Mercury Sentry User manual

Sentry
Sentry I.S. Card Reader
User Manual

2017r0 Page 2 of 35 Sentry IS Card Reader User Manual
The following instructions relevant to safe use in a hazardous area apply to equipment covered by
certificate numbers Sira 99ATEX2138X.
1. The certification marking is as follows:
Instructions Specific to Hazardous Area Installations
2. The equipment may be used in zones 0, 1 & 2 with flammable gases and vapours with apparatus groups IIA,
IIB & IIC and with temperature classes T1, T2, T3, T4.
3. The equipment may be used in zones 21 & 22 with flammable dusts, fibres and flyings in groups IIIA, IIB
and IIC, and temperature T85°C.
4. The equipment is only certified for use in ambient temperatures in the range 40ºC to +60ºC and should not
be used outside this range.
5. Installation shall be carried out in accordance with the applicable code of practice by suitablytrained
personnel.
6. There are no special checking or maintenance conditions other than a periodic check.
7. With regard to explosion safety, it is not necessary to check for correct operation.
8. The equipment contains no userreplaceable parts and is not intended to be repaired by the user. Repair of
the equipment is to be carried out by the manufacturer, or their approved agents, in accordance with the
applicable code of practice.
9. Repair of this equipment shall be carried out in accordance with the applicable code of practice
10. If the equipment is likely to come into contact with aggressive substances, e.g. acidic liquids or gases that
may attack metals or solvents that may affect polymeric materials, then it is the responsibility of the user to
take suitable precautions that prevent it from being adversely affected thus ensuring that the type of
protection is not compromised.
11. The certificate number has an ‘X’suffix which indicates that special conditions of installation and use apply.
Those installing or inspecting this equipment must have access to the contents of the certificate or these
instructions. The conditions listed in the certificate are reproduced below:
(i) Glass Fibre Reinforced Plastic (GRP) enclosure and parts of the aluminum enclosure are nonconducting and
may generate an ignitioncapable level of static under certain extreme conditions. The user should ensure
that the equipment is not installed in a location where it may be subjected to external conditions (such as
highpressure steam) which might cause a buildup of static on nonconducting surfaces. Additionally,
cleaning of the equipment should be done only with a damp cloth.
(ii) As painted aluminium is used at the accessible surface of this equipment, in the event of rare incidents,
ignition sources due to impact and friction sparks could occur. This shall be considered when the Sentry
Cardreader is being installed in locations that specifically require group II, category 1G equipment.

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Contact
Mercury HMI Ltd
George House
Derwent Road
Malton
North Yorkshire
YO17 6YB
UK
Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Email: [email protected]
Web www.mercuryHMI.co.uk
All trademarks are acknowledged as the property of their respective owners.
This document shall not form part of any contract. Specifications are subject to change without notice,
and Mercury HMI Ltd accepts no liability of any kind for errors or omissions.

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Rev Date Changes
1.0 Original Release
1.1 Mercury IMC Version
2.0 27 Jul 09 Substantial revision of the manual for Wiegand O/P Mode, R507 barrier and
Modbus enhancements
2.1 6 Oct 09 All drawings redrawn
2.2 2 Dec 10 The Digital Output driving page 17 has been revised. Table boundaries
made finite thickness to help PDF printing
Extra reader type added
Config string updated
Links show Mercury HMI Limited & logo. Certificate checked.
2.3 18 Mar 11 Added Special conditions of use
2014r0 11 Nov 14 Substantial revision of the manual
Added GRP case information
Added LED cable orientation
Fixed Modbus coils
2015r0 1 Jul 15 Add Wiegand Output mode wiring diagram for Pepperl & Fuchs barriers
2016r0 29 Jul 16 Added Specific Conditions of use for Variation 5, including Dust to match
Issue 7 of the Sira 99ATEX2138X certificate
2017r0 7 Mar 17 Minor updates
Revision History

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Contents
Introduction........................................................................................................................6
System Overview.................................................................................................................6
Power / Comms Options......................................................................................................6
Base Unit............................................................................................................................. 6
Reader Types....................................................................................................................... 7
Enclosure Material...............................................................................................................7
Certification Standard...................................................................................................... 8
Installation..........................................................................................................................9
Overview............................................................................................................................. 9
Mounting the Sentry Card Reader.......................................................................................10
Weatherproofing.................................................................................................................. 10
Hazardous Area Connections...............................................................................................10
Twisted Pair Cabling............................................................................................................11
Safe Area Requirements...................................................................................................... 11
Safe Area Connections.........................................................................................................12
Internal Overview................................................................................................................12
Operation............................................................................................................................13
Power On.............................................................................................................................13
Set Up & Configuration.......................................................................................................14
Configuring the Reader Card Type......................................................................................14
Operating Mode...................................................................................................................15
Configuration String............................................................................................................16
Example Configuration String.............................................................................................17
Telemetry Block Structure................................................................................................18
Multi Drop...........................................................................................................................18
Data Only.............................................................................................................................18
Escape Sequences................................................................................................................19
Card Data ............................................................................................................................19
System Options.................................................................................................................. 20
Option 1 : IS Sentry in Standalone mode...........................................................................20
Option 2 : IS Sentry in MultiDrop Mode........................................................................... 20
Option 3 : IS Sentry in Standard Modbus Mode................................................................. 21
Option 4 : IS Sentry in Mercury 2+ Modbus Compatibility Mode..................................... 23
Option 5 : Safe Area Sentry.................................................................................................24
Option 6 : Wiegand D1/D0 Output Mode........................................................................... 25
Hazardous Area I/O............................................................................................................. 26
Appendix A  Wiring Diagrams...........................................................................................27
Appendix B  Specifications................................................................................................34
Appendix C  Link Settings.................................................................................................35

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Introduction
The Sentry Card Reader is a modular and highly configurable unit
designed to read a variety of different card types in Hazardous
Areas.
A complete Sentry Card Reader unit comprises of three main
components, and there are several versions of each of these main
components:
•A power and communications safety barrier, or galvanic
isolator, mounted in the Safe Area when the Sentry Card
Reader is to be used in a Hazardous Area installation.
•The Sentry base unit, with the processing and
communications electronics affixed in the Hazardous Area,
connected to the fixed wiring.
•The Sentry lid, containing the appropriate reader head (the
reader electronics and a safety barrier encapsulated together
into a module mounted behind the RF transparent window)
and the status LEDs.
There are three power and communications types available:
•For a Safe Area Sentry, the unit can be connected directly to
a power source and the communications can be connected
directly to a PC, PLC or DCS as needed.
•For a Hazardous Area Sentry, requiring serial
communications within the Safe Area, then an R507
Interface Module is needed.
•If Wiegand D1/D0 communications is needed from a
Hazardous Area mounted Sentry Card Reader, then a Safe
Area mounted P510 Module together with a pair of standard
zener barriers is needed. Mercury HMI recommend the use
of MTL or Pepperl and Fuchs barriers, but other
manufacturers can be accommodated.
There are then three variants of the Sentry base units:
•Safe Area Serial Communication version. This requires a
clean 24V power supply and provides RS422 or RS485
communications.
•Hazardous Area Serial communications version, supporting
point to point, multidrop and Modbus communications. An
R507 Interface Module will be required in the Safe Area.
•Hazardous area Wiegand Output Version. A Wiegand Output
kit comprising of a P510 Module and barriers is also needed.
Base Unit
System Overview
Power / Comms
Options

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The Senrty reasder supports several differents types of proximity
card technology:
•EM4001/4100
•MIFARE
•HID Prox (125kHz)
•AWID26/32
•HITAG
•SafeProx  this is a "secure" 125kHz card technology
designed for use with the Mercury HMI products.
Support for new card types is ongoing, so please contact Mercury
HMI to enquire about any unlisted formats.
Note : the Sentry reader is only able to read the factory
programmed serial number (UID) from proximity cards. For cards
that allow user data to be stored on them (e.g. Mifare), the reader is
not able to retrieve this user information.
The Sentry can be provided with either a powder coated,
passivated aluminium housing, or a static dissipative GRP housing,
perfect for marine and salty environments.
Note that the dust variants can only be supplied in the GRP
housing.
Illustration 1 : Sentry Card Reader
Reader Types
Enclosure Material

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Certification Standard
The SIRA certification No. 99ATEX2138X shows EEx ia IIC T4
for gas and Ex tb IIIC T85ºC, which is made up as follows:
EEx = European certificate for Hazardous Areas.
ia = Intrinsically Safe for Zone 0, continuous
Hazardous vapours.
IIC = Safe for ALL gas groups.
T4 = Component surface temperature cannot exceed
135°C.
Ex = Hazardous Area Product.
tb = Dust ignition protection by enclosure for Zones 21
and 22.
IIIC = Safe for ALL gas groups.
T85ºC = Component surface temperature cannot exceed
85°C.
The “Conditions of Certification”show the maximum parameters
of each of the input/output terminal blocks.
In this manual, ASCII single characters which are either control or
nonvisible codes (Hexadecimal 00H 1FH, 20Hand 7FH) are
indicated by enclosure in <>, for example, <ESC>.
Character strings which are indivisible sequences are shown
between quotation marks, for example, "<ESC> [ 2 J".
In the ASCII 7 and 8 bit code sets used by the Sentry Card Reader,
a character is represented by two digits, each in the range
hexadecimal 0 to F. For example, <SP>, the space character is
defined 20H.
Nomenclature &
Conventions
ATEX Number

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Installation
Illustration 2 : Sentry Mounting Hole Centres
The Sentry Card Reader has ATEX approval for use in Hazardous
Areas when used with the R507 Interface Module or a direct
equivalent.
The Intrinsically Safe Interface Module provides galvanic isolation
between the 24V D.C. power & host communication ports and the
I.S. Hazardous Area connection.
These connections to the Sentry allow a cable length of up to 1km
(when used with an R507) or 500m (when in Wiegand D1/D0
mode). The R507 communication ports provide for RS232 and
differential transmit and receive terminals for RS422/485, with tri
state control.
The Sentry should be ordered as a complete unit comprising base
unit and appropriate lid as required. The Sentry can then be
mounted on any convenient flat surface using the four holes
provided.
The dimensions of the box are shown in the diagram below.
Installation
Overview

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To affix the Sentry Card Reader to a surface, prepare by drilling
four holes 204 mm apart in width and 82 mm apart in height, refer
to Illustration 2. Carefully remove the Sentry Lid containing the
reader head and LEDs, supporting the lid so that the cables are not
put under strain. If this is not possible, carefully remove reader
head plug from J2 (see Illustration 4) and the LED assembly plug
from J1 and store the reader head safely.
Four mounting screws can now be used to attach the Sentry Base
Unit to the mounting surface.
Now plan how the hazardous area wiring is going to be terminated.
For a simple IS installation, when the only connections are the 4
wires to the Sentry, use the left hand gland.
The Sentry Card Reader is weatherproof, but care must be taken to
ensure the “O”ring seals are in place and free from grit when
mounting the equipment.
In salty or corrosive areas, it is advisable to grease the lid screws to
avoid binding. Alternatively, the GRP enclosure may be a better
choice as it offers better protection, especially in marine
environments.
There are three 20mm threaded holes provided in the box for cable
glands. Two gland holes are provided with blanking plugs, the
other gland must be provided by the customer.
In its most basic configuration, Sentry wired to host, only one
cable is needed (See Appendix A drawing number P174’112 and
P174'113).
For hazardous area applications, the cable connecting the R507
power and communications interface needs to comply with the
following parameters:
Loop Resistance 40 ΩMaximum
Capacitance 142 nF Maximum
L/R Ratio 33 μH/ΩMaximum
Inductance 0.6 mH Maximum
In practice these parameters are easily met by standard cables;
e.g. a 1 mm2quad cable has approximately the following
parameters:
Loop Resistance 38 Ω/km Maximum
Capacitance 55 nF/km Maximum
L/R Ratio 2.5 μH/ΩMaximum
Inductance 0.48 H/km Maximum
For a cable length of 1km, this would satisfy safety and operating
requirements.
Weatherproofing
Hazardous Area
Connections
Mounting
the Sentry

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Illustration 3 : R507 IS Power and Comms Isolator
If twisted pair cabling is used, one twisted pair should be used for
the TX+ wires, and the other twisted pair should be used for the
RX wires, as follows:
Twisted Pair Sentry J5 R507
Transmit pins 1 (A+) 15 (Tx2+)
2 (B+) 16 (Tx1+)
Receive pins 3 (A) 13 (Rx2)
4 (B) 14 (Rx1)
Note: If TX+ and RX wires are used in the same twisted pair, this
may result in communications problems and data corruption.
For hazardous area use, the Sentry must be connected to the R507
power and communications interface. The R507 must be located
in the Safe Area.
An illustration of the interface module, which is designed to be
mounted on a DIN rail, is shown below:
Twisted Pair
Cabling
Safe Area
Requirements

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For Safe Area use, the hazardous area parameters are not
applicable and any suitable communications cable can be used.
In a Safe Area application, the host can be connected directly to the
Sentry card reader RS422 connections as shown in Appendix A.
The wiring terminals are screw terminals on a 5.08 mm pitch; each
capable of accepting 2mm diameter cores or ferrules.
For connection details of power and signals, see the wiring
diagrams in Appendix A.
Illustration 4 shows an overview of the key internal components
and connections.
It should be noted that, due to space limitations, the connector used
for J1 does not use a 'keyed' plug. As such, it is possible to connect
the socket the wrong way round.
The correct orientation is with the small plastic lugs pointing away
from R1 ... R3 and towards the closest edge, as follows:
Safe Area
Connections
Internal
Overview
Illustration 4 : Inside view of the Sentry, showing key components and connections

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Operation
Illustration 5 : Showing the LED indicators
Assuming the device is correctly wired, when the 24V power is
applied to the R507 power and communications interface, the
Power/Comms LED Indicator (the uppermost one) will alternate
between RED and GREEN whilst the other indicators will flash
RED.
Once the unit has performed its startup tests, the Power/Comms
LED Indicator is illuminated Green to show the unit is powered
and ready for operation.
When a proximity card is within the RF field, the Card Present
LED will be illuminated.
Once the card has been successfully read, the data from the card is
decoded, and then sent back to the Safe Area where it is available
from the barrier and communications interface in Serial
RS232/422/485 format as ASCII characters.
The Power/Comms LED Indicator briefly changes colour (from
GREEN to RED) to indicate the card data has been successfully
decoded and transmitted.
The Host Programmable LED can be set to be On, Off or Flash,
utilising commands sent using the serial communications channel
by the host to which the Sentry Card Reader is connected.
Note: although this LED is fitted to all models, it cannot be
controlled in Wiegand output mode.
Power On

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With the equipment suitably connected, the Sentry can then be
configured for use.
The factory default settings are:
Baud Rate: 9600
Word Length: 8
Stop Bits: 1
Parity: None
Telemetry Mode: PointtoPoint
Output Structure: Data Only
Start/stop bit operation:
Wiegand cards Start = 1, stop = 0
Proximity cards Include parity bits
To change the default set up, the links LK5 and LK6 in the Sentry
unit should be changed accordingly and then the new set up
downloaded to the Sentry.
The link configurations are shown in section Operating Mode.
For correct operation jumper links LK2 and LK3 on the card
reader main board must be set to correspond with the type of card
reader head fitted as follows:
Card Reader Type LK3 LK2
Proximity Off Off
Reserved Off On
Reserved On Off
Reserved On On
The Card Reader Type link settings will be correct when the unit is
received from the factory and only needs changing if the lid is
changed for a different card technology.
The board must be restarted for these settings to take effect.
Set Up &
Configuration
Configuring the
Reader Card
Type
NOTE:

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The card reader has various modes of operation. This is
determined by the position of bit links LK6 and LK5 at start‑up:
Operating Mode LK6 LK5
Run as Configured Off Off
Reserved (for future use) Off On
Load New Configuration On Off
Run as Default Configuration On On
Illustration 4 shows the locations of the links on the main Sentry
PCB together with their functions.
The “Run as Configured”mode configures the Sentry Card Reader
using the last stored user configuration.
The "Run as Default Configuration" mode overrides any user
configuration, and hence gives a known setup to allow
communications to be established.
The “Load New Configuration”mode also starts the card reader
with the default settings loaded, but in addition it allows new
configuration data to be uploaded to the card reader for storage in
nonvolatile memory. This user defined new configuration data is
then only used when the card reader is restarted with bit links set
for “Run as Configured”mode.
A configuration string is uploaded to the card reader via the
communications port using any ASCII terminal. This is initiated
by the keyword “config”followed by the configuration data itself.
The configuration string must be terminated by the “@”character
to invoke a transfer from the input buffer to nonvolatile memory.
Mercury HMI Ltd also provide a simple Windows program that
can be used to configure the Sentry. Please contact Mercury HMI
for more details or visit http://www.mercuryhmi.co.uk/downloads.
Operating
Mode

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The configuration string uses the following format:
config<baud rate>,<parity>,<word length>,<stop bits>; <telemetry
mode>[,<telemetry address>];<output structure>;<multidrop
acknowledge>;<start/stop bit operation>;<reverse data>;<data byte
count>@
Available options are shown in the table below (bold values denote
the default setting):
Parameter Option
Baud Rate 1200, 2400, 4800, 9600, 19200
Parity None, Odd, Even, Mark, Space
(sent as n, o, e, m, s)
Word Length 7, 8
Stop Bits 1, 2
Telemetry Mode PointtoPoint (sent as pp)
Mercury Multidrop (sent as md)
Modbus (sent as mb)
Mercury 2+ Modbus (sent as m2)
Telemetry Address 1to 64
Note : omit this if configuring as Point
toPoint mode
Output Structure 0 (Data Only),
1 (Mercury Multidrop Format)
2 (Data + <ETX>)
Multidrop Disabled (sent as 0)
Acknowledge Enabled (sent as 1)
Multimode In Proximity mode:
Start / stop bit Include start / stop parity bits (sent a 0)
operation Strip start / stop parity bits (sent as 1)
In Wiegand mode, this detects:
Start bit = 1, stop bit = 0 (sent as 0)
Start bit and stop bit opposite polarity
(sent as 1)
Reverse data Disabled (sent as 0)
Enabled (sent as 1)
Data byte count 2 byte value denoting the number of
data bytes to be output. The data is
padded or truncated as required. If the
default value '00' is used, the original
card data is output.
Configuration
String

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config9600,n,8,1;md,12;0;1;1;0;00@
After loading this string into nonvolatile memory the card
reader immediately reads it back and transmits it to the host
terminal (with the Sentry base unit PCB serial number appended)
to confirm success of the write. For example, the user would see:
config9600,n,8,1;md,12;0;1;1;0;00
Serial #:00000123
Once the string is uploaded, the user should:
1. Power off the card reader for 5 seconds.
2. Change the links to ‘Run as Configured’mode.
3. Power on the card reader.
Alternatively, for Windows users, there is a simple test and
configuration package available for free download from the
Mercury HMI website (http://www.mercuryhmi.co.uk/downloads).
The picture below shows the view of the configuration tab.
Example
Configuration
String

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Telemetry Block Structure
Multi Drop
Data Only
When Mercury Multidrop output format is selected, messages
between the Card Reader and host follow the format:
“<STX> ADDR FUNC ID DATA DMY CSUM <ETX>"
<STX> is the Start Transmission character (02H)
ADDR is a twobyte address field. Each byte is the ASCII
equivalent of a number 0 to 9. This number is not relevant except
in multidrop mode. It is the Telemetry Address and can take the
value 01 to 64.
FUNC is a single byte character used to determine the type of
information being sent. It is always “D”(44H) when transmitted
from the card reader, and “R”(52H) when transmitted to the card
reader.
ID is the identification of the source of the block. It is a single byte
used to distinguish between the various sources of block data.
Possible values are:
'E' (45H) Digital Input
'G' (43H) Proximity Card
'P' (50H) Card Present
'V' (56H) Software Version
DATA is the field used to send information.
DMY is a single character whose value is chosen to ensure that the
following CSUM byte is not a control character. The value of
DMY is usually 00Hbut if this would result in the CSUM being a
control character, the DMY would be set to 20H
CSUM is a single byte checksum character. This is the 7 bit
negated algebraic sum of all the characters in the string from the
STX up to and including the DMY byte.
<ETX> is the End Transmission character (03H).
If “data only”is selected as the output structure, only the hex
ASCII data is output, with no header or trailer characters.

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The Card Reader responds to the following escape sequences,
which are a subset of those used by a Mercury Terminal:
Send Next Queued Block: “<ESC>[?9;1z”
(Multidrop mode only)
ReSend Last Queued Block: “<ESC>[?9;2z”
(Multidrop mode only)
Enable Card Reader in One Shot Mode “<ESC>[?15;4z”
Disable Card Reader: “<ESC>[?15;5z”
Enable Card Reader: “<ESC>[?15;6z”
Note: these commands enable / disable the device regardless of the
card media type it is configured to read.
Sample Dig Ins: “<ESC>[?4z”
Set Dig Outs: “<ESC>[?5;nz”
where nis one of the following:
n Dig Out #1 Dig Out #2
0 On On
1 Off On
2 On Off
3 Off Off
Read Config: “<ESC>[?2z”
which returns the configuration
data string and serial number.
Set Host LED: “<ESC>[?6;1z”
Clear Host LED: “<ESC>[?6;2z”
Flash Host LED: “<ESC>[?6;3z”
Read Software Version “<ESC>[?6;0z”
Escape Sequences

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System Options
There are a number of different ways the Sentry Card Reader can
be used depending upon the requirements of the particular system.
The following information describes some of these system options
regardless of the type of card reader used as this is incidental to the
system involved.
IS Sentry in Standalone Comms mode
To operate in this mode, the Telemetry Mode in the configuration
string has been set to "pp" or the Sentry is running in it's default
mode.
This is a very straightforward system option. The Sentry is
connected by a fourcore cable directly to the R507 in the safe
area.
This is in turn supplied with a 24V DC supply and the information
is communicated to the host via RS232/422 or RS485 depending
upon the requirements.
The Safe Area host device can be any device capable of
communicating using VT100 (serial ASCII) protocol and
electrically compatible with any of the three communications
standards available at the R507.
Drawings No. P174’112 and P174'113 shows the necessary
connections in this configuration (see Appendix A).
IS Sentry in MultiDrop Comms Mode
To operate in this mode, the Telemetry Mode in the configuration
string has been set to "md".
This operation is basically an extension of the standalone mode,
and would typically be used where a number of Sentry units are
required to interface to a single port on the host device.
Up to 64 Sentry units can be connected in this way and they will
respond only when a message is sent to the correct address.
It is important to note that the “daisy chain”wiring for the Multi
drop connection is carried out in the safe area. This is because the
four wires in the hazardous area carry both power and
communications and it is therefore impossible within the
constraints of Intrinsically Safe equipment design to carry
sufficient power from one safe area connection to power a number
of Sentry units.
Option 1
Option 2