I don't have any particularily strong feelings one way or the other on this issue of AC failures. I just can't see the need to transmit thousands of signals that really don't tell anyone very much of anything. There have been a few very valid reasons to do so outlined in this thread, and at least one person replied who personally sees a need to know when his panels may crap out after a long AC failure. No disagreement there; however, for me, it is enough to respond to low battery signals, which will come in after any AC failure duration. Why flood the station with thousands of useless AC signals, thats all. During the great ice storm of 1998, when power was out for weeks at a time, I can only imagine the number of AC signals received at all monitoring stations, and wonder what purpose they served, since the whole country knew we were in a major state of emergency at the time.
Perhaps I don't know enough about how stations respond to all these "spam signals". I would agree wholeheartedly with you on your statement about a CS that couldn't handle this type of mass receipt of signals being one to avoid. However, I have to question the wisdom of sending this flood of AC signals to begin with if it serves no useful purpose....
RHC