Question

Hi All, Let me start out by apologizing for the long post. Looking for advise on HomeSeer Home Automation. I have outgrown my current controller(s) and looking to purchase one of these as it will better fit my needs, but before I do, I wanted to reach out to the community with a few questions. Background: Looking to purchase HS3/4 Software only and run in a VM. Only use Zwave and Wifi devices (So far) Two connected buildings on the property (LAN connection and will need zwave controller in both locations) Questions: Is there any value in Pro vs Standard? I don't know if I will be over 5 plug-ins. If I run this from a VM, I know I plug the Zwave SmartStick into the HomeSeer hub on the VM, but do I need another hub in the second location to use the second SmartStick? Misc Questions (less important) Touch designer? Is this worth it and do any of you use it?  2. Zwave Diag and OTA Updates seem useful but for those with     standard/pro, was this helpful? Thank you all in advance for those who reply!  

Answer 1

I can’t answer all of these questions, but as far as the second location goes, since you’ll have a LAN connection buy a z net controller from HomeSeer and you won’t need a second hub. I use the z net in place of the usb dongle and it works great. HS touch designer is great if you want/need something super customized. I’ve spent many hours with it over the years, and I would say not worth it for most use cases especially with the stock HomeSeer app that’s now available. I don’t even use that. We do almost exclusively voice control with Alexa and Siri. Alexa is easy. Siri requires work with Homebridge but once set up is great.  

Comments

Thanks @inerrant. I am trying to weigh the OTA and Debugger. I think the touchscreen designer is something I would like, but don't think I need. I am concerned that I will need to purchase plugins at 40 a pop in addition to the software and that it will be pricey.  

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@osgood there are alternatives to hstouch, for better or worse. One I am intrigued by but haven't tried is  
https://thehomeremote.com/

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Yep and here is my dilemma. 1. Software is 500. 00 right now with the Debugger, Plugins (they make) and OTA updater. 2. Standard is 215. 00 + 40 for OTA + 30 for Debugger and 40 for DSC plugin. So at a minimum I am at 300ish for these features and limited to 5 plugins. Basically, I think I need Pro for that reason and for what @abstergent stated too. Not trying to be cheap, but do not want to over spend either.  

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@osgood I understand the expense of the plugins. They definitely can add up. Personally I don’t use HomeSeer for much of anything any longer except for z wave. Everything else I do in Node Red including events/scenes because the graphical nature is very easy. I think you can eliminate the need for some HS plugins with free ones in Node Red also.  

Answer 2

Personally I would be very Leary of standard. Zwave is a plug in, lifx (wifi) lights are another, tuya (smartlife wifi devices) is another. The plugins add up real quickly. I'd buy the aeotec zwave and zigbee stick to allow for the possibility of zigbee in the future

Comments

Thanks @abstergent. This makes sense, but I wont have backup and restore (which I have used in the past with my current controller) but that was an all in one. Not sure if I need route assignment, but could see how that could be beneficial.  

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Do you see yourself using ZigBee? I have it only needed Zwave for now even though my current controller support ZibBee too.  

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@osgood technically I do use zigbee as I have Phillips hue lights. For me they are both popular and sometimes you want the device that runs on one protocol over the other for whatever reason-cost, aesthetics. if it really doesn't cost more, why tie yourself to one protocol. The aeotec stick is about the same price as the homeseer smartstick

Answer 3

I love my HS3 hub. rock solid. I have it on a celeron 4core 1. 1Ghz mini computer and it runs fine with numerous plugins. Really the only ones I use most now are mcsMQTT, Zwave, and a couple to help with scripts, so standard likely fine. You will need a second Z-Wave stick in the other location and a second hub. I used HomeAssistant in my second location as I just have a few switches and dimmers that work fin in HA. You may want to consider HA over HS if you have simple z-wave. but HomeSeer support for zwave is far suprior. I connect HS to HA via MQTT and use Node-Red now for most of my automations. More work to setup, but super flexible then.  

Answer 4

I own HS3 Standard and HS4 Pro the main difference is a few extra plugins are free and Pro comes with HSTouch designer. I run HS3 on a surface pro that has an HSTouch screen and its fantastic. I have android tablets and ipads around my house using HSTouch. As far as the second building goes they sell a Z-net that you put in the second building and connects back to the main controller through your wired or wireless network. I have yet to find a device other than homeseer ones that have firmware updates available. diagnostic can be helpful but if you have a large mesh it should never be a problem.  

Comments

Thanks all for this great feedback. @cnidoblast29 this is incredibly helpful and I think I am going to just purchase Pro and be done with it as debug and 1-2 plugins get me half way to the cost of Pro.  

Answer 5

I run HS4 Pro in a Windows server virtual machine. I bought HS4 Pro on Black Friday, plugins etc. I already used Node-RED and thought given all the excellent reviews that HS4 would be great for Z-Wave. I was going to trial it out to use it as my main Home Automation controller. Reliable it has NOT been. Half the time it fails to start up, I haven’t bothered to fully investigate the error messages. It worked for a good 6 months with no issue. I have literally two add ins installed, MQTT and Z-Wave. Thankfully I only have about 4 Z-Wave light switches and the rest Hue. None of the Z Wave gets used because can’t be bothered to get it working in NR. Maybe I should persist but I found the UI to be something that looks like it’s from the 1990s. Also I don’t like that it launches this ridiculous interface when I log in to the server. I wondered if possible to run as a service then only configure through web interface but I don’t believe that’s possible. Seems archaic to have to leave a server logged in just to continue running the software. This is just my personal take, as mentioned I know many people like it and I’m sure it is reliable for many, but it has not been for me.