Elan Video Doorbell

[benedwardspi]

Hi,

I purchased an Elan Video Doorbell that "must" use an Elan controller hardware / software / NVR. https://elancontrolsystems.com/product/ ... ed-bronze/

I made the purchase from fleaBay on a whim because it seemed wayyy cheap and, once I received it, I'm impressed as to how solid it's made. It was described as NOS and arrived in mint condition. I have played around with it, downloaded a copy of their g! Tools and figured out the IP address, changed the IP and connected it with BI straight from my laptop and a POE injector. It works... sort of... but, no image. There's lots of features such as IR, LED backlighting around the doorbell button, etc, and the backlighting actually works to indicate "setup mode" when I've made a connection to it so, there's that. I've called Elan and Nortek resellers in my area but, of course, they treat me like a noob when I ask if I can buy a small, simple controller so I can integrate their cam into my system. The convo becomes a complete in-home sales pitch valued at $10K annnnnnnd... click.

This doorbell cam retails for way more than I paid ($100) so, it's no big loss if it never works with BI. I am in the very early stages of building a 32 cam NVR system for my house and farm and will be using various brands of cameras from the BI list - mostly for learning as I go but it would be nice to use this cam of possible. I'm new here and new to BI so I'm looking for suggestions to try. Thanks in advance!

Ben

[YrbkMgr]

First thing I would do in your shoes is this:
Follow the procedure in Step 2 ONLY in the Camera Connector - IP Config Dialog

If you have questions help is here.

[benedwardspi]

Thanks for the suggestion YrbkMgr!

I followed the instructions and was initially unable to find the camera. To provide a little more detail to the background of my efforts, ELAN's instructions provide the steps to reset the camera and then you can connect to it by setting a static IP on the PC and logging directly into it via web browser. The ELAN interface allows the networking to be setup DHCP or Static, so I set the parameters for static and tried BI again. This time, it sees the camera but cannot identify anything but an open RTSP port. Still no signal.

So, it's back to the web for research. I found a YT video that referenced a free app called ONVIF Device Manager (ODM). I downloaded it, ran it, and voila! I now have the exact path it needs to pull a live stream from. So, I went back to Step 2 of your suggestion and changed the path from https to rtsp, added the proper static IP, but BI "inspect" changes it back to https. This appears by design so, this time, I decided to skip the "inspect" step and just copy the path from ODM (because it also provides a sub-folder name where the stream should originate) into the config anddddd.... BINGO we have vid! Very exciting to say the least.

Now that I have control of the camera, I will be working on how to make the doorbell chime button work and how to change the LED color surrounding the doorbell. Thanks again for the help and, I'm all ears for suggestions on the button...

Ben

[YrbkMgr]

I had a big grin reading your post. Onvif is the most assured way to add a camera - not ODM, per se, but making the camera generic to get it connected always works. All of my cameras have P2P disabled as a security measure. Find/Inspect button scans the LAN for cameras with P2P enabled so it won't find my cameras. If you put the IP in with UN/PW, you avoid malarkey to add a camera.

On the doorbell button... a blue iris thing, or something else?

[TimG]

Now that I have control of the camera, I will be working on how to make the doorbell chime button work and how to change the LED color surrounding the doorbell. Thanks again for the help and, I'm all ears for suggestions on the button...

Good work with the video ! If all else fails with "smart" methods to use the doorbell button, you could disconnect it from the doorbell electronics, and use it as a simple switch

I've just had a look at the URL you posted. The specifications mention a relay. The "Quick start guide" states it has a door chime relay and a door strike relay. One of those should allow you to hook itinto an existing doorbell circuit.

Connecting the Door Chime Relay
The video doorbell can ring a standard door chime. Connect the positive and
negative terminals to the DB+ and DB- inputs on the terminal connector.

Will that do it ?

[benedwardspi]

Hi!

Thanks for the replies and I appreciate the help. So, to update you with what I've got going on, the doorbell cam is actually a "door station" intercom with a camera, doorbell button, customizable LED backlighting around the button, microphone, speaker, and IR lighting. So far, the camera works fine, the LED lighting illuminates cool white when connected (default color, I believe), the doorbell button plays a chime sound on the small speaker when pressed, and the IR LED's turn on and off correctly, which is controlled by a photo sensor. The LED backlighting of the doorbell button serves a few purposes: it indicates startup by scrolling through RGBY, then it should illuminate a default or customized color (however that is controlled) when all is good, or it flashes red when there is an issue, etc.

We just moved into our newly-built home a year ago, but during the prior three-year planning phases of the wiring in this house, we did not run a doorbell circuit. Everything is coax, speaker wire, and Cat6. I do see the wiring diagram in the quick start guide but, my goal is, or was, to have an electronic doorbell signal that is received by a smart device which would then activate a routine or skill. I've done a lot of reading about Savant, Control4, ELAN, Home Ass't., OpenHAB, and other IoT platforms, but haven't decided a particular route for home automation yet. Right now, I'm just learning the basics and using Alexa to control some smart bulbs, switches, and what-not until I decide which works best for us.

So, let's talk about how to figure a couple things out with this doorbell cam... as I previously mentioned, the LED ring button was steady cool white. Then, I updated BI, disconnected the camera to install it outside and encountered my first issue. The camera still works great but now the LED light ring button is flashing red. The ELAN troubleshooting info in the QuickStart guide states: "Flashing Red - No SIP connection to the System Controller." Well, of course there's no connection - I'm not using what you want me to. LOL

Lastly, there's a two-way audio option that I'd like to try and make work. When pressing the microphone button in BI, I can hear my audio through my own computer speaker, but not the doorbell cam.

Thanks for all the help!

[YrbkMgr]

Lastly, there's a two-way audio option that I'd like to try and make work. When pressing the microphone button in BI, I can hear my audio through my own computer speaker, but not the doorbell cam.

Sound and PTZ are two things that are way harder than it seems it should be. There's a couple of topics here that may be of use:

Blue Iris is using your microphone
Audio missing in web UI3?
Camera audio

And finally... an experiment... All Self Help Articles Related to Audio