What our experts say …
Another video entry kit – just what the world needs, you might say. You may also ask yourself: What do we actually want from any new security industry product?
Well, pretty much the same as every other new product in every other industry – a more interesting, exciting design with more features for a better price. Enter stage left – the Elvox Videokit. Is it up to the task?
The system is a conventional single button kit, designed to give internal annunciation and allow two way speech between the end station and the internal monitor, together with an integral video display and the capacity to send a trigger back ‘down the line’ to release the front entry door.
The supplied kit was pre-packaged and comprised the three necessary parts, including an Elvox power supply unit, the 6680/240v, and is available through regional suppliers such as Raytel Security, Safelink Services, and various electrical wholesale outlets.
Power supply unit
The supplied 6680 PSU is a combined 12v AC/DC output device with two rotary switches to control the lock release duration and video activation timers, plus a third for the speech volume level. A single glass fuse rated at 3.15A is also located on the face of the unit, and in common with most PSUs of this type, there is no rechargeable battery to cater for mains power failure.
The 6680 PSU is compact and easy to wall mount, either using a DIN rail (that was not supplied) or directly to the fixing surface using the supplied screws and plugs. Though the control cabling can not be back-fed into the unit, it is possible to conceal the wiring under the terminal cover plate.
There is not a great deal of room in there for spare cores, but it can be done. There is a similar small cover plate to conceal the mains input cable, though no provision to secure the mains cable for safety.
Cabling requirements
In addition to a coaxial cable of RG59 specification or equivalent, installers will need to provide a 12 core cable from the front door station to the PSU to fulfil all the functions of speech, power and switching. The cabling requirement from the PSU to the colour video monitor is slightly less – an eight core alarm type cable together with a coaxial cable will be sufficient. In fact for the purposes of this test, we used intruder alarm cable for the video signal instead of the traditional shielded coax, which worked perfectly well over a short distance in an environment with little or no RF interference. NB: This is definitely not recommended practice in a new installation, but it is worth knowing the equipment will tolerate incorrect conductors up to a point without any noticeable degradation of the video image.
External panel
The front door panel is constructed from a brushed silver metal finish (probably aluminium but difficult to be precise in the absence of a manufacturer’s specification) and was supplied in a slim, surface mount variant with black plastic back plate. It is not especially attractive compared to some entry panels, neither is it vandal resistant, though it does look sufficiently robust for everyday use. An IP rating was not supplied by the manufacturer, and though the unit looks relatively water resistant, the absence of a rain hood means the unit would be best sited in a sheltered environment to prevent water ingress.
The thickness of the panel is approximately 40mm when the front cover is secured in place with the security bolt, and a suitable locking tool is provided (don’t lose it) to gain access to the internal terminal connections and camera.
The only serviceable internal part is the camera lens that (cleverly) can be aligned to pan and tilt to a limited degree – giving good flexibility when locating the unit. The actual camera/audio module is contained within a plastic shroud, and is easily removable for installation or replacement.
To allow the colour camera to operate in low light conditions, Elvox have included six bright white LEDs that activate through a diffraction lens upon pressing the call button. They effectively illuminate the subject matter and even in total darkness provide a usable, though slightly grainy video image.
Although the front panel is not of the highest aesthetic appeal, some thought has gone into the design to help both installers and users.
Monitor/audio receiver
To accommodate the device, a dedicated back box is provided and needs to be flushed into the mounting material to a depth of approximately 60 mm. The internal monitor is a flush mounted, hands-free speech unit in a silver plastic finish with controls for volume and brightness as well as lock release, call tone level and auxiliary switches for additional locks or illumination.
It also includes a useful, tilting LCD screen that can be inclined up or down by about 15 degrees to the horizontal, to accommodate users of all heights from children through to taller adults. The LCD screen, measuring 4 inches diagonally, furthermore has a hard plastic cover to prevent finger damage to the display. Despite this good feature, the brushed silver finish and plastic buttons have a cheap clicky feel, and the visual design is overcrowded with logos and funny shaped buttons. Overall the look is too busy and unattractive, in this reviewer’s opinion.
Performance
We set up the equipment using short lengths of alarm cable wiring, even though the technical advice recommends the use of coaxial type cable for the video signal. The speech quality was decent with no discernible hum or interference, and a reasonable balance of internal/external volume levels was achievable using the single potentiometer on the PSU.
Beware, though, of siting the internal monitor too close to the front door panel, as the open circuit nature of the product means a feedback loop is created very quickly when the door is opened. Not a pleasant noise.
The video image is of good quality, because a reasonable amount of tweaking is available to installers to adjust colour saturation and brightness, together with the users’ ability to tilt the screen according to viewing height.
Technical literature and back up
Elvox are an Italian manufacturer and do not operate in the UK, distributing their products through selected outlets, so installers will have to call their distributor for tech support. We made a call to a London outlet and although an engineer was not available at that time, we were able to get technical information subsequently from a polite and well informed technician.
Elvox market their products in at least six different European countries and, needless to say, the installation manuals reflect this. The technical instructions are supplied in an A4 sized, 40 page book with 31 pages(!) of different wiring diagrams for every possible permutation of every Elvox product, old and new. All the information is there, with lots of illustrations, descriptions, explanations and troubleshooting advice. In Italian. Do you speak Italian? No, neither do we, so we were forced to go to the trouble of calling the supplier who, some hours later, emailed a pdf file containing the correct wiring diagram.
Well, that was what we asked for – what he actually sent was the entire 40 page book with 31 pages of wiring diagrams. This time it was in English, thankfully, but still took a good while to wade through the book to find the correct information.
Note to Elvox : Would it be possible to include only English language information in UK distributed products? It may add slightly to your printing costs but that would surely be outweighed by increased customer satisfaction. Furthermore, why include 30 wiring diagrams and superfluous technical information regarding products that are not included in the kit? Keep it product-specific, and keep it in English. Thank you.