Upgrading from HS3 Windows to ZeeS2?

[DLONG2]

I am new to HomeSeer, and purchased the HS3 Windows software last week. I am thinking of upgrading to the ZeeS2 hardware after I read somewhere that the HS software comes with a 30 day money back guarantee. One reason would be to allow the HS network to act as a standalone, not dependent on the PC to run, but more importantly so that the z-wave antennae can be placed in the middle of the home instead of on the PC which sits in one of the far corners of the home. I had purchased the SmartStick+ and believe that the ZeeS2 comes with the z-wave hardware embedded anyway,

What would be the advice when thinking of changing from software to hardware? Is there an easy way of moving the database over to the hardware? Not that I have a lot built up already, but I ideally I'd want to avoid having to de-acquire the various z-wave sensors, etc. in order to have them appear in the hardware.

The learning curve is pretty steep, but I've made progress with managing Blue Iris, Phillips Hue, with the new z-wave motion/door sensors.

[DLONG2]

Maybe I just need the HomeSeer Z-Net Remote interface rather than a hardware controller?

[Pete]

What version of Homeseer did you purchase? Pro or Standard.

The Homeseer RPi ZeeS2 comes with a third version of Homeseer which limits you to 5 plugins.

The Homeseer license you have allows you to run Homeseer Pro or Standard on Windows or Linux (RPi).

The S2 Homeseer version will only run on Linux.

The Homeseer ZNet is an RPi with a ZWave interface which connects to any running Homeseer instance (Windows or Linux) via Ethernet.

Here have my ZNet like RPi device mounted in the attic powered by a POE connection. Been there now for years cranking 24/7.

The ZNet and S2 RPi's are both Linux devices and meant to be plug n play.

Personally thinking that you need to know a bit about Linux command line to manage these devices.

[DaveB]

I understand your thinking, and quite frankly don't know the right answer. I'm an old HS user from more than a decade ago, and when I was working had a home server running 24x7, which I also used to run HS. Once I was automated the way I wanted, I rarely changed or added devices. I've since retired, and to me didn't make much sense to keep a desktop or server running just for home automation. I just bought a Zee S2, figured I'd give it a shot as it's nice to have just the tiny troller tucked away in a closet. It's been working great, and was very easy to get back up and running. I'm not sure whether the 5 plugin limit is going to cause a problem for me or not, I'm thinking not, once I get done playing around with all of the newer capabilities. If it proves to be an issue, then I'll just give my troller to my son in law and fire up a windows system again.

The one negative I'm experiencing, is as an old Windows user......have absolutely no experience w/Linux. I'm scared to mess around with the troller. With windows, if I messed something up I could just blow away windows and reload it if I had to and reload HS. Not sure how this all works in the Linux world, but trying to learn.

[bighorn]

Delong2. I'm curious what you decided to do and why....stay with HS3 or install a Zee Troller? If you moved from PC/HS3 to Troller how was the migration? I'm about done with my 30 day HS3 software trial (running on a laptop with Windows 7) and am considering a Troller. What's your perspective? Thanks!

Of course any other opinions are welcome too!

[Pete]

The one negative I'm experiencing, is as an old Windows user......have absolutely no experience w/Linux. I'm scared to mess around with the troller. With windows, if I messed something up I could just blow away windows and reload it if I had to and reload HS. Not sure how this all works in the Linux world, but trying to learn.

Understood.

It is similiar utilizing Raspberian on the Raspberry Pi.

A base Raspberian build, mono and a copy of your Homeseer 3 directory is all you need. Even easier if you keep or make an image of the running Zee2 on a spare micro SD card then copy the current back up of the HS3 directory.

The Zee2 is just a tweaked for HS3 Raspberian Pi.

[jguest]

Hi guys, I too was contemplating a ZEE S2, and went ahead and purchased it. I'm not completely new to Linux, but I do have over 40 years in IT and I've been using HomeSeer since the 1990s. I have a functional HS3 system, and was wondering if anyone knew how to migrate my configuration from HS3 to ZEE S2?

Thanks!

[drparker151]

Hi guys, I too was contemplating a ZEE S2, and went ahead and purchased it. I'm not completely new to Linux, but I do have over 40 years in IT and I've been using HomeSeer since the 1990s. I have a functional HS3 system, and was wondering if anyone knew how to migrate my configuration from HS3 to ZEE S2?

Thanks!

Pete's process is the best you'll have the latest OS and current Mono version. After you get that up and running use a windows program call WInSCP, it will allow you to easily copy the windows HomeSeer directory structure over to Linux.

You'll probably also need to do some permission changes on the files and you'll want to config the pi to autostart HS3

If you are using or plan to use ASPX pages you'll need to apply a mono patch for those to work