The short version
Both let you see your battery from anywhere. PylonCheck routes everything through their cloud: the battery needs an active Ethernet port, the box needs a network cable, and if their service is down or gone, so is your view. Pylon-Monitor works on its own first — a screen on the box, a dashboard on your LAN, a JSON API and Home Assistant — and adds the same worldwide access as an option you switch on. One quarter of the price, and nothing to lose if we disappear.
Compared on September 3, 2026 from information published on pyloncheck.com. A competitor's product changes; if anything below is out of date, tell us and we will correct it.
| Criterion | Pylon-Monitor | PylonCheck |
|---|---|---|
| Independence | ||
| Keeps working if the vendor disappears | Yes | No |
| Your data stays with you by default | Yes | No |
| Writing to the BMS | Read-only — zero risk | Possible, at the customer's own risk |
| Price and commitment | ||
| Device price | 49 € | ≈ €200 (4 900 CZK) |
| Subscription | None | None |
| Cloud history | Included | Included |
| Warranty | 2 years | Not advertised |
| Hooking it up | ||
| Battery port used | CONSOLE (RS-232) | ETH |
| Battery must have an active Ethernet port | No | Yes, required |
| Link to your network | WiFi | Network cable required |
| WiFi | Built in, captive portal | By prior arrangement only |
| Power | Any 5 V USB source | 230 V adapter |
| Setup time | Under 2 minutes | Not advertised |
| What you see | ||
| Screen on the device | 1.8" colour TFT | None |
| Dashboard without internet | Yes | No |
| Dashboard from anywhere | Yes | Yes |
| Charge, voltage, current, temperature | Yes | Yes |
| BMS alarms | Yes | Yes |
| Per-module detail | Yes | Yes |
| Energy in kWh, charged and discharged per day | Yes | Not advertised |
| History and CSV export | Yes | Yes |
| Email alert when the device goes silent | Yes | Not advertised |
| Push alerts to your phone | Yes | Not advertised |
| Installer fleet view | Yes | Not advertised |
| Integration | ||
| Local JSON API | Yes | Not advertised |
| MQTT / Home Assistant auto-discovery | Yes | Not advertised |
| Jeedom, Node-RED, Domoticz, openHAB | Yes | Not advertised |
| Works with no internet at all | Yes | No |
| The device itself | ||
| Hardware | Own board and firmware, assembled in France | Off-the-shelf micro PC, model varies with stock |
| Firmware updates | Signed OTA, free for life | Not advertised |
| Power draw | Under 0.5 W | Not advertised |
| Maturity | v2.2 in production | Self-described functional beta |
| Coverage | ||
| Site languages | 6 | 2 |
| High-voltage packs (Force H2, H48050) | No | Yes |
Where PylonCheck is ahead
Two things, and we are not going to pretend otherwise. High-voltage packs — Force H2 and H48050 — work with their box and not with ours; ours reads the Console port of the low-voltage US series. And they let you change BMS settings and update the battery firmware remotely, which we deliberately do not: our reading is one-way, which is exactly why plugging it in cannot affect how your battery behaves. If you need either of those, buy theirs. We would rather tell you than sell you the wrong box.
Why we would still pick ours
- Four times cheaper€49 against roughly €200. Same job on a low-voltage Pylontech stack, and no subscription on either side.
- It does not need your battery to have EthernetOurs reads the Console (RS-232) port, which every low-voltage US-series unit has and which your inverter never uses. Theirs needs an active Ethernet port on the battery — if yours has none, the question is settled before price ever comes up.
- No network cable to runWiFi with a captive portal: connect your phone to the box, pick your network, done in under two minutes. Theirs needs a cable to the router; WiFi is by prior arrangement.
- A screen on the boxGlance at it and read charge, voltage, health and cycle count — no phone, no login, no network. Theirs has no display at all.
- It works when the internet does notThe dashboard lives on the device. Your router can be down, your ISP can be out, our company can be gone: you still see your battery. Theirs is a window onto their cloud.
- A real local APIOne HTTP call returns the whole battery state as JSON. MQTT auto-discovery puts ten sensors into Home Assistant with no YAML. Jeedom, Node-RED, Domoticz, openHAB and a two-line shell script all read the same endpoint. None of that is advertised on their side.
- Energy in kWh, not just instantaneous powerHow many kWh went in and out today, and every day for a fortnight. No single reading can answer that — it only exists once something has been keeping history.
- It tells you when it stops reportingA box that lost power cannot announce it. Ours is watched from our side: six hours of silence and you get an email, in your language, with what to check first.
- Purpose-built hardware, not whatever was in stockOur own board, our own firmware, assembled and tested in France. Theirs is a NanoPi, a Raspberry Pi "or equivalent, depending on component availability" — their words.
- Signed firmware updates, free for lifeEvery published image is HMAC-signed and the device refuses anything altered. Updates arrive through a web page in under a minute, settings preserved.
- Under half a wattPowered from any USB source — a phone charger, a spare port on your inverter, a power bank. Theirs ships with a mains adapter.
- It cannot touch your batteryThe Console port is read-only in our firmware: we ask, the BMS answers. Nothing is written, so nothing about your battery's behaviour or its manufacturer warranty changes.
- A fleet view for installersEvery site you maintain on one screen, worst first, with each alarm judged against that pack's own thresholds and its own 30-day normal.
- Shipping in production, not in betaFirmware v2.2, sold and installed. Their own site calls the product a functional beta and apologises in advance for the rough edges.
- Six languages, and a human answersSite, firmware, guides and support in English, French, German, Dutch, Spanish and Italian. Reply to any email and a person reads it.
Ready to decide?
One device, one price, no subscription, and everything above included.
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Source for the PylonCheck column: pyloncheck.com, consulted September 3, 2026.