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Antoxa1081 edited this page May 24, 2026 · 3 revisions

Configuration

This page describes every option of the DESS Monitor Local integration and the connection details for each supported protocol.

Adding the integration

After installing the integration (via HACS or manually), open in Home Assistant:

Settings → Devices & Services → Add Integration → DESS Monitor Local

The setup wizard has four steps:

  1. Hub name — any friendly name the device will appear under in Home Assistant.
  2. Protocol — the command/data protocol spoken by the inverter or local data source.
  3. Transport — how Home Assistant reaches that protocol.
  4. Connection settings — address, port and polling interval.

All options can be changed later via Configure on the integration card — there is no need to remove and re-add it.

Supported protocols and transports

Protocol Description Supported transports
voltronic Voltronic / Axpert PI30 tcp_elfin, serial, eybond
pi18 PI18 / InfiniSolar-V tcp, serial
modbus Modbus RTU (SMG-II) tcp
agent Local solar-system-agent agent_http
Transport Description Default port
tcp_elfin Elfin / transparent TCP bridge 8899
tcp Plain TCP transport 8899
serial Direct serial / USB (RS232) —
eybond EyBond / SmartESS Wi-Fi dongle reverse TCP transport 8899
agent_http HTTP transport for solar-system-agent 8787

Voltronic over Elfin TCP (voltronic + tcp_elfin)

For Voltronic / Axpert PI30 inverters connected through an Elfin Wi-Fi/Ethernet bridge (or a compatible transparent TCP bridge).

Fields:

  • Host / IP address — IP address of the bridge on your LAN.
  • Port — TCP port of the bridge (default 8899).

Elfin bridge configuration

Open the Elfin web UI (default http://<bridge-ip>) and configure the serial-to-TCP socket:

  • Work mode — TCP Server.
  • Local port — the same port you enter in Home Assistant (default 8899).
  • Protocol — None. Any non-None value (Modbus TCP, HTTPD client, etc.) makes the bridge re-frame or proxy bytes and breaks the inverter protocol.
  • CLI — disabled. Leaving the CLI enabled lets the bridge intercept control sequences inside the data stream, which corrupts replies from the inverter.

Both options above are critical: with either of them on, requests will either time out or come back with garbled payloads.

Serial port (Elfin → inverter)

Match the bridge's serial settings to the inverter's interface:

  • Baud rate — 2400 for Axpert / Voltronic PI30 (ASCII QPIGS), 9600 for Modbus RTU devices like SMG-II.
  • Data bits / parity / stop bits — 8 / None / 1 (typical default).
  • Flow control — None.

If you don't see any data and the connection just hangs, the baud rate is the first thing to double-check.

Voltronic over EyBond (voltronic + eybond)

For EyBond / SmartESS Wi-Fi dongles. The dongle initiates a reverse TCP connection to Home Assistant, so the Home Assistant host must accept incoming connections on the configured port.

See the dedicated setup guide:

EyBond / SmartESS Wi-Fi Dongle Transport Setup

PI18 / InfiniSolar-V (pi18)

For InfiniSolar-V and other models speaking PI18 over TCP.

Fields:

  • Host / IP address — IP of the device or bridge.
  • Port — TCP port (default 8899).

Modbus RTU over TCP (modbus + tcp)

For SMG-II inverters and similar devices that expose Modbus RTU through a TCP bridge.

Fields:

  • Host / IP address — IP of the bridge.
  • Port — TCP port (default 8899).

If you use an RTU-over-TCP converter, make sure it works in transparent mode (no RTU↔TCP frame translation).

Serial / USB (voltronic + serial, pi18 + serial)

Direct RS232 connection — typically through the manufacturer's USB-to-RS232 cable.

Fields:

  • Serial port — device path. The dropdown is auto-populated with available ports; you can also type the path manually:
    • Linux: /dev/ttyUSB0, /dev/ttyACM0, /dev/serial/by-id/...
    • Windows: COM3, COM4, …

On Linux prefer a path under /dev/serial/by-id/ so the USB adapter does not change its name across reboots.

Container installs (Home Assistant OS / Container) need access to the device — pass it through with --device or via the supervised install's "Advanced" options.

Common options

Update interval

How often Home Assistant polls the device, in seconds.

  • Allowed range: 1 – 300 s.
  • Default: 10 s.
  • Lower values mean fresher sensor data but more load on the link and the inverter. For slow links (Wi-Fi bridges, 2400-baud serial) keep this at 10 or higher.

Changing settings after install

Every field is editable via Configure:

  1. Settings → Devices & Services
  2. Open the DESS Monitor Local card → click Configure
  3. Pick a different protocol and/or update the address and polling interval.

After saving, the integration reconnects automatically with the new settings — no Home Assistant restart required.

Internal device URI

Connection settings are stored as a single device string. This is useful to know if you ever edit storage or YAML by hand.

Protocol + transport Format
voltronic + tcp_elfin tcp://<host>:<port>
voltronic + serial device path (e.g. /dev/ttyUSB0 or COM3)
voltronic + eybond eybond://<bind_host>:<port>/<rs485_address>
pi18 + tcp pi18://<host>:<port>
pi18 + serial pi18-serial://<device_path>
modbus + tcp modbus://<host>:<port>
agent + agent_http agent://<host>:<port>/<providerDeviceId>

Legacy entries stored as bare host:port without a scheme are interpreted as voltronic + tcp_elfin — migration is automatic.

Troubleshooting

If the connection doesn't work:

  • Enable verbose logging by adding this to configuration.yaml:

    logger:
  default: warning
  logs:
    custom_components.dess_monitor_local: debug

  • Download a diagnostics report from the integration card (⋮ → Download diagnostics) and attach it to a GitHub issue.

  • Verify the chosen IP/port is reachable from the Home Assistant host (ping, telnet <host> <port>).

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