another question is if 8gb ram will be much better (faster?) than 4gb.
I do want to install the home assitant on a pc or a mac or, even better, on an ipad pro (i have all), but if pi is a better option, i will go for it.
Any Better Options than a Pi 4/400 to Install Home Assistant?
aec on 15/03/2023 - 22:10
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I had mine on a pi3. I couldn't ever keep it stable, could have been the power source or the sd card. I switched over to a refurb optiplex and stability issues went away.
In terms of power draw, it depends on what kind of PC you have. 500kwh assumes running at 57w 24/7 so I'm guessing this would be referring to a full spec tower. First few google entries say optiplex micros consume 9-12w idle which is closer to what home assistant is doing most of the time.
Always a good idea to get the max ram so when you repurpose it later it'll have more ram.
I am just starting my transition from SmartThings, but purchased a dell wyse thin client from Ebay with 64GSSD for $40. Will use slightly more power than a Pi (around 10-15W, haven't measured yet). It just seemed a neater all in one solution for me. There are quite a few guides installing home assistant on thin clients, which were easy to follow. Installed HAAS successfully, just haven't started the interfacing yet.
this thin client is essentially a tiny computer, right? do you need to install a windows os? or just use this HAOS?
Yes, the thin client didn't have any OS installed. I followed these instructions to install HAOS:
https://community.home-assistant.io/t/wyse-thin-client-home-…Great! I am buying a wyse on ebay tonight :D
I put HA on an old Celeron laptop. I recently did a reinstall because I wanted to switched to HAOS instead of HA on top of Debian. I found out that there was no way of installing HAOS directly onto the SSD, unless you pull out the SSD and put it in a USB enclosure and burn the image onto it that way.
The method I ended up was with a little convoluted. I burn a Ubuntu image onto a large usb stick first. Boot the usb stick on the old laptop. Download Balena Etcher on Ubuntu, and then use Balena Etcher to install HAOS onto the SSD.
I have used HA on RPI before but I don't think I will do that again for 2 reasons. The RPI installation was prone to SD card failure after a while because of the constant reads/writes, and the RPI installation was less responsive compared to a laptop installation. HAOS is a little faster and less maintenance compared to HA on top of Debian/another OS.
Het mate how did you go with this? Which Wyse did you get and are you happy with how it handles HA
?
you will save on the cost of the pi in power consumption within a year easily, a pc will chew through 500kwh a year easily, 4 times as much as the pi. I still run mine on the pi3 and has no issue for a long time(well, running out of ram is happening now but you will not reach that limit, especially with pi 4 when starting out). Mind you I've run on the pi3 for over 4 years already with nearly 100 devices and sensors connecting to it and has no issue with lag response.