How to Choose a Wired or Wireless Apartment Multi-Tenant Intercom System
Whether you are installing a replacement for an old apartment, condo, or multi-occupant intercom or opting for a new installation, this concise guide serves as your roadmap to finding the perfect fit. Before embarking on the process, you need answers to these four key questions:
Do you need a wireless or wired system?
If your building is already wired with an old multi-tenant intercom, and the latest features are not a necessity, you can navigate to the section below the products on this page labeled "Apartment Intercoms That Need Repair." These constitute your basic apartment buzzer systems.
If you desire a simple intercom and are willing to install wires, refer to the section on "Installing a New Wired Apartment System" below.
For those interested in a wireless intercom, it's important to note that there are no radio frequency apartment intercoms suitable for larger installations with wireless stations in the apartments. Due to numerous interference issues, such systems lacked reliability. The closest alternative involves a system utilizing Wi-Fi tablet PCs connected to the Internet. Wireless options can use either Internet or cell phone service at the door intercom, with Internet intercoms relying on a cloud service to connect to an app on tenants' smartphones or tablet PCs. Cell phone intercoms use cell service to call tenants' telephones. It's essential to be aware that wireless options typically entail a monthly fee for the cell or cloud service.
Do you want audio only or audio and video?
Audio intercoms provide voice communication exclusively, while video intercoms offer both audio and video capabilities. Video intercoms are pricier to purchase and may involve a monthly fee for a cloud service.
How many tenants do you have?
The system you choose must be capable of supporting the number of tenants in your building. Some systems support 1000 or more tenants and employ a directory-based system, while smaller installations may have individual buttons for each tenant.
What device will tenants use to answer visitors' calls?
There are three primary methods for tenants to respond to calls:
a. The traditional approach involves a station mounted on the tenant’s wall, where a visitor presses a button on the door intercom, triggering a tone on the station. The tenant then walks to the station to answer.
b. The second option is for tenants to use their phones, whether landline or mobile, to answer voice calls from the door intercom.
c. The third method is for tenants with smartphones or tablet PCs. They can load an app on their devices, and the door intercom calls the app, which may also include video functionality.
Other factors to consider
All these systems have the capability to activate an electric door strike or an electric gate opener through a built-in relay switch.
Cell intercoms and Internet-based intercoms allow remote access management, streamlining the tenant move-out and move-in process.
Some systems offer various ways for tenants to access the building, such as PIN codes, proximity cards, mobile apps, QR code virtual keys, and facial recognition.
If you require assistance in selecting the right multi-occupant intercom system for your application, please feel free to give us a call at 888-298-9489.
Updating an Old Wired Intercom System
If you have an old wired apartment intercom system and the tenant stations still work, you can upgrade to new technology and still use those old tenant stations. Our AL1002 Touch Screen Internet Connected Video Intercom has the ability to do that by adding "relay boards" to it.
These boards have a matrix of relays that can be activated by the AL1002. The primary use for these boards is to replace an old-style push-button type door entry button panel with the touch-screen AL1002 and still be able to use the building's wired tenant stations (audio only). These relay boards can handle up to 512 apartments. The relays replace the buttons and when someone selects a tenant from the directory, their relay closes to simulate a button press. We have stainless steel covers to replace the existing button panel, but the existing speaker and microphone are removed from the button panel and then mounted to this new steel cover. The AL1002 will also call the tenant's App on their smartphone, but if they pick up through their existing wired tenant station, they will not be talking through the App or AL1002, but rather through the old speaker and microphone.
This allows for upgrading old multi-tenant intercoms to newer video intercom capability with smartphone or tablet PC Apps. Click the following link to see this product and call us if this is something you are interested in.
Touch Screen Internet-Connected Video Intercom
Installing a New Wired Apartment System
Apartment Intercoms That Need Repair
Older wired apartment intercom stations are available in 3-wire, 4-wire, and 5-wire configurations. The most common is 4-wire. There are a few systems that also used 6-wire, but these are far less common. You will need to know how many wires yours has before moving forward.
- Is the problem isolated to one or two apartments? Then you likely just need to replace the apartment stations. You'll first want to remove those stations from the wall and inspect the wires. Are they connected to the terminals on the station? Disconnect them from the station and from the other side at the door and run a continuity check between pairs of the wires by connecting two wires together on one side and then putting a continuity checker on the same two wires on the other side. If you do not get a positive reading, then you have broken wires somewhere and they will have to be replaced.
- If the wires are OK, it could be a defective station so swap it to an apartment with a working station and see if the problem follows. If so, replace the station.
- If that isn't the problem, then it may be with the entry door station. Check all the connections on the door station thoroughly. If everything looks good you may need to replace the entire door station, or the amplifier for the entry door panel, but first check the button for that station to make sure it is not the problem. You may need to disconnect the wires to the button and see if the button has continuity when pressed. If the button is OK, then it is the amplifier board driving the apartment station and you will need to replace it. This could be in the form of a separate amplifier circuit board or an enclosed unit that is in a different location than the button entry panel.
- Is the entire system dead? Then the problem could just be the power supply that drives the amplifier circuitry. Make sure you test the outlet the power supply is plugged in to first. Then, using a voltage meter, check the output power on the supply to see that it is putting out the voltage it is supposed to according to what's printed on it (make sure to disconnect the power supply because defective components could be drawing too much current from it).
- If the power supply is working, then the problem is with the amplifier unit that runs the entire system. These are not repairable, but even if the original manufacturer has gone out of business, you may still be able to use a replacement amp like the PK543A we offer (see a typical wiring diagram below). Most manufacturers used an apartment station that was similar except for Nutone. There is a lot of circuitry on their boards so you will need to replace the entire system with them. If you can find the manufacturer name somewhere, we can try to figure out compatibility. Just send us an email with the info you have.
Wireless Apartment Intercom
If you can't run wires, then there are wireless options available. There are some benefits of wireless systems as well. With wireless systems, tenants don't even have to be home to answer calls from visitors. Systems that use cell phone service not only don't require running any wires to tenant’s apartments, they can call any phone number, either landline or mobile. There is a small monthly fee for the cell phone service of these intercoms.
