How to Install a Door Intercom System

A door intercom system is a very useful thing to install in your home because it allows you to find out who is at your door before you open it. This also makes it much easier to open the door as you only need to lift the door intercom system to find out who is there and let them in. You can also have a conversation with the people outside your home if you want or need to.

Installing a door intercom system is also very easy. If you already have a wired bell on your front door then you should be able to use most of this wiring to connect your door intercom system very quickly.

Step 1 - Safety First

Whenever you are doing any work which involves the electrical systems in your home you will need to make sure that it's safe to do so. You must ensure that it's safe to do so. Switch the power off to your homes door bell circuit, you can either do this by removing the individual circuit breaker or by switching all of the power off to your home. If you're not sure which circuit breaker will kill the circuit then you should shut off all the power.

Check that the circuit is dead by trying to ring the bell. If the bell doesn't sound then this should confirm that the power has been shut off properly and that it's safe to work on the circuit.

Step 2 - Removing the Doorbell

Open the existing door bell button on the front of the door and unscrew the terminals. This should allow the wires to come away fairly easily which can then be reused again. Check the condition of the wiring to ensure that it's safe to use again.

Step 3 - Mounting the Door Intercom

The door intercom system should come with a bracket to be mounted onto the door or the wall, fix this to the wall using the screws which came with it. Try to fix it so that it will cover the mark left when you removed the bell button. If this isn't possible then you might need to do some filling and repainting.

Step 4 - Wiring the Intercom

The door intercom system now needs to be wired up. Using the existing door bell wires connect them to the individual terminals. It doesn't matter which way round these go at this stage, any order is good.

Disconnect the old transformer used for the bell and take the existing wires out. Now route a length of bell wire from a power outlet to the position of the old transformer. These can then be connected together by using wire nuts. This bell wire then needs to be connected to the new power adapter which is plugged into an outlet.

Step 5 - Testing

Now you need to test the intercom system, try pressing the doorbell button, then anyone inside the house can press the talk button to talk to the other person outside the door. The other person can reply by pressing the talk button again.