diff --git a/contrib/etc/ebusd/mqtt-hassio.cfg b/contrib/etc/ebusd/mqtt-hassio.cfg
index b067a124..f47c968a 100644
--- a/contrib/etc/ebusd/mqtt-hassio.cfg
+++ b/contrib/etc/ebusd/mqtt-hassio.cfg
@@ -354,6 +354,23 @@ def_global_updatecheck-payload = %global_prefix,
   "value_template":"{%% set my_vernum = value_json|truncate(255)|regex_replace(find=',.*| available|revision v|version v',replace='') %%}{%% set my_ver = {'installed_version':'%version','latest_version':my_vernum,'entity_picture':'https://ebusd.eu/logo-32x32.png','release_url':'https://github.com/john30/ebusd/releases/latest'} %%}{%% if my_vernum == '' %%}{%% set my_ver.latest_version = '%version' %%}{%% endif %%}{{ my_ver | tojson }}"
  }
 
+
+# optional secondary update check for the eBUS device (consuming the same topic though!)
+def_global_updatecheck_device-topic = %haprefix/update/%{TOPIC}_device/config
+def_global_updatecheck_device-payload =  {
+  "unique_id":"%{TOPIC}_device",
+  "device":{
+    "identifiers":"%{PREFIXN}_device",
+    "manufacturer":"ebusd.eu",
+    "name":"%prefixn device",
+    "via_device":"%PREFIXN",
+    "suggested_area":"%area"
+  },
+  "state_topic":"%topic",
+  "name":"%prefixn %name",
+  "value_template":"{%% set my_vernum = value_json|truncate(255)|regex_replace(find='^[^,]*|, device firmware |,.*| available',replace='') %%}{%% set my_ver = {'installed_version':'old','latest_version':my_vernum,'entity_picture':'https://adapter.ebusd.eu/favicon.ico','release_url':'https://adapter.ebusd.eu/firmware/ChangeLog'} %%}{%% if my_vernum == '' %%}{%% set my_ver.installed_version = 'current' %%}{%% set my_ver.latest_version = '%version' %%}{%% endif %%}{{ my_ver | tojson }}"
+ }
+
 # the topic and payload to listen to in order to republish all config messages.
 # HA integration: force republish of all configs when HA goes down and comes up again.
 config_restart-topic = %haprefix/status
diff --git a/src/ebusd/mqtthandler.cpp b/src/ebusd/mqtthandler.cpp
index 6a49b939..96727fd8 100755
--- a/src/ebusd/mqtthandler.cpp
+++ b/src/ebusd/mqtthandler.cpp
@@ -952,6 +952,8 @@ void MqttHandler::run() {
           publishDefinition(m_replacers, "def_global_uptime-", uptimeTopic, "global", "uptime", "def_global-");
           publishDefinition(m_replacers, "def_global_updatecheck-", m_globalTopic.get("", "updatecheck"), "global",
                             "updatecheck", "def_global-");
+          publishDefinition(m_replacers, "def_global_updatecheck_device-", m_globalTopic.get("", "updatecheck"), "global",
+                            "updatecheck_device", "");
           publishDefinition(m_replacers, "def_global_scan-", m_globalTopic.get("", "scan"), "global", "scan",
                             "def_global-");
         }