About Niagara configuration

The final step to configure a system that combines the two controllers is to link inputs from both sides with their appropriate outputs, and set up how to report and acknowledge alarms.

Once input and output points have been discovered, links can be made between them regardless of the origin or destination of the points. For example, a door forced portal (input point from the Mercury side) could be connected to the output point that sounds a siren on the Mercury side. This is an example of a Mercury panel input driving a Mercury panel output through the station.

More significant perhaps are setting up:

  • The control of a device, such as a lighting zone, on the Niagara side based on the portal status as reported from the Mercury side.
  • The control of output devices connected to a Mercury panel, such as a siren, based on the status of a Niagara device.

Each of these configurations follow the Niagara standard procedure for connecting inputs to outputs.

A third type of configuration is unique to the Mercury driver. It involves configuring a pair of virtual points to report alarms from a control point in the Niagara station to the console on the Mercury side, and receive the acknowledgment back to the station. These points are not associated with physical I/O points in the Mercury panel or device proxy points in the station, however, there is nothing stopping you from using a physical point as a potential alarm point.