Intercom, Gate Opening, Cameras etc for New Build, Needs to be POE and very Simple!

blobert

Hello,

Not 100% sure on whether this was best in this or the home security forum. I get the feeling a lot of the alarm systems/cameras there have not changed much in 20 years so thinking here might be more suitable.

We're just finishing work on a new build house on quite large site (about 100m from gate on street to the house via private laneway)

The house is unusual in that it's in a built up neighbourhood in Dublin but also quite private/isolated as it's built in behind other people's houses, is only accessibility via laneway and is completely dark at night with zero street lighting (slight ominous). The only way to get in is by jumping over quite a high wall/gate (we're making it higher) so basically vs normal house on street where people will come in to ring bell etc if you're on our property you probably have bad intentions (or are a child trying to get your ball back)!

What I'd like to do:

(1) Have a video intercom system at the gate that ideally BOTH rings in the house (where I can answer on a phone while seeing who is there on camera, probably need a few different handsets ringers around the house as it's spread out bungalow) and (in case I'm not at home) also alerts me on my phone, allows me to talk to them, open gate remotely. I know you can get equipment to do either of these but it would be good if I could do both without needing 2 bells, one to ring the house and the other to ring smartphones.

(2) Have ability to open/close gate remotely. Ideally though phone, ie when I talk to delivery guy and am not there I can open it. I know some systems are ring the gate to open it so could use that if if we have to but it seems fiddly. Need to be able to open gate from in house also, again with a button on each intercom.

(3) Probably about 4-5 cameras around the site. Ideally monitoring me in case of movement if I'm out/away on holidays/it's night time. Though obviously don't want them going off all the time if my kids are running around outside or if there is a fox wandering around at night making me think someone is breaking in. These would need to be power over ethernet as there are reasonably big runs involved.

I'm looking for somthing that's really simple to use and set up. I'd seen Unifi equipment recommended in a few places: https://ui.com/camera-security. It seems to do a lot of what I'd want and be POE. It's maybe a bit on the pricey side but seems good from a usability point of view. I'd seen cheaper Reolink stuff also but not sure if it's as easy to set up/use: https://reolink.com/

The other thing I want is to avoid any ongoing costs, I've no interests in monitored alarms, cloud storage etc.

(4) Traditional house alarm. I'm not sure if it's 100% necessary (as I say if people are prowling on the site they have broken in already) and we're far away from other people so if an alarm is going off I don't think anyone will care. That said it's probably useful for nighttime, ie if someone breaks open a door while we're asleep. If we were putting it in it probably makes sense to have an alarm system with sensors on the doors/windows and some PIR sensors inside. Again I'd like to avoid having different systems here, Ie I think the traditional alarm tech here would be to have the alarm text me if it's triggered when I'm away. But I suspect there is no smart system that is tied into cameras so I'd just have to go to the camera system to see what's happened if I get alerted that the alarm has done off.

So basically I'm looking for any advice on how to proceed here. As I say it seems as though a lot of the traditional alarm/camera stuff has not changed in 20 years. But it also seems as though the newer smart stuff may not be able to do all the stuff I want it to and integrate with more traditional tech (such as the manual handset/buttons in the house to talk on intercom/open the gate). I don't want a system that is 100% reliant on apps, ie if someone is at the gate the only way I know they are there is via my phone, I need some chimes in the house also.

Any advice would be much appreciated. I suspect sellers of traditional gear will only point me in that direction so it's hard to get an idea of how a hybrid approach might work.

Thanks!

impop

Did you get this sorted? I've similar specs but for a smaller new house. Did you go for wired or wireless security system?

blobert

We went with a traditional HKC alarm that we can control remotely. Works ok.

Went with cheaper Reolink cameras/doorbell etc.

The POE doorbell is annoying in that the buzzer for it is too far from the gate so doesn't really work. It will alert my phone if it rings but (like with the other cameras) the tone it uses for this is same as an email/message so I'm unlikley to pay attention to it. We have a traditional buzzer/intercom also so basically just use that and then use the reolink doorbell to see who is there. Have a tablet on the wall beside intercom handset that shows all the external cameras. One of the cameras has broken in the year I've have 8 or so, though I'm not sure if that was down to crappy wiring or the camera itself.

All the cameras are POE which has worked well, I would not be able to do them wirelessly as there are big distances between them. I've turned off the notifications for them as I could not get a happy medium between them alerting me constantly (while boys play football in the garden) and when it's useful to.

All in all I'm reasonably happy to have gone for the cheaper system. I don't really pay much attention to the cameras but they come in handy for some stuff (being able to prove that the delivery guys dropped a pallet of solar panels out of a truck onto the ground was useful!)

I would like to have a better solution to the doorbell and the alerts but I'd say there's a decent chance there is one and it's just user error on my behalf

dam099

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123146879#Comment_123146879

Do you use Alexa devices (and I think Google Homes)? They can be linked to it to announce when someone rings.

blobert

Thanks, I think I have an Alexa speaker somewhere. I'll look into it!

WildCardDoW

Another good option is to email reolink, list the devices you have and the problem statement - see if they can help.

Perhaps they'll have a sales or technical team that can help with the chime distance issue. I do see that you can purchase an additional one but your issue seems to be connectivity wise so not much use!

Good thread on reddit here about it:

https://www.reddit.com/r/reolinkcam/comments/11sa9h5/doorbell_chime_range/

Summary is, it uses 433Mhz range in V1 and 900Mhz range in V2. Some users had V1 and it worked fine, when they switched to V2 it failed over the same distance.