Flat Intercom/door release

[David P]

Mum has just bought a new flat and is finding that the buzzer on the intercom in her flat from the main door is not quite loud enough for her when she is in the living room, particularly whilst watching TV.

I have no experience of such systems whatsoever and wondered if there was a simple way to either increase the volume or, alternatively to have an additional buzzer sound in her living room?

I guess it would be something an electrician could sort out quickly??

TIA

David

[Nightjar]

There may be extension buzzers available for the system that can be wired in, but a baby alarm with the pickup near the buzzer ought to work well enough.

Colin Bignell

[Owain]

depends on the system, but most use small AC buzzers similar to

*most* will supply 2 or 3 buzzers in parallel. You might want to rectify the AC and use a more melodious DC sounder that has a lower current draw eg

systems use an audio tone call and they would require an extension speaker - and not all systems would support this.

If you can identify the make of the system that would be helpful.

Entryphone(tm) suggest using a small friendland bell or buzzer and I've used a friendland ding-dong on an intercom system. Although the system supplies 12V and the bell is rated for about 8V the rings are usually of short duration so both bell and power supply cope.

Owain

[Who, me?]

Thanks for this Owain,

Next time I'm up at Mum's I'll see if I can discover more about it. I've saved this post for future reference and may get back on it in a couple of weeks time. In the meantime I'll suggest she tries Colin's suggestion (thanks for pointing out a possibly simpler solution Colin) of a baby alarm, there's a friend in the area from whom she may be able to borrow one to see how she gets on with it.

David

[ARWadsworth]

Is this a new "new" flat?

I was just thinking about cable runs.

And the next time you are up there get a model number and have a look inside the intercom, the buzzer may (long shot) be adjustable.

[NT]

If its an audio tone of some sort fed to a speaker, you can always connect a computer speaker to it, even if you cant connect a regular passive speaker. You may need to use a resistor or 2 to reduce the voltage into the pc speaker.

NT

[Brian Gaff]

I'd have thought a disability organisation might be able to point you at this sort of product. Often not cheap though.

You could I suppose start delving into the system, but if its a comunal device then you could be treading on some toes here. Brian

[Brian Gaff]

I suppose if doing a diy thing, then a radio doorbell with the buzzer on the intercom rectified and used to operate a relay to replace the bell push itself. Some of these devices can be worn in a pocket or on a belt. Brian

[Who, me?]

No, purpose built about 15 years ago with the intercom by the flat door - at the end of a loooong hallway to the living room. A bit of daft planning originally - a repeater buzzer could have been easily installed as part of the original wring spec

Its on my list

Ta

David