Planning Your Mercury Deployment

Before adding Mercury controllers to the Alocity Control Center, gather the information below. What you need depends on whether you're connecting an existing Mercury system or installing a new one.

Note: Alocity updates controller firmware automatically. If a board is locked or has unknown settings, factory default it first: see Factory Defaulting a Mercury Controller.

Option A: Existing Mercury System

If you're moving an existing Mercury installation to Alocity, document the following:

1. Hardware and physical I/O. Record every wired point on each board:
   • Doors and card readers
   • Request to exit (REX) devices
   • Door position switches (door contacts)
   • Auxiliary inputs and outputs
2. Schedules and access groups.
   • Active access schedules (days and times)
   • Which user groups have access to which doors or areas
3. Controller details.
   • Serial number and MAC address of every main controller (MP1502, LP4502 and so on)
   • Each main controller's IP address, and its username and password if they've been changed from the default
   • Sub-panels: MAC addresses and serial numbers aren't needed, but record each board's DIP switch address
4. Future expansion. If you'll add doors later, account for the extra board capacity now. If not, continue to Adding a Mercury Controller to Alocity.

Note: Users, groups and schedules from an existing system are currently rebuilt in Alocity rather than imported, so keep this documentation handy. An import option is in development.

Option B: New Mercury System

For a new deployment, work with your licensed installer to establish:

1. Site scope and lock types.
   • Door count: the total number of doors to manage
   • Lock hardware: electric strike, magnetic lock, motorized/smart lock, or general relay outputs such as sirens
   • Power-failure behavior: which doors must be fail-safe (unlocked without power) and which must be fail-secure (locked without power)
2. Access matrix and schedules. Prepare a spreadsheet (Excel or CSV) with:
   • The list of users
   • Each user's access groups
   • Door unlock schedules (days and time windows)
3. Controller details.
   • Serial number and MAC address of each main controller
   • Each main controller's IP address, and its username and password if they've been changed from the default
   • Sub-panels: set and record the DIP switch address on each board
4. Future expansion. Decide whether to reserve board space and addresses for future doors.

Next Steps

Once your information is ready, check Mercury Intelligent Controller Network Requirements, install the hardware (Installing Mercury Hardware), then add your controller (Adding a Mercury Controller to Alocity).

For questions or assistance, please contact your account manager or email support@alocity.com.