Open a door with FreePBX

FreePBX Tips and Tricks
1

Hi all,

I’m looking for a way to open a door from FreePBX. I have a contact, coming from an electrical, basically it’s 2 wires and when I hold them together the door will open.
All I need is that I take a phone, dial a number and the door will open.

Obviously, I need some sort of interface. I could add an ATA and connect a ring-up relay to that. But it would be very nice if I could do it in another way. Another wish of mine is to be able to control multiple relays, so I call a number, the interface answers and when I press 1 relay 1 will switch, 2 for relay 2 and so on and if I press 9 all relays will switch together.

Anyone knows of such a device?

2

http://www.valcom.com/techsupport/ip_solutions/ip_intercomdoorphones.htm

3

You can purchase Algo SIP Doorphones that will do what you need. You can sign up and purchase here: http://www.schmoozecom.com/oss-signup.php

4

A couple of suggestions if you are handy with a soldering iron:

http://store.qkits.com/moreinfo.cfm/QK140

http://store.qkits.com/moreinfo.cfm/K6501

Adds more remote control than just one relay, but they are analog and you will need an ATA or other analog card/device.

5

Not the intended use for the device but:

http://rhinoequipment.com/products/138

Connect both wires in to 1 port. Then put a loop back in to the 3rd or 4th port.

USB controlled you tell it to flip ports momentarily to the loopback via AGI, Dialplan or direct API call…

6

The best way to open a door with an electric striker is to use a Viking or Bogen Door controller. They will accept either a FXO or FXS line (depending on the model). You can dial a number, the box will answer, then press a key (* or similar) and the door will buzz open.

There are several different models, but here is one that could work:

http://www.vikingelectronics.com/products/view_product.php?pid=503

You could also search for “Bogen Door Controller”