Advice on hardware for startup

Installation
1

Hi all,

I’m looking to get started with Home Assistant and would really appreciate some advice. My situation is a bit more complex as I’m planning a setup for two separate physical locations:

  1. Home (under construction, ready in ±18 months):

Integrations I want: Sonos, Samsung TV, Qbus (via API or workaround), Nuki, geofencing, a self-built cat feeder (ESP32), wastecollection add on belgium, buienradar belgium…

Possibly Zigbee/Matter devices later

Planning to use 3 to 5 IP cameras with Frigate + AI detection (people, vehicles, motion) – ideally using free/local AI (e.g., Coral USB)

  1. Workshop (hangar 200m²) (available at the end of this year, ~4km away):

Integrations: Qbus and Sonos, geofencing…

3 cameras with Frigate + AI

Fully separate local network, so I’m considering running a dedicated Home Assistant instance there

Might sync a few elements (e.g. temperature, Frigate events) with the home setup via Remote Home Assistant add-on

About me:

No coding experience, but I learn quickly and love to tinker

I’d like to start testing things now (Sonos, TV, Nuki, geofencing…)

No cameras yet, but they’ll be added when i go to the workshop at the end of this year, or to the new home in about 18 months.

Not interested in Docker setups for now because I understand add-ons don’t work there, and as a beginner, add-ons seem very useful and beginner-friendly (e.g. Frigate, ESPHome, File Editor…)(unless you can convince me i don’t need them and i can use a docker as a beginner)

I’m open to either Home Assistant Green or a mini-PC running HA OS (or a synology server?) — whichever is more future-proof without being to much overkill

What I’m looking for:

Hardware recommendations for a good setup to start with (for my home)

Future setup (Frigate-only and separate HA, or full HA and frigrate instance)

Is it worth buying a Coral USB now?

Best ways to sync 2 HA instances across different networks

Thanks in advance for any insights or suggestions!

2

Depends

You can install HACS and get addons. Takes all of 30seconds

You can manually install anything available as addon. These are usually standard docker containers you install separately or cards installed in the config folder

HAOS or docker is preference only.

If you can find one and will use coral likely yes. They were $30usd. There is a price above $50 where I may say should I use a GPU?

Mqtt, event stream, state stream or api

Depends on what you want to do

HA runs on anything. Best thing to start on is whatever you have available NOW. Frigate, plex, HA, voice etc all have specific needs depending on how you use them. Each of these you’ll find that until you use them you don’t know how you’ll use them. I guess if you have a few thousand to burn on a PC you can buy best of best and maybe it’ll be overkill or may be perfect. If you can wait, maybe setup and use 6months then go for permanent

I got 1litre PC for $89USD on Amazon and it runs amazing. 4 cameras in frigate with usb coral and HA.

I also have an old 2012 2U server I got for $25 at auction. 12 camera with PCI coral frigate + Jellyfin streaming to multiple remote sites , HA, voice and other web services. Smooth function but this replaced a 1U synology I spent > $1000 on that barely handles Jellyfin and cameras were brutal.

My point is, start with least expensive thing you can and gain real understanding of resource needs of these services and there effects on system operation. After a few months and greater understanding of what you need buy more

You say 4 camera but unless you live in apartment I expect 6 is minimum camera count on small home. This is why I say get things in place then get server hardware. Once you put cameras up I expect you may realize you lack coverage and want more. Buying based on current presumption may put you in situation where resources are constrained because you planned for different use case

3

HACS does not support add-ons. Only 3rd party integrations and frontend cards and resources.

4

No, it is Google abandonware.

You can try HA OS out now in a VM on any PC you currently have that supports virtualisation and is on 24/7. It’s very easy to move to your final chosen hardware.

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