Reliable "Off-Grid" detection for power outage alerts

[stephanberger4]

Hi ,

First of all, thank you for this integration, it works great!

I am opening this issue to ask for advice regarding the "Off-Grid" detection.
My goal is to set up an automation (email/notification) to alert me when there is a real power outage and my house switches to battery backup mode.

The Issue:
Currently, I am using binary_sensor.alphaess_off_grid. However, looking at my logs, this sensor seems to switch to on (off-grid) as soon as Grid Power Total reaches 0W.
Since I have a battery and my self-consumption is often perfectly balanced (Solar = Load), my system stays at 0W grid exchange for long periods (sometimes hours). This triggers false "Off-Grid" alerts continuously, even though the grid is actually present.

Observations:

1. My sensor.alphaess_grid_voltage_l1 state is "unknown", so I cannot use voltage drop as a trigger.
2. The official AlphaESS App correctly differentiates between "Grid is present but load is 0" and "System is Off-Grid".

Question:
Is there a specific system status code or another parameter exposed by the API that definitively indicates "OFF GRID"?
It would be incredibly useful to have a dedicated sensor for this to create reliable power outage alerts.

Thanks for your help!

[Poshy163]

Heya @stephanberger4,

No there isn't, the best option you'd have is to suggest it to Alpha and see if they'd implement it.

Unfortunately, a few months ago they lost one of the key developers behind all of the public facing communications, and ever since getting new stuff implemented has been next to impossible.

If they do, let me know and id be more than happy to implement it asap

[gregpetersau]

I have not done this so you would need to look at the documentation, but my system supports an AUX contact which can be set to auto change relay state on UPS mode. If this functions the way i belive it does, its designed to tell trigger gensets and other systems to turn on. You could attach a IOT sensor like a shelly to this, to detect the state.

Explained in this doc
https://7418182.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/7418182/User_Guide_EN_AUX_Contact_SMILE_Series.pdf

And although UPS mode is not listed in that document, the setting is there; here what it looks like on mine

[gregpetersau]

Alternatively, i belive if you go down the MODBUS path, the signal you want is exposed - i woujld use the Voltage Grid and look for when it drops to ~0v
https://projects.hillviewlodge.ie/alphaess/