HomeTroller SEL or S6

[mikee123]

So I think I am ready to jump. Question is now, SEL or S6 ? If it wasn't for the cost, it'll be the S6. I like the phone capabilities, but they are not really worth the extra money. I know Windows quite well, no next to nothing about Linux. I have worked out I do not need a lot of plugins, only need RFXcom, maybe email, Global Cache, and I have about 70 zwave devices and maybe about 20 RFXcom devices. Any recommendations ? Looking at the HS website I cannot really figure out why I should spend all the extra money for the S6, what am I missing ?

[sparkman]

Have you considered just buying the Windows software and installing it on your own system? If you have a spare PC or laptop, that's a great way to get started and there are also many low-power/low cost options that HS will run on.

Cheers
Al

[cheeryfool]

Also, in case you haven't noticed this yet, HomeSeer usually has a bi-annual sale in May and Nov. The software only version is currently on 50% discount. I don't know when that expires, but I think it's been 3 weeks already, so it could be imminent.

[mikee123]

I thought about it, but I do not want to run my PC 24/7, it needs far too much power. And if I start looking to buy a small PC and install the software, i might as well go for the SEL or S6.
But saying that, maybe I should rethink. If I get the HS3 software to run on a standalone PC which I buy myself, that would be the same as a S6 ? So I'd get the Z net to give me my zwave functionality, and get something of similar or better power than the S6, install Windows 7 or 10, then HS3 ?

[BlairG]

A stand alone might be a good choice, but there is still the 24/7 power consumption. Perhaps a small ITX based PC, dedicated to just running the home automation. My SEL takes very little power runs on a small wall transformer.

[sparkman]

If I get the HS3 software to run on a standalone PC which I buy myself, that would be the same as a S6 ? So I'd get the Z net to give me my zwave functionality, and get something of similar or better power than the S6, install Windows 7 or 10, then HS3 ?

Yes, although the S6 runs Windows 7 embedded which has some pros and cons. It's a bit more robust, but is also not as easy to modify and upgrade.

[will.i.am]

I've been running the SEL with a Z-Net for about 18 months. Very low power consumption and needs little maintenance - basically just version upgrades. I wasn't too keen on linux either, but so far I've been able to muddle through. I have about same number of zwave devices and Global Cache. Everything works great.

[mikee123]

I am now looking to buy as mini PC with Windows 10 home, and install HS3 software as the only application. I should still install antivirus software as this PC is going to be connected to the internet, correct ?

[sparkman]

I am now looking to buy as mini PC with Windows 10 home, and install HS3 software as the only application. I should still install antivirus software as this PC is going to be connected to the internet, correct ?

You'll get multiple opinions on this, but if you don't use it to browse the internet, read emails, etc. the risk is pretty low. It can cause some false positive issues with plugins, so if you do install it and something is not working properly, then try turning the anti virus off first as a test.

Cheers
Al

[mikee123]

You'll get multiple opinions on this, but if you don't use it to browse the internet, read emails, etc. the risk is pretty low. It can cause some false positive issues with plugins, so if you do install it and something is not working properly, then try turning the anti virus off first as a test.

Cheers
Al

Ok I might try just with the standard Windows 10 firewall. Is a system only running HS3, nothing else.
Could I start building my system on my normal PC, back up everything once the dedicated PC arrives and just transfer over what I have done ? So that would mean it would be simple to transfer the systm to a quicker PC if it was ever needed ?

[gd1210]

[sparkman]

Ok I might try just with the standard Windows 10 firewall. Is a system only running HS3, nothing else.
Could I start building my system on my normal PC, back up everything once the dedicated PC arrives and just transfer over what I have done ? So that would mean it would be simple to transfer the systm to a quicker PC if it was ever needed ?

Yes, things can be copied over easily, especially if you use the same directory path on both.

Cheers
Al

[mikee123]

So what do I need to copy ? I would like to run HS3 on my wifes laptop too then I could use that to control and create devices too

[Pete]

Many Homeseer 3 users have gone to using the mini PC's available today using Windows 7 or Windows 10 (you can run Homeseer on XP if you wanted to). (Baytrail, Celeron, iSeries, et al).

Here playing with one today for Homeseer touch. It is velcroed now to the back of a 17" LCD touch monitor.

One thing to note with some of these is that the OS is running on 32Gb of an MMC drive built in to the motherboard and many only have 2Gb of memory. That said it works fine for Windows 10 as much of the OS is running from the Internet.

Went to two different pieces of hardware running Homeseer 3 and both are Linux today. One is the RPi2 and the Zee-2 Homeseer 3 version. I added a bit to the RP2 base hardware with a GPIO Z-Wave card and an RTC Pi-Face shim (time) and stuck it in the attic (to see if I can melt it). I have a 1-Wire network USB stick on it to measure temperatures (humidity) in the attic.

The second Linux box is running Homeseer 3 Pro on Ubuntu 64bit on a stock iSeries Intel CPU / mITX motherboard (small case), .m2 SATA drive and 16Gb of memory.

I am working the iSeries PC a bit with more to the base. I like my Microsoft SAPI speech stuff so I am running a VM of Microsoft Server (tweaked down a bit) just for the speaker dot exe and my speech fonts. This box has Digi USB / Edgeport / Quatech serial servers connected to both the Ubuntu / Wintel side. Currently running some 15-17 Homeseer Wintel Embedded touch clients on it. Each of the Wintel Clients has MS SAPI and running speaker dot exe. IE: speech comes from either from a Russound zoned audio system or the touch clients.

It is not sweating a bit right now. I have always run Homeseer here on a separate box. That is me. Many folks run it or used to run Homeseer on the Home desktop or in a VM and it works fine. (still I wouldn't recommend sharing the Homeseer box to a desktop that is used for other stuff like surfing on the internet).

With Homeseer 3 running in Linux or Wintel it is just the directory that you need to copy and to keep using the same directory structure. Today just call the directory Homeseer (as I did for Homeseer 1 and Homeseer 2). I have gone to putting Homeseer in the root drives mostly for ease of access and less typing (long math way I guess).

The touchscreens do more status than remote and I do not do much remote control with the smart phone (but got bored with it in the early 2000's). I try to keep my dependencies of automation in house over external. That said I do utilize an Amazon Echo and MS Kinect and the Amazon Alexa application but mostly enjoy my own SAPI voice fonts that I have collected over the years. I am in to weather such that I connect Homeseer 3 to my weather stations and today doing this externally sort of posting data on my hosting web site and collecting the data from Homeseer. Weather today is using Davis with a RPi2 running software called Cumulus that runs in Mono on the RPi2. Irrigation is running autonomously in the old Rainbird box with connections to Homeseer and local and internet weather stuff on an old Seagate Dockstar Debian (and mono). Security is all wired to a Leviton Omni Pro 2 combination security and automation panel with connectivity to Homeseer. CCTV is running a few different ways on different boxes (same cameras) and Homeseer connects to the newer IP HD cameras directly or indirectly via the CCTV NVR. Homeseer is not a CCTV NVR or Television NVR. It can be utilized as a controller if you want or managment of media.

Homeseer talks X10, UPB, Z-Wave and Zigbee today (still have an Insteon PIM connected to it). Primarily my in wall switches are UPB and my electric here today is in conduit and metal boxes. I do have a hot / neutral leads in every box. I did go from many 3-4 way switches (wired) to making the automated switches virtual multiway switches (many in the home today). I also upgraded many switches here to dual load multiple toggle switches with control loads and virtual links of multiple loads.

The software spend is really inexpensive and best to do baby steps. Automation can get expensive. IE: for sure here I have over 10K invested in just my automation switches which is where I started with this stuff back in 1978 or so with X10. It was all about lighting back then.

It is whatever you want these days.

Backups are the Homeseer directory compressed with Homeseer in the OFF mode.
Been doing this for years now. This is a safety thing as sometimes the scripts do call the whole directory structure while some INI files do the same.

I have been able to keep a clean backup compressed at below 1Gb (many times just 256Mb). I also have always run Homeseer on a smaller partition (even with Windows server) around 20Gb for ease in imaging of the partition (portability to the NAS drives). With the RPi Homeseer you can just remove the SD card and back it up (here keep mine at 16Gb).

It is up to you and it is difficult to predict how much you are going to run it; IE: with additional scripting / plugins / triggers and events. Some folks keep their Homeseer 3 boxes light and tight while others are continuously adding to their automation. Homeseer makes it very easy to automate anything; literally. You can do geotracking all sorts of ways today and automate based on that stuff. Amazing stuff today.

It's a hobby here which I tinker a bunch with and have turned my home in to an automation sand box of sorts.

[mikee123]

So to backup my system I backup the homeseer directory for example C:/Program files/Homeseer and copy that to a backup USB stick. How do I turn Homeseer to off ? Just exit and close Homeseer or is there more to it ?