Currently I have an old Nutone Intercom System IMA-4406 with intercom units in each of my 6 bedrooms and the main unit in my grand room.
It’s old and doesn’t work well anymore. The CD player doesn’t play, the intercom units can’t call back… It’s on it’s last leg. It’s time for an upgrade.
So given the Cyber Monday deals, here is my plan. I plan to buy the $40 echo show 5 deals for each bedroom, along with flush mounts and PoE adapters, and install that in each room running back to a PoE switch in the wall box where the Nutone controller currently lives.
I’ll be reusing the existing IW6 cabling, which is 3 twisted-pair, similar to Cat-5e, but only 3 pairs instead of 4, so this can easily be terminated into an RJ45.
To control the system, I would install one of the new Echo Hub devices flush mounted.
My Ring doorbell is currently integrated with the Nutone Intercom. So once I pull it out, I will need to get a new doorbell transformer/chime unit. That doesn’t have to live in the wall box, but since the doorbell is currently there, it’s in the drawing.
So help me out… Poke holes in my plan. My biggest concern is the IW6 cabling. It’s 22 gauge vs 24/26 that ethernet cabling typically is, and I don’t know what it’s rated for concerning heat. I’m hoping the PoE+ wouldn’t cause any overheating, but I really just don’t know and from what I can tell that’s the biggest concern I have. There’s no way I can run new cabling, so I’m working with what I’ve got.
UPDATE - so before checking out on amazon I realized the wall mount I was going to use for the echo show 5’s is only for 1st and 2nd gen echo show 5’s… Not the 3rd gen, which is what is currently on sale on amazon for $40 each.
This kind of kills my plan because the 2nd gen is twice the cost per unit, plus it’s the older model which means EOL sooner.
Back to the drawing board?