I found the Ring doorbell needs a reasonably close AP. While your AP may be high powered, the Ring doorbell itself doesn't seem to. There's a bit of distance from the house to the gate so I ended up installing a Unifi AC Mesh near the gate. Solid signal now and as a bonus I can stay on wifi with my phone etc. on the driveway as well.

I don't know much about the sonoffs, but I know with the rasperry pi's an unexpected relay trigger at power on is a common issue due to the fact some GPIOs are pulled high and others low at power on through the internal pullup/pulldown resistors. You need to work out whether the relay is triggered high or low (and some are configurable through a jumper). Depending on how it's triggered, you need to ensure you use a GPIO pin that's pulls in the other direction on boot. For example, if your relay is triggered high then you need to use a GPIO pin that pulls low by default on boot.