Soon to be HomeSeer user needs controller buying advice

[diitto]

Hi, I recently gave up on a competitor's system as it just didn't work very well and that company seemed to have no particular interest in the security of their hardware. I am planning to turn to HomeSeer as all that I've read tells me they are the best.

I am likely going to buy the Home Troller Zee S2 (the least expensive controller). But what would I gain if I instead went up to the next level, to the Home Troller SEL. It appears that they both have most of the same functions but the SEL has more RAM, more storage, a faster processor and included WiFi.

My needs are not extensive but I might want to grow the system if it works well. To start, I have two Z-Wave door locks and a Z-Wave compatible HVAC control. I might eventually want to control my two garage doors and maybe some cameras (up to maybe five cameras).

Does the WiFi in the SEL simply mean I can connect that box to my router via WiFi rather than needing to connect the two via Ethernet???

But either controller must have a radio to talk to the Z-Wave devices (and more), right???

Just trying to learn here...

Any help with choosing a HomeSeer controller would be much appreciated... thanks...

bob

[collegeboyslive]

Welcome ,
You will find loads of help here.

Yes with wifi you won't need an Ethernet connection, a faster processor is always useful as you expand beyond basic functions and yes , I believe the zwave radio is built into all the units so it will be ready to talk to your devices right out of the box.

[LeoS]

The major difference is that Z2 is based on Raspberry Pi (ARM processor, similar to smartphones and tablets) while SEL is an intel celeron box (similar to desktop computers and notebooks).

The Pi version of Hs3 only has a handful of plugins that are compatible with it, while the Linux version have access to more plugins (but afaik not 100% of windows version, although more are being converted to be windows and linux compatible).

Being an intel box, it's also possible for you to install windows on the machine and maybe run the windows version of Hs3 on it in the future (need to buy all the licenses required, may not be a good deal).

So if the budget permits, i'd recommend going with the SEL.

[S-F]

Don't forget that the Zee S2 only allows you to run 5 plugins. I am using 23 plugins for example and I'll be using more in the future. Sure I don't need that many, but they are all very useful. You wouldn't want to have to choose between two or three really great plugins for your fifth.

[diitto]

Thanks for the feedback... I need to absorb a bit of what you three conveyed and then I will almost certainly have some more questions... thanks. ... bob