On Tuesday, July 21 at 1:00 PM ET, I’ll be joined by Jeremy Fromm for an open discussion on cybersecurity best practices for modern access control systems.
We’ll be taking your questions on topics including:
• Mercury controllers and secure system architecture
• HID readers and secure communications
• Credential technologies
• Mobile Access and Mobile Wallet credentials
• OSDP Secure Channel
• AES encryption
• TLS and secure network communications
• Modernizing legacy access control systems
• Physical security and cybersecurity convergence
Whether you’re an end user, consultant, systems integrator, architect, or security professional, this is your opportunity to ask technical questions, discuss real-world deployment challenges, and explore current best practices for building a secure, modern access control environment.
We’ll also be happy to answer other questions related to HID’s access control portfolio.
We’re looking forward to a great discussion.
📅 Tuesday, July 21, 2026
🕐 1:00 PM ET

Thank you to everyone who joined us today, asked questions, followed along, or simply stopped by to read the discussion.
Jeremy and I covered a lot of ground, including OSDP Transparent Mode, the differences between Mercury LP and MP controllers, embedded applications at the edge, modernizing legacy systems, app-based versus wallet-based mobile badges, deployment planning, and what happens when phones, networks, or services are unavailable.
The biggest takeaway is that modernization does not have to be an all-or-nothing decision. Whether you are upgrading panels, enabling secure reader communications, introducing Mobile Access, or building a longer-term cybersecurity strategy, the best approach starts with understanding what you already have and where the real risks and operational gaps exist.
A special thank-you to Jeremy, u/TheMercuryMinute, for joining me and sharing his expertise, and to the r/accesscontrol community and moderators for giving us the opportunity to have this conversation.
We are wrapping up the live portion of the AMA, but feel free to continue leaving questions. We will check back and answer what we can.
Our weekly digital break room for sharing the worst field nightmares you’ve ever encountered. Got a photo of a questionable install, or a fun horror story from a job site? Drop it in the comments below and let's see 'em!
Just remember to blur out any company names or locations before posting.
I have plenty of power to use inside this thing. However, there is no posts to mount a Brivo PSB that uses a 4 wire connection to provide power the ACS6100DB door boards. Can I power these door boards from the altronix power supplies inside the enclosure? The 4 posts are +12v, GND, POWER DET, Earth Ground. Has anyone tried to power these with anything but the PSB?
My controller is throwing a code 91 during open AND close, even with the gate arm disconnected from the unit. The unit is a little over a year old. Some steps I’ve already taken:
-Power cycled by disconnecting AC and battery
-used multimeter to check AC and battery, both check out
-reset limits while under load and not under load
-checked wiring, reseated connections
-checked for any signs of undue load on the motor, no noise, vibration, nothing
-replaced APE, which oddly had it working fine for about 8 hours
-ordered new battery just in case, not arrived/installed yet
We had a KT-400 slave controller go belly up on us. We replaced the controller and updated the serial number under that controller in EntraPass, however it still isn't seen/communicating. Are there any other steps that we may have missed?
300 doors across 65 offices, currently using Alarm.com with decent success, the fees and lack of certian reporting features have me looking elsewhere. The system functions fine but Audit nailed us on historical reporting, you basically have 3 months to pull past data, you also cant tell when someone was paused, expired access or deleted clearly. Id also like to see if i can reduce the fees as our yearly costs are $100k+
Edited to answer some quesitons
Intrusion systems are about $680 ea and Access Control doors are just shy of $200 ea per year.
Had Johnson controls with winpak before and hated Johnson controls service, quality of work was crap and time to get someone out there was rediculous, for new installs it was months.
Mercury boards are ideal as we already have them.
Alarmdotcom function is fine, their reporting and support are sub par, they have improved and really went from a home system to enterprise system in the last 5 years that we have had them. They cant provide data from multiple years ago, and much of the configuration in the system has to be done at office level and not enterprise level. Also....... i learned a couple of years ago.... no backup so if you make a change that tanks the system.... your going to rebuild.
We have two Liftmaster Slide Open gates at my work which have been having issues for the last few months. The main control board appears to me to be the LiftMaster Main Control Board (DC Pad-Mount, UL325) | LIF-K1D8389-1CCMC.
We will call the first gate the East Gate, and the second gate the West Gate. The East gate is opened with a hold open code at the keypad in the morning. It forces the trucks to enter the East gate. The West gate is always closed and opens via the ground loop when the trucks drive up to the gate.
For the last few months the East gate will not close with the code. We've had a gate technician out probably 7 or 8 times. He told me initially that the control board was giving 3 codes that typically are not given which signified a dead or fried board. We paid to replace the board, it fixed the issues for a few weeks and then they started up again. He came back out and checked it out, called Liftmaster and they said the board was giving an undervoltage code. There are two motors per entrance, and each motor has it's own dedicated 120v 20amp power.
The Tech showed me how to reset the board by pulling the Safety Eye wires and the Wireless edge, Push the Set Open/Set Close buttons together, the other side of the gate sounds an alarm, after that alarm I press both Set Open/Set Close buttons again, wait a little and plug the eye and wireless edge sensors back in. The gate will then close by code again and sometimes will function for a week, sometimes will function for a day before I need to do the whole process again. The tech seems dumbfounded by the issue and says he's never seen this before.
I've been trying to understand what is happening on the days that the issue arises. My first thought is that we received 4 brand new cherry picker forklifts and installed 4 new chargers. However these charges replaced older forklift chargers and appear to be more efficient. They are also 480v and only pull 4 amps each. The 120v panel that powers the gate is fed by the 480v panel through a transformer. I'm told that because there is a transformer between the panels that a surge will not affect the 120v panel. I also installed Ditek Inline Surge Protectors for each leg feeding the motors. Not sure if this worked or did anything, but the gates functioned for a week before having issues again.
Another thing I thought about is the heat wave we've been having this summer. We are located in southern California and it has been hotter than normal. The problem does seem to happen on the hottest days (motor/control board housing is in direct sun most of the day), but yesterday was a relatively cool day and the gate needed to be reset again. So I'm not sure if heat is the cause of the issue.
I mentioned the West gate earlier, that gate just recently started to not close behind exiting trucks, however, after resetting it will function for several weeks. I've had to maybe reset that gate 3 times in the last two months where the West gate needs to be reset about every other day. The West gate is powered by a completely different 120v panel.
I'm at my wits end, and don't want to throw another $1,500 per gate to replace the control board if that didn't work before. I'm reaching out to the knowledgeable people of Reddit to see if anyone has any experience or troubleshooting tips to figure out this issue.
Door on LK-2 going to CX33 but when jumpered external on board controller say "Power lock failure" but door works but on internal error goes away but door doesnt unlock on swipe. Looking to fix this issue but I dont have access to programming. Randomly getting communication error on controller as well. 1K resistors on all unused lock outputs. Can I use an external relay and how would I wire it. Learning still
I both work for a locksmith and volunteer at a local church. The church asked me if I could get them a quote to add this door to the ICT access system I put in for them a few years ago.
My issue is that I am not familiar with this part of systems as my bosses are not great teachers. I know they hate electrified push bars so they won’t help me part one out and I don’t think it’s appropriate to put a strike in the other door as there is not a lot of room on it and it’s not the most sturdy.
Also with the door not being flat I don’t know if a bar like a vonduprin 99 series would work.
Any guidance would be much appreciated.
P.S. while typing this up I had the consideration there is a window in the middle and would not be able to drill through the door to get a wire to the latch end. Maybe I should stick with security systems lol 😵💫
First time installing an electric strike on a wood frame. Think it turned out pretty well. Adams Rite 7440 with 1 7/8” lip extension. Still have to swap out the lever.
Just moved into a new house and guessing this unit been here for a good min, had trouble getting a signal from the remote sometimes since moving in the past month but stopped responding last night after one last opening and decided to take a look this morning.
Unable to find any identifying markings and the label on the outside cover is sun faded and has viking access systems badge.
The radio rec. clicks when pressing the remote. But neither that or the open/close buttons do anything.
Taking a closer inspection, it seems that the capacitors might have crapped the bucket possibly? (Pic 4)
Update: after trying all suggestions, went inside to grab the lucky hard reset hammer along with the tool box to inspect the wires and low and behold, it started working..
Update 2: it failed again, Reopen loop light stayed on. Unplugged the loop connector and still no go. Walked inside and light turned off and remote functioned fine. Honestly have no idea what is going on with this board. Not buying another Viking unit thats for sure.
so... all our our other sites with access control have outward opening with Push Bars, but i have 2 sites I'd like to add access control too that have inward opening doors with deadbolts...
For the door without a door knob (double door) i was thinking of just changing the deadbolt to a knob, and using a regular strike...
I guess for the doors with door knobs already, i could remove the deadbolt and change the knob to a keyed version...
I have a single door access control system - currently using Lenel S2 / Elements Secure Cloud system.
This was setup by a security company who has since gone out of business and now honeywell is requiring we go with another security company who we dont know / dont want to use OR ELSE they will disable our system.
I know this is a mercury board and most of what we have is likely re-useable for another option. My only requirements are:
- cloud based or easily changeable access (users)
- mobile devices vs access cards for door access
what are my options for a non-subscription based system which can drive this door access system? I am able to figure my way through this, but the simpler the better - dont need anything super complicated.
So the customer wants to remove all the ADA push plates from the exterior of the building and utilize the badge readers as the sole form of ADA ingress. I can achieve this by having the strike hooked up to relay 1 (Relay type: strike) on my controller, and land my automatic door opener trigger on relay 2 (Relay type: Card Read).
When set up this way I achieve a locked strike and a non-triggered opener until a badge is presented then strike unlocks and auto opener triggers. When on a schedule, the strike unlocks but the auto opener is not triggered until a badge is presented. This is exactly how I want it to work except with one major flaw.
The issue with this is that the relay type: “card read” is any access card presented whether valid or not. There is no “access granted” relay type that can be selected in Salto Space.
So what programming witchcraft can I perform to bypass this issue?
I’ve tried creating an alarm output that triggers relay 2 to fire when the audit log registers a positive badge read for the door but the issue is that when on schedule, the audit log is bypassed and does not receive any logs from the door.
Am I looking at the predicament wrong and there’s a simpler solution that I am completely missing? Help!
Does anyone have experience taking over a software house system to genetec with mercury hardware? It looks like the software house boards have multiple rs485 chains. Genetec needs one chain in series.
Looking to read passive RFID tags in Genetec, think loss prevention, high-value assets tags etc. Effectively have an antenna reading what’s there; detection is an event, when tag leaves the field, that’s an event, check to see which RFID tags are present at any given time (like occupancy).
Newer technician here so just trying to gather some insight and advice if I could do anything better. Customer had 2 doors with issues. 1 being the REX not working and showing open while locked. The other not having a DPS, which they wanted. We got lucky and found a pair to the outside keypad that was free, ran a contact for it, etc etc and got it integrated. The second one, was a wiring configuration within the actual panel which corrected the REX and electric strike problem.
I ended up putting a tracer on my pair and then was able to find them at the JB next to the panel. I also capped both wires and checked for resistance on the other side and was getting a steady reading. The other door, it seems the installer swapped the wires with the REX and the Door CNCT. We were able to get both going.
I’m still pretty new to this and just looking for advice or any recommendations. Any other way you would troubleshoot ? Steps to take ? Things like that. Much appreciated for anything, hope every one has a great weekend !
When working on a door setup and need to modify a strike plate by cutting down the black section/lip to clear an astragal.
For those who have run into this before, what’s your go-to method or tool for getting a clean finish without messing up the edge or plating? Are you using a Dremel with a cutoff wheel, angle grinder, or something else?
I typically work with RCI strike (7114 or S65U)
Appreciate any tips or insights on what’s worked best for you!
I have about 1950 feet of yellow banana access cable plenum rated. I’ve had it stored away for a few years and thinking about selling it. What is fair market price per foot for something like this?