2 Wire Intercom Solutions for Apartment Buildings
for Reliable and Conveninent Communication inside and outside the Building
Project Overview
An apartment building, with existing intercom wiring, needed an efficient and reliable mode of securing and monitoring their premises. The building consists of 5 floors. Floor one is the lobby, including one main entrance and a backdoor. Floors two, three, and four are residential floors with 5 apartments on each. The fifth floor is an office space.
The building required an intercom system for visitors to communicate with tenants and the front desk. Along with that, the property manager and staff needed a reliable way of monitoring the entrances and exits while implementing a functional and trustworthy means of communication for both visitors and residents.
Market & Location
Residential
New Jersey
Products Used
LTS 2-Wire Outdoor Station
LTH-M201-C-2, LTH-M201-6B, LTH-M201-KP, LTH-M201-IM
LTS 2-Wire Indoor Station
LTH-D301GY-WIFI-2
LTS Connect App
NVMS V3 Client Software
Challenge
This type of facility poses a unique challenge as the needs are mostly residential but also having many qualities of a commercial building. On one hand, the tenants need to have a way of viewing their visitors as well as communicating with management in the lobby. Residents of an apartment complex want to feel the same control and autonomy over their security as private homeowners. Establishing this type of control and communication is key.
On the other hand, the property manager needs a way of keeping the tenants safe with visual and access control solutions.
From there, we need to consider the building itself. The building had existing wiring from an old intercom, and the new intercom system had to be able to utilize those wires. Outfitting a multi-story building with wiring and security solutions can be difficult on many levels.
Solution
The Lobby
Management and security staff needed visual access to the main entrance and exit located on the first floor. Our solution includes an outdoor station for the front entrance and an outdoor extension station for the backdoor.
The main outdoor station at the entrance consists of 1 main camera module and 3 nametag modules. This provides visitors the ability to ring in and identify themselves and the party they are visiting. The camera module provides visual access to the entrance for visitor verification.
The backdoor is located adjacent to the parking lot. For that reason, management wanted to ensure the security of this rear entrance. The outdoor extension station includes 1 main camera module for monitoring, 1 keypad module for authorized access only, and an indicator module for communication with staff inside.
2nd, 3rd and 4th Floors
Apartments
To provide visual access control for each tenant, we installed an indoor station inside each apartment entrance. The indoor station is a 7” touch screen monitor that allows tenants to view visitors who ring in for their apartment at the main entrance’s nametag module. On top of that, users can communicate with visitors with the indoor station’s built-in microphone and speaker. This gives the tenant full control to open the door from their apartment or ignore the call as needed.
From an installation standpoint, there are two huge benefits of the intercom’s simple design. First, the building’s existing wiring was usable with our 2-Wire Intercom. Compatibility of this kind significantly trims down installation time.
Secondly, the indoor station has built-in Wi-Fi which allows it to view security cameras in a different LAN. Additionally, it allows management via mobile phone.
5th Floor
The
Office
The 5th floor office required no indoor station. Instead, the staff uses NVMS V3 client software on their computers. This allows them to view the camera feeds for the outdoor station in case they have a client or business associate arriving for a meeting.
Remote Monitoring and Management
Residents & Staff
One of the biggest benefits of an LTS intercom solution is the accessibility for authorized personnel. The LTS Connect App allows residents and staff to view visitors, decide which calls are important to answer, and open their doors remotely for welcome guests.
Results
The property manager benefits from a simplified setup with less hardware and time commitment. Due to the 2-Wire Intercom’s high versatility, having the ability to use the building’s existing wiring was a huge bonus. This equals less money spent overall with maximum access control.
Staff and tenants are left with a heightened sense of safety and security as they can easily access the intercom feed via the indoor station or their mobile devices. This ensures that everyone in the building is kept safe and secure, with a degree of trustworthiness and reliability that the property did not previously have.
