Hi,
Yes you can do it,
before connecting it to the production,
1. factory reset the controller
2. select "Stand alone" or "Local" as the mode of the controller as per the requirement
3. assign the IP address as required
4. disable STP ( no spanning tree )
5. disable ADP to avoid AP to contact the test controller over ADP ( "adp discovery disable" and "adp igmp-join disable" )
6. Ensure the uplink port is properly configured ( Trunk or Access )
Now you can happily connect the test controller to the production.
Hope you got the solution, if not please feel free to come back :)
Cheers,
Venu puduchery