Home Assistant Amber

Then don’t use amber, or do use amber and get a usb hub.

There are plenty of other computers in the world.

I was really excited about the Amber with the PoE. Sadly, it’s a deal breaker with only 2 USBs.

Since you’re apparently planning on using external USB sticks regardless, maybe just get a generic IO board (rather than the Amber) for the Compute Module 4, bring your own Compute Module 4, and get nearly the same thing in the end — minus the built-in Zigbee (or Thread) that you might not use anyway.

Maybe something like this, that supports PoE and has 4 USB ports: Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 IO Board With PoE Feature, for all Variants of CM4, or perhaps that whole thing plus a case: PoE Mini-Computer (Type B) Based On Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 (NOT Included), Metal Case, With Cooling Fan | CM4-IO-POE-BOX-B. Just need your own Compute Module.

Or, of course, you could do your own hardware entirely…this is just a similar-ish option to consider if Amber still is appealing to you for some reason. :slight_smile:

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To me this of no real benefit. Where are you likely to mount a HA server that doesn’t have a power outlet, yet does have ethernet… Most of us have our HA servers pretty much next to our router, which has power.

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That depends on your network and how you use POE

My wired LAN hardware has 8 hours of battery backup, meaning anything on POE gets that 8 hour backup too, it is also deep in the basement where there is no wifi signal, and any wireless devices are on the main floor.

So there’s no real hardship in simply plugging the HA server into that same UPS…

I didn’t mention wifi at all. I would only ever a HA server connected via ethernet, but don’t see the need for PoE for such a device.

What if the POE device is 100m from the UPS. People have differing needs. Look at the sales level for the two options and you’ll see POE is popular

You are missing my point completely. We aren’t talking about a PoE CCTV camera here, we are talking about a HA server. Why TF would that be 100m from the rest of your I.T. hardware? Sure I could install my HA server down the back of my property away from everything else… great idea :man_facepalming:

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This youtuber does quite a bit of home automation stuff, and is now advertising an “Amber Pro”. Digital Home Server (Amber Pro) - All in ONE Router & NAS - YouTube

You smart guys at Nabu Casa did trademark the name right?

I have a feeling that Nabu Casa may have been second place in the naming race…

Home Assistant Freesia doesn’t quite roll off the tongue as well.

Home Assistant Tangerine could have had a much nicer looking case though.

Missed that tasty boat by about 40 years :rofl:

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Do you think that Home Assistant OS running on the Home Assistant Amber hardware can be made to auto-detect the Zigbee module for ZHA integration discovery by listing available serial ports and using the Zigbee modules serial number, probes, or something else unique?

Check out the related post about USB discovery in regards to adapter discovery in ZHA:

https://community.home-assistant.io/t/community-help-wanted-to-whitelist-all-compatible-zigbee-and-z-wave-usb-adapters-for-automatic-discovery-in-home-assistant-os/344412

I understand that USB Discovery can not be used for Serial/UART devices but maybe you could hardcode it if the Amber hardware platform can be detected or perhaps if Home Assistant OS developers could create a new ‘Serial Discovery’ integration?

It’s not clear if I would be able to fit an Aeotec Z-Pi 7 or a Z-Way.Me RaZberry inside or if the necessary GPIO pins are already wasted by the soldered Zigbee module.
Why didn’t they opt for a replaceable hat? Or if they truly wanted to make it soldered at least add Z-Wave as well (the frequencies issue is bullshit, because you can make them user selectable).

Blue was a limited edition which will most likely not be continued.

I’m having zero issues with Zigbee since I use a long (two meters) high quality USB-3 extension cord to my Zigbee stick from my RasPi 4B.

That’s my cable: Jsaux USB Extension Cable USB 3.0 Cable

That’s my stick:

https://slae.sh/projects/cc2652/

Sorry for being late to the party but I tend to agree…
The choice of not exposing the gpio internally is a bad one if you’re going for an all in one device like this.

Sure, you can add an USB module for Zwave or whatever your poison is, but if you’re stuck adding external devices for your integration needs, then what value-add does Amber give you over a basic Pi4? As a Zwave user my answer would be “none”, well, except for the m2 slot… but then again, I’m running a ZWave.me card with external antenna so in that situation I’d have to pick between exceptionally reliable zwave v.s. chances of a corrupt SD card…

Personally I opted for a dedicated server for HA and ZwaveJS on a pi… best of both worlds, a lot more complicated and I’d definitely gone for HA Amber had it…
A) Been available at the time
B) Had an option for GPIO Z-Wave

Well, the GPIO are just in use. M.2 and builtin zigbee are not free in terms of pin usage.
If you have a zwave RPI daughter board that you want to keep using, you are basically locked-in, and I’m not sure what you would expect of Amber over your current setup…

“you can have any color you want as long as it’s black” :wink:

I’m not saying I don’t understand why it isn’t there, I’m just saying it would have been a better option to give the customer a choice between the two (Zigbee / Z-Wave) via a GPIO headers.