The AlphaMon Platform

Intelligent Energy Metering

The AlphaMon Platform is a hardware + software add-on for owners of the popular AlphaESS inverters and battery systems installed in many homes and businesses. Other Modbus-enabled inverters, external energy measurement smart meters and battery systems are being added now to further extend AlphaMon’s functionality.

Unlike the centralised, cloud-based monitoring solution offered by AlphaESS and other inverter manufacturers, AlphaMon is a standalone solution that can be operated either with or without an Internet connection. Thus your power generation and grid consumption data is always at your fingertips and under your personal control.

We believe data ownership always stays with the user, in contrast to locked-in, subscription based energy management systems and plans offered by groups such as Tuya, eWeLink and SmartLife.

For business owners and property managers, AlphaMon offers centralised monitoring and management across your portfolio and across the globe with advanced features such as NTP time synchronisation, private MQTT server connectivity and geo-location data.

Our Mission

The AlphaMon mission is to help AlphaESS owners maximise the return on their investment, provide user-friendly interfaces that every member of the household and/or organisation can understand, minimise low-income grid feed-in and expensive grid imports and extend simple energy management to all parts of your property.
And for Enterprise users, The AlphaMon Platform is the ideal tool for inexpensively and simply automating data collection, data aggregation and upload to ERP systems and other reporting tools as part of mandatory Carbon Emissions Reporting.

Long Range Radio (LoRa)

AlphaMon adds a range of very useful features to your AlphaESS installation such as spread-spectrum, long range (LoRa) radio that seamlessly connects your outdoor inverter and battery to an indoor display console, without long cable runs.

AlphaMon‘s ability to transmit and receive telemetry data over long distances offers a solution to the “last mile” problem..

The term “Last Mile” traditionally refers to the difficulty connecting phone, electricity and Internet end users’ to the main network. Since the “last mile” of cable is only used by one customer the cost of installing and maintaining the cable can only be amortized over one subscriber.

In short, AlphaMon can connect your outdoor inverter/s and other devices to an indoor receiver over very long distances, without installing cables, WiFi repeaters or other expensive options.

Last Mile Energy Monitor

LoRa is a globally recognised and supported standard for license-free, long range data transmission using low power radio. Transmission ranges as far as 15km have been reported for line of sight operation however a 1km range is more typical for built up areas. More information about LoRa, including network coverage, can be found on the LoRa Alliance web site.

Note that the permitted LoRa frequency spectrum in your country may vary so please be sure to order the correct model for your region. The embedded LoRa radio modules are available in four different frequency ranges, as follows:

You can see the full list of regional operating frequencies and restrictions here.

Installation

Each AlphaMon module is shipped with either an outdoor or indoor enclosure. Both run identical software and automatically switch to Sender Mode or Receiver Mode depending on whether a Modbus connection is found on start-up.

Thus, for some applications you may choose to install two outdoor units when both transmission ends will be subjected to the elements. Alternatively, if you own than one AlphaESS inverter you could order two or more outdoor units and one indoor module. The indoor module will aggregate the data from the outdoor modules.

Another configuration is two outdoor modules; one installed on your AlphaESS and the other monitoring grid imports and exports via a Modbus-RTU enabled, DIN-rail energy meter mounted in your meter box. This configuration is very useful if your AlphaESS inverter can’t see and monitor all the grid-level activity.

Yet another example is a single outdoor module and two or more indoor modules; one displaying the AlphaESS status in each part of the house or business.

Note, Only the outdoor modules have the RJ-45 cable connector for direction connection to your AlphaESS inverter.

A typical AlphaMon installation starts by connecting the 100 x 100mm, all weather enclosure that houses the AlphaMon outdoor unit to the RJ-45 Communications Port of your AlphaESS, such as the SMILE5 5kW inverter, using a standard, straight-through CAT5 or CAT6 network cable.

After removing the enclosure lid and four corner screws the other end of the network cable is fed through the weather sealed grommet on the base of the enclosure and plugged into the RJ-45 connector on the AlphaMon circuit board (PCB). Be careful not to disturb any of the other components mounted on the PCB and to avoid placing stress on the externally mounted LoRa antenna.

Next, you’ll need to decide on the type of power supply you wish to use; either a USB-C, 2 Amp charger and cable or a standard 12V DC “plug pack”, switched mode power supply with the centre pin +ve polarity and the outer ring -ve polarity. The precise voltage isn’t important as the AlphaMon‘s in-built regulator comfortably handles voltages between 9V DC and 16V DC.

Leave the enclosure lid off whilst the AlphaMon starts up for the first time so you can confirm the power LED mounted on the PCB is lit and the boot-up status messages are appearing on the small OLED screen inside the enclosure.

During the boot-up cycle the AlphaMon creates a WiFi Access Point that you can connect to with your smart phone or tablet’s browser in order to enter your preferences and settings.

That’s it! Replace the enclosure lid and mount the enclosure in a convenient place where it won’t be disturbed and preferably where the antenna is likely to have best coverage to reach the indoor AlphaMon receiver.

AlphaMon key features

AlphaMon systems are built around the powerful and popular Expressif ESP32-S3 system-on-a-chip architecture, including 2.4 GHz, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5 (LE) connectivity. The ESP32 sub-board also incorporates a patented Semtech SX1262 chip which provides the LoRa functionality.

Designers of IoT solutions and systems integrators may wish to use the AlphaMon open architecture to build extensions and custom add-ons. We’ll be posting updates here with the relevant how-to notes and specifications. If you can’t find what you’re looking for then please contact us.

The detailed specifications and capabilities of the Expressif and Semtech sub modules and be found on the respective manufacturer’s web sites and helpful information, including examples and open source code, is readily available on the web and in various user groups.

Other key AlphaMon features include:

Enterprise Aware

Whilst the AlphaMon platform has been designed for easy installation and configuration by the average home owner it also incorporates enterprise-grade data handling and security features to support geographically distributed businesses, community-owned battery groups, solar farms and even big battery operators.

In fact, the AlphaMon Platform is an ideal base for building large, low-cost, multi-function IoT solutions for rapid deployment. Contact us for more information or to discuss your requirements.

Each AlphaMon device is individually tracked and logged via its unique, embedded MAC address and MQTT-based reporting is designed to facilitate data subscriptions and queries at the organisation, department, location, user and device levels.

Our on-going software enhancements and upgrades are designed to support users deploy and implement the emerging SunSpec Common Smart Inverter Protocol (CSIP) standards for Distributed Energy Response systems (DER), California’s Rule 21, and the new Australian CSIP-Aus standards recommended by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA).