diff --git a/CHANGES.md b/CHANGES.md
index e76a01a..15781f1 100755
--- a/CHANGES.md
+++ b/CHANGES.md
@@ -1,5 +1,10 @@
 # Changelog
 
+## 0.8.0
+
+- Added sensor to check if the orion API is down and fires a trigger to restart the service if it is
+  Contributed by John Schoewe (Encore Technologies)
+
 ## 0.7.11
 
 - Added action to enable and disable maintenance mode on a given node
diff --git a/pack.yaml b/pack.yaml
index 3cccb5f..12ded05 100755
--- a/pack.yaml
+++ b/pack.yaml
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ keywords:
    - ncm
    - npm
    - monitoring
-version: 0.7.11
+version: 0.8.0
 python_versions:
     - "2"
     - "3"
diff --git a/sensors/solarwinds_api_check.py b/sensors/solarwinds_api_check.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4b75748
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sensors/solarwinds_api_check.py
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+from orionsdk import SwisClient
+from requests.exceptions import ConnectionError
+from st2reactor.sensor.base import PollingSensor
+
+
+class SolarwindsApiCheck(PollingSensor):
+    """
+    This sensor is used to fire a trigger when it detects that the API is down
+    """
+
+    def setup(self):
+        server = self._config['orion_host']
+        user = self._config['orion_user']
+        passwd = self._config['orion_password']
+
+        self._logger = self.sensor_service.get_logger(name=self.__class__.__name__)
+
+        self.client = SwisClient(server, user, passwd)
+        self._logger.debug(self.client)
+
+        pass
+
+    def poll(self):
+        try:
+            self._logger.debug('SolarWinds API check poll')
+
+            # We need to run a query because the connection itself will not return an error
+            swql = """SELECT Name, MethodName, EntityName
+            FROM Metadata.Verb where CanInvoke=@CanInvoke"""
+            kargs = {'CanInvoke': True}
+            orion_data = self.client.query(swql, **kargs)
+            self._logger.debug("SolarWinds API query successful")
+            self._logger.debug(orion_data)
+        except ConnectionError:
+            self._logger.debug('Dispatch SolarWinds API down trigger')
+            self.sensor_service.dispatch(trigger='orion.solarwinds_api_down')
+
+    def cleanup(self):
+        pass
+
+    def add_trigger(self, trigger):
+        pass
+
+    def update_trigger(self, trigger):
+        pass
+
+    def remove_trigger(self, trigger):
+        pass
diff --git a/sensors/solarwinds_api_check.yaml b/sensors/solarwinds_api_check.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a794288
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sensors/solarwinds_api_check.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+---
+  class_name: "SolarwindsApiCheck"
+  entry_point: "solarwinds_api_check.py"
+  description: "Verify that the SolarWinds API is up and accepting connections. Poll every 15 minutes."
+  poll_interval: 900
+  trigger_types:
+    -
+      name: "solarwinds_api_down"
+      description: "Trigger to fire when the solarwinds API is down"
diff --git a/triggers/solarwinds_api_down.yaml b/triggers/solarwinds_api_down.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1f91b3b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/triggers/solarwinds_api_down.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+name: solarwinds_api_down
+description: Trigger that gets fired when the orion API is unreachable
+payload_schema:
+  type: object