Intercom system for workshop?

[Jason White]

I'm looking for a wireless intercom system so my wife can call me in the shop from the house. My shop is in an attached garage, but I don't want her sneaking up on me when my hands are close to spinning saw blades. :rolleyes:

I see both FM and "wi-fi" types on Amazon. Anybody have one in the shop? If so, does it work well? I think something with a flashing light as well as audible signal would be good for the shop, as I often have headphones on while running loud machines.

Jason

[Chip Lindley]

Jason, don't you have a cell phone? Everybody else does! Why be redundant and spend bucks for short range wireless communication??

[Jim O'Dell]

Well, I don't have a cell phone, and I don't want one. I always know when the LOML walks into the shop. She ALWAYS turns the stereo off. Not down mind you, off. :rolleyes: Dead giveaway even with ear protection on. :p The big trick is getting her to turn it back on when she leaves. About 50/50 with out me prompting here at this point.
Otherwise, I have one of the cordless phones (note to self...left on charger last night) that has an intercom feature on it where she can call me. There is the ringer and a light on the tip of the antenna that flashes. Jim.

[Steve Mostoller]

I have a Radio Shack, FM wireless, 3 channel intercom. If i recall right i paid about $100 for the 3 unit system. I have one in my woodshop, one in my garage and one in the house. The woodshop is about 150 feet away from the house and it works great. It doesnt have a flashing light, but it does have a tone alarm.

[David DeCristoforo]

This...
http://www.thunderpowermegaphones.com/ThunderPower1000
...should do the trick. No wiring needed.

[John Coloccia]

I have some V-Tec cordless phones with handset to handset paging. Works for me.

[Don Selke]

Ditto on the cordless phones with intercom option, It works well for me.

[Dave Lehnert]

We use a set of radios like this at work. Works very well. We can go two miles away and still talk to each-other like we were right there.

http://www.amazon.com/Midland-GXT1000VP4-50-Channel-Waterproof-Rechargeable/dp/B001WMFYH4/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1269640977&sr=8-2

[Ken Fitzgerald]

We bought a set of 3 cordless phones that came with 2 remote chargers and a base station.

The phones have a built in phone to phone intercom.

Got them at Costco at a reasonable price.

[Jeff Mackay]

I thought about this in other shops I've had. For me the cordless phone option worked, but with ear protection, it was hit or miiss. In the new shop, which is under my garage (spancrete panels on the garage floor), I'm effectively working in a bomb shelter surrounded by 12" to 14" of concrete, top, bottom, and all sides. No reception from anything wireless at all--no wireless network from the house, no wireless phone, no cell phone.

I thought about hooking up a doorbell that would activate a strobe light when pressed, and even pre-wired for it, with a wire to the kitchen. But then either the drywall guys drywalled over it, or I tiled over it. So maybe a second phone line?

Jeff

[AL Ursich]

The Radio Shack wireless version operates over the electrical lines.... Any building on the 220 Volt side of the Pole Transformer will get reception. So that Bomb Shelter works shop might just work fine with the power line type.

I have the 2 channel version with lock and call button. I sometimes listen to my CarveWright machine in my Laser Shop working next door in the wood shop. It works to the house too so give it a try.

Buy one from Radio Shack. If it does not work, take it back.....sitting outside the shop door.

For guys that have a shop phone, they make a remote Ringer with strobe light on it.

Another option is a floor mat security switch hooked to a light or bell....

Radio Shack also sells a device called a Reporter. It is a Wireless IR motion detector and switch that runs on 4 AA batteries. They last a year.

The Receiver works up to 1000 ft and rings a buzzer. It has a set of contacts on the receiver that lets you wire a light to the contacts.

The receiver will receive up to 4 sensors and beep once, twice, 3 times and 4 depending on what sensor goes off. We use them on a long driveway so a 1 beep then 2 beeps = someone entering... Leaving 2, 1 beeps...

Good Luck,

AL

[Jim Rimmer]

In a previous shop I installed a wirelss doorbell. There was a window in the kitchen and the shop door. When it rang, I stepped to the window and some very basic hand signals got the message across - shoveling air food towards the mouth, a hand to the ear replicating a phone call, or the ever popular beckoning finger. Nothing else was really needed. And they're cheap.

[Bill Huber]

I use the cordless phone system, it works well and also gives be a phone when I need to call someone or someone calls me.

I do have a cell phone but I leave it in the house a lot of the time, so I don't get calls from work.

I got mine form Best Buy, they are the Uniden 5.8 GHz and cost about $50 for a base and 2 phones. I got them for the shop mainly but now I have added 3 more and do not have any other phones in the house, just cordless phones.

The sound quality is really great and they are not like they used to be when there was noise and static in them.

[Dave Sharpe]

I've used the radio shack version that transmits over electrical lines with good effect in the past. Now I use a FRC radio system - a base unit that's wall mounted in the shop, and two handhelds in chargers in the house. LOML just picks up a radio and emits a "YooHoo!" into it to get my attention.
It was originally bought as an "elder monitor" (kinda like a baby monitor, but in reverse) when my terminally ill mother lived in the house with us - she could use the base system to call for assistance when we weren't nearby. Worked so well, we re-purposed it after she passed away.

[Peter Quinn]

This...
http://www.thunderpowermegaphones.com/ThunderPower1000
...should do the trick. No wiring needed.

I love that. LMAO presently. That really ought to do it. My wife always says I don't hear what she's telling me, maybe that's whats been missing?

My shop is in the basement, so my wife practices the heal to floor technique to reach me. We go with a level of alarm from one to three heal kicks. A three heel kick says "get the heck up here the world is ending". Amazing how loud a stomping foot can be when you are below it. Sounds like the thunder of the Gods. Perhaps I could market a slip on weighted boot heal for the purpose?

Otherwise ditto on the VTEC phones. Works for more complicated communication. I like the strobe light or flashing wringer idea. Of course they only work when I am not ignoring the call.

[David Helm]

My shop is 40 feet from the house. My wife's studio/office is 60 feet in the other direction. We use the cell phones to communicate if need be.

[Myk Rian]

Attached garage shop. Wife opens door, and whistles.

[Dave Cav]

I In the new shop, which is under my garage (spancrete panels on the garage floor), I'm effectively working in a bomb shelter surrounded by 12" to 14" of concrete, top, bottom, and all sides.

Jeff


PICTURES!!! We must have pictures!

[glenn bradley]

I'll take a blinking light over any sort of sounding device that may startle me while I'm working with sharp things ;-)

[David Cefai]

I would strongly recommend NOT to use a cell phone with the vibrator activated. I find that the vibration can startle me sufficiently to jerk my fingers that little crucial distance.

[Brian W Evans]

Great post - I've been thinking about a solution to this problem for a while:

When my wife wants me to come in from my detached shop, she calls her mother, who calls back and lets the phone ring (I have an extension in the shop) until I figure out I'm supposed to answer it. When I pick up, I get to hear my MIL tell me to get my a$% in the house, and my wife is usually ticked that it took me so long to answer the phone (dust collection, air filter, and table saw + headphones are not a valid excuse). There goes all the relaxation I built up in the shop.:(

Did I mention that LOML always needs me to come in about 2 minutes after I start the glue-up?

[Jason White]

Can any of the cordless phone/intercom systems be connected to a flashing strobe light?

Jason

[Ryan Welch]

Well, I don't have a cell phone, and I don't want one. I always know when the LOML walks into the shop. She ALWAYS turns the stereo off. Not down mind you, off. :rolleyes: Dead giveaway even with ear protection on. :p The big trick is getting her to turn it back on when she leaves. About 50/50 with out me prompting here at this point.
Otherwise, I have one of the cordless phones (note to self...left on charger last night) that has an intercom feature on it where she can call me. There is the ringer and a light on the tip of the antenna that flashes. Jim.


+1 on the cordless phone. My wife intercoms me all the time (mostly for insignificant rubbish) but, it gives her a level of comfort knowing she can get a hold of me, whenever she needs to, without having to go out in the freezing cold.

[Larry Edgerton]

Almost every accident I have had in the past was triggered by being startled when concentrating 100% on what I was doing. Myself I would not want something like that that makes a noise loud enough to get my attention.

My wife knows enough to stand back out of my way, out of my sight line, until I see her or stop that particular operation. I have considered a light that is bright enough to notice, but not a flashing light that would alarm.

I have a sign on my door that tells people "NOT" to get my attention until I stop what I am doing.

[Rich Aldrich]

Unfortunately, cell phones don't work at my house... or maybe that is fortunate. Wireless phones dont work because of the metal pole building and 150 ft distance. Maybe it would work if I had a base in the shop.

I have the radio shack intercom. It works great when I am assembling or at least not running the DC and other equipment.

I dont hear it if I am running equipment and havent found a way to hook a strobe light to it. I normally just get my butt chewed when my wife has to walk out and get my attention.

[David Cefai]

There is no reason why you cannot hook a self-powered strobe in parallel with the ringer, assuming that you can get into the phone.

A good electronics shop should be able to sell you something suitable.

[Lex Boegen]

Just get a wireless doorbell at the BORG. Instead of (or in addition to) the bell, you can get a flashing light. They make that add-on for deaf people to know when someone's pressing the doorbell button. It's simple to install and fairly inexpensive.

[james bell]

my shop is 500' from the house, so the cordless phones don't work that far. i have looked and looked for similar multi-phone systems which require you to connect each phone to a phone jack, but they don't seem to make them.

looked at some of the fm systems, but finally went with the cell phone solution - if she wants me, she turns on a cell phone (we mainly use them when we travel) and calls the house number so I don't have to carry a cell phone while in the shop. glad to know other people have similar problems!

[Matt Meiser]

My shop is about 120' from the house (actually measured the other day rather than guessing as I have for 6 years) and a DECT 6.0 phone is on the ragged edge of working. If it wasn't for the fact that it once in a while doesn't work it would be an acceptable solution. I'm either going to run wire out to take both phone lines we have out there or going to a VOIP solution over the wireless network connection I already have out to there sometime this summer. Then my wife can actually call me out there by calling my office line from the home line. The office line has Caller ID so I can ignore it if its an after hours work call ;)

[Lex Boegen]

Can any of the cordless phone/intercom systems be connected to a flashing strobe light?

Jason

There are flashing light phone ringers made for deaf people, and they connect directly to the phone line, so there is no modification needed on the phone itself. If you change phones later on, you can still use the "ringer". This (http://www.smarthome.com/5232/Amplified-Telephone-Ringer-with-Strobe-Light-Alert/p.aspx) is just one example of such a device. You plug it into a phone jack. If you don't have a jack in your workshop, it's fairly simple to add one. I added one in my utility room by running some Cat5e cable. It's a two-wire connection, so you'll have three unused pairs left over in the Cat5e cable.

[Chip Lindley]

I am used to my cell vibrating and ringing in the bib of my overalls! It is not a startling thing. It just alerts me!

It's handy and Nationwide long-distance is paid for. I have any number I need stored, and can call out, or take calls without crossing the messy, congested confines of my shop to where I might have last laid a cordless phone. It works outside too; anywhere on my place.

To each their own, with the bells and whistles and flashing strobes, but buying extra, redundant paraphenalia is not in my constitution. Even our land-line phone is just about useless these days. I know when it rings, it is telemarketer! Anyone meaningful has my cell number.

[James Combs]

I have a Radio Shack, FM wireless, 3 channel intercom. If i recall right i paid about $100 for the 3 unit system. I have one in my woodshop, one in my garage and one in the house. The woodshop is about 150 feet away from the house and it works great. It doesnt have a flashing light, but it does have a tone alarm.

This sounds almost identical to what I use except my brand is a Chamberlain. I think it was about $100 online probably Amazon. If the LOML calls me to lunch she just presses a button on her set and announces "Lunch is ready". I here a loud tone and then her voice. I press my button to acknowledge that I heard her or tell here I'll be a few minutes. Have never missed hearing her even with ear protection on. Range is quoted at 1000ft. My shop is about 130ft away from the house. It runs on 4 dbl "A"s or a 9volt adaptor (don't ask me why not a 6 volt just telling you what the manual says) which is not supplied.

[James Combs]

I have a Radio Shack, FM wireless, 3 channel intercom. If i recall right i paid about $100 for the 3 unit system. I have one in my woodshop, one in my garage and one in the house. The woodshop is about 150 feet away from the house and it works great. It doesnt have a flashing light, but it does have a tone alarm.

This sounds almost identical to what I use except my brand is a Chamberlain. I think it was about $100 online probably Amazon. If the LOML calls me to lunch she just presses a button on her set and announces "Lunch is ready". I hear a loud tone and then her voice. I press my button to acknowledge that I heard her or tell here I'll be a few minutes. Have never missed hearing her even with ear protection on. Range is quoted at 1000ft. My shop is about 130ft away from the house. It runs on 4 dbl "A"s or a 9volt adaptor (don't ask me why not a 6 volt just telling you what the manual says) which is not supplied.

[Lee Schierer]

My shop is attached to the house (used to be a two car garage). My wife just comes to the window in the shop door and waits until I'm not engaged in cutting something, opens the door and speaks to me. It has worked like a charm so far. She benefits from the woodworking so she is patient when I am in the middle of a glue up and whatever she wants has to wait a few minutes.

Yes she has two sisters, but both are married. :D

When my Dad was alive he had a shop and He and my Mom used an intercom system that worked through the AC wiring. As far as I know it worked well.

[Jason White]

Thanks, but I'd prefer a "wireless" solution that doesn't require a hard-wired phone jack in my shop (or a second phone line).

Jason


There are flashing light phone ringers made for deaf people, and they connect directly to the phone line, so there is no modification needed on the phone itself. If you change phones later on, you can still use the "ringer". This (http://www.smarthome.com/5232/Amplified-Telephone-Ringer-with-Strobe-Light-Alert/p.aspx) is just one example of such a device. You plug it into a phone jack. If you don't have a jack in your workshop, it's fairly simple to add one. I added one in my utility room by running some Cat5e cable. It's a two-wire connection, so you'll have three unused pairs left over in the Cat5e cable.