Controlling Door Access

SOLVED
JamesB1
Conversationalist

Controlling Door Access

Hi,

Just wondering if anyone has any recommendations for controlling door access.  Here is what we would like to do:

 

  1. Visitor arrives at main entrance of school and pushes “doorbell”
  2. This signals office Admin.
  3. Admin  is able to view with the visitor through Meraki camera, as well as, engage through mic/speaker.
  4. When Admin determines visitor can be admitted to building, a button or control is pushed by Admin to release door.

We currently are using Meraki cameras and would like to use them to help with this.

 

Thanks

Jim

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION
Bruce
Kind of a big deal

Hi @JamesB1, I’ve done this many times in the past, although with Cisco UC Manager, not Meraki. There are a lot of analogue and SIP devices out there which do this from a audio and release point of view - I.e.the user pushes a button, the unit makes a call, the called party answers, conversation happens, the called party uses DTMF to signal the electronic latch to release. 

I’m sure you could do it with Meraki, but you’re going to be in for a lot of hard work. I’d look at options to integrate with whatever phone system you have, and the see how you can integrate the Meraki MV to that. Maybe the phone system has an API so that when the door phone makes the call you can take a snapshot from the Meraki camera and post it to an interface somewhere, e.g. Webex Teams.

 

There are a lot of parts to this outside of Meraki. Yes the camera could potentially be your voice and video, but you also need something to alert that someone wants to come in (button), a speaker to talk to the ‘someone’, and the door latch release, and at the other end you need a microphone to speak, a button to release the door, and instructions on how to access the Meraki video and microphone.

 

I think the easier path is a door phone integrated with a phone system, and if you can get one with an API then you might be able to use to integrate with the Meraki MV through the API.

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2 REPLIES 2
Bruce
Kind of a big deal

Hi @JamesB1, I’ve done this many times in the past, although with Cisco UC Manager, not Meraki. There are a lot of analogue and SIP devices out there which do this from a audio and release point of view - I.e.the user pushes a button, the unit makes a call, the called party answers, conversation happens, the called party uses DTMF to signal the electronic latch to release. 

I’m sure you could do it with Meraki, but you’re going to be in for a lot of hard work. I’d look at options to integrate with whatever phone system you have, and the see how you can integrate the Meraki MV to that. Maybe the phone system has an API so that when the door phone makes the call you can take a snapshot from the Meraki camera and post it to an interface somewhere, e.g. Webex Teams.

 

There are a lot of parts to this outside of Meraki. Yes the camera could potentially be your voice and video, but you also need something to alert that someone wants to come in (button), a speaker to talk to the ‘someone’, and the door latch release, and at the other end you need a microphone to speak, a button to release the door, and instructions on how to access the Meraki video and microphone.

 

I think the easier path is a door phone integrated with a phone system, and if you can get one with an API then you might be able to use to integrate with the Meraki MV through the API.

JamesB1
Conversationalist

Thanks Bruce for your honest response!  I was hoping for the magic bullet to solve all.  🙂

 

Have a great day!

 

Jim

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