I had a customer send me these pictures today, and I have never seen one of these before. I didn't know there was a camera in this intercom, but apparently there is and it has stopped working. I can't get out to the site until next week to take a closer look and wanted to see if anyone recognizes it so I can print manuals, check costs, and all that good stuff before heading out there.
Is the camera pinholed to look out the holes in the front grille?
Yes, it is just a pinhole lookingout through the intercomholes. You would never know it's there. I havent seen anythinglike it, and dont know who made it. The facility is a two plus hour drive away, so I was hoping to be able to get some homework done as far as what it is,how it works, etc before driving out to the site.
Just looking at it, I cannot tell you what it is.
The good news, it looks like it uses 4-wire analog to send data back to the master station, so troubleshooting should be simplified. Check continuity of the cabling first, and that should tell you if the cable is the problem or if the devices at the ends are.
Do you know if elements are still working (ie: no video but audio), or is the whole thing dead?
Board cameras like the one in the door unit can be pretty cheap and go bad sooner than the rest of the device.
From what I was told the camera is appearing washed in dark red, to the point that it is really hard to make anything out. I am thinking the actual image sensor in the camera is going out and will need to be replaced. I am hoping to avoid having to buy a random pinhole camera to look through the intercom plate, because I am guessing there is pretty much no room in there for anything but the actual device it was manufactured for.
do you know what the dimensions of the gold face plate are?
when was this device installed?
I think the plate probably mounts over a 4 square box, and it was probably installed in the early 2000's. It's a client that i have done other work for, but I hadnt noticed these because those cameras are hidden very very well. The 4s box guess is somewhere between a well educated guess and a complete shot in the dark.
We didnt do any of the install work on this, we took over maintenance from another integrator for the whole facility, and there have been quite a few surprises.
Send the photo to Valcom?
/Crossfingers
Does the answering handset not have a brand name on it either?
Most of the intercom system is Secure-tech (now eTech, but still at www.secure-tech.com). I checked their website though, and couldnt find anything about intercoms with cameras. There isn't a handset at the headend, it is a secure-tech master station amplifier PCB with a microphone plugged in to the jack.
one word: UPGRADE
Looks a whole lot like a board camera from Supercircuits. I agree it looks like handmade item
Thanks, I am not familiar with Supercircuits and knowing that will help a ton in getting this thing replaced. It's in a gov building that is already planning to be replaced with a new building in the next couple of years, so they really dont want to upgrade much. i am just trying to keep the place running until then.
Judging by the first picture, I would say "this intercom is broken"...
I made it out to inspect the intercom and camera, it was definitely a custom job. the pinhole camera was just glued in to that black bracket behind the intercom faceplate. I wasnt able to get a brand off of it, but it looks like any camera small enough to fit in the space should be ok.
Any suggestions for an analog pinhole camera that works on 12VDC and has screw terminals for power and video connections?
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