What our experts say…
It is difficult to stand out from the crowd in the world of door entry systems. There is after all very little to them electronically, and the task they are asked to perform is a simple one. This kit from SRS is a robust, no-nonsense system supplied to us as a three-way variant in a vandal resistant stainless steel finish. The system is designed to give internal annunciation and allow two-way speech between the end station and each of three handsets, with the capacity to send a trigger back ‘down the line’ to release the front entry door. The kit was supplied with an SRS power supply unit, the 9007, and three handsets, and is available directly from SRS in Park Royal, London NW10, or through regional suppliers such as Gardiner Security, CSD and various electrical wholesale outlets.
An excellent five-year warranty is included and the speech panel is covered by the European CE mark for electrical compliance.
Power supply unit: The supplied 9007 PSU is a combined 12v AC/DC output unit rated at 1.0A. It has no capacity to cater for mains power failure, though SRS can supply an alternative model 5141, with standby rechargeable battery if necessary.
The 9007 PSU is compact and easy to wall mount, with a good stand-off backplate design that allows rear feeding of the mains cable and low voltage wiring, though installers will have to provide their own 20mm grommets. The PSU circuit board has two green LEDs to give status of both the AC and DC outputs (only visible by removing the front cover), together with two 1A mini glass fuses for overload protection. The PCB also contains an adjustable potentiometer timer to control the lock release changeover relay duration. By providing a clean on-board relay, the system is flexible enough to fire either AC or DC to the electric release for between three and 40 seconds.
Furthermore, the lock output can be configured as a fail secure or fail open type. The same PCB cleverly provides a tone burst output to annunciate a telephone type warble at each receiver, by firing the signal through to the handset earpiece speaker (though this only works if the handset is on the hook).
Terminals are provided on the PSU circuit board to connect a push to make egress switch, to trigger the release timer. Only three wires are needed to connect to the speaker control unit, with a fourth to feed the 0v reference voltage from the PSU to the common input of each handset. We did have some reservations about the retaining screw used to fix the plastic front cover to the steel back plate.
The plastic cover is only held in place by a single nylon screw, which we feel is not as secure as it could be. In fact there is very little to stop the top of the plastic cover being pulled open.
Speech panel: To be properly vandal resistant the back box must be chased into the mounting wall to a depth of approximately 33mm, and SRS can provide this separately for first fixing if required. The entire construction is of 3mm stainless steel, and included anti-tamper plate mounting screws together with a suitable fixing bit and interestingly, replaceable engraved name-tag inserts to personalise the system.
Our kit included ‘trade’, and a blank insert as well as ‘1’, ‘2’ and ‘3’. Other inscriptions are available from SRS. This is a good concept that allows installers a great deal of flexibility should the on-site circumstances change.
Two different rain shields were provided to protect the microphone and speaker assembly from water ingress – very necessary when flush mounted as rain water can run down the mounting wall and across the face of the entry plate.
Another thoughtful addition is the flexible plastic connection strip to secure the front plate to the backbox. This allows installers to use both hands (!) when working on the equipment in situ. The circuit board assembly is removable for replacement, as are the annunciation buttons. The whole unit is impressively weighty and has a quality feel.
Handset: The handset is a standard vertical wall mount type in cream coloured ABS plastic finish. The unit is manufactured by Bitron in Italy, and comes complete with a lock release button and two further face mounted buttons to connect to other services, such as lighting relays or an additional electric door release. They are push to make, normally open types and can be connected as required. The printed circuit board does not contain any electronic components other than the on/off hook microswitch and the three switches, though a loud internal buzzer is included on the internal circuit board as an alternative to the telephone tone created by the PSU. The phone is a very simple device with little to go wrong. The square design is very dated, and looks like entry system handsets did more than 15 years ago.
Performance: We set up the equipment using short lengths of alarm cable wiring, even though the technical advice recommends using twisted pair telephone cable. The speech quality was very good with no discernible hum or interference, and a good balance of internal/external volume levels was achievable using the twin potentiometers on the speech panel.
The equipment does not include a ‘privacy of speech’ function, so end users should be made aware that their conversations can be heard by anyone who picks up a handset. The heavy-duty stainless steel buttons had a suitably heavy duty feel, and the interchangeable engraved nametags are a good feature. Overall, we felt that the equipment was let down aesthetically by the poor handset selection.
All the information necessary for planning the installation is contained on three pages of A4 text, and a wiring diagram is shown to make clear the wiring connections. The diagram provided is comprehensive and includes connections to a time clock, egress button and an entry keypad, though the use of colour would certainly make life easier to follow the wiring ‘lines’.
The explanations are good, and include some definitions of the various functions and detailed descriptions of the options available. Troubleshooting advice is provided and the literature includes the recommendation to fit the supplied electric lock suppresser, SRS TZ. This is actually a diode fitted across the electric lock/ release terminals to prevent the accumulative damaging effects of back EMF.
What the manufacturer says …
SRS HAS BEEN MANUFACTURING AND SUPPLYING ELECTRONIC door entry and access control products to the security market since 1987. While advising customers on various door entry issues, it became evident that in many cases installers were being asked to provide an installation immediately.
Many manufacturers ask installers to wait weeks for delivery of equipment, but the innovative SRS solution means that installers can have engraved vandal resistant panels the same day. Even our distributors can deliver engraved panels from stock. This change in the way vandal resistant systems are delivered has been extremely well received by installers all over the UK.
The concept – as always with this type of innovation – is simple. Instead of engraving the door entry panel, SRS and its distributors stock a range of pre-engraved nameplates which can be fitted to the specially designed vandal resistant panels.
The installer can simply purchase from a range of door entry kits and select the required nameplates. In addition to the pre-engraved range, installers can also select blank (stainless steel) for local engraving or clear nameplates for inserting labels behind.
The door entry panels which are manufactured with the toughest BS316 marine grade stainless steel, are very competitively priced.
These kits are completely compatible with the normal SRS vandal resistant systems which feature various options including multi-entrance capability, additional sounders for the hard of hearing and special system requirements for local authority installation.
All SRS products are delivered next day with a five-year warranty and 30-day no quibble money back guarantee.
