I’ve been using pi 3b+ Hassbian for a couple months now, about to upgrade the Synology anyway from the old 2013 version.
Do people here recommend going on a Synology installation or stick with a pi 3 b+?
I read some posts the SD cards on pi can fail sometimes and can be unreliable.
Your input is appreciated
Thanks!
yes i had the problem with SD cards and final moved HA and other services to docker running on a DS918+
Has been faultless since …
Glad i used the Raspberry PI 3 as a learning ground , but the next logical step was Docker on another hardware platform. Apart from power outages , +40 days uptime is the norm !!
gekim.84,
If you are going to stream and process video or deploy AI/ML then definitely NAS would be the best solution. For general automation purposes without video Pie is absolutely OK.
Regards
I also recommend using the Synology esp if you want to tie in cameras etc
I’m running my setup on a very old DS1511+ and it’s faultless.
If you don’t care when the bedroom light was turned on last month and just stop recording everything, the SD card in the PI doesn’t get a workout. 
I’m sticking with my PI because it’s cheap, reliable, draws almost no power and… just sits there and does it’s duty.
thank you all for the suggestions, I’m going to try HA on DS218+
interesting topic - I’m currently confronted with the same question.
@gekim.84 Especially as you were using the Pi 3b+ before: Did you (or could you) check how the power consumption of the Synology related when HA is running over time? In general I’d be interested if having a Rasbperry would be more power efficient than having it run on the Synology - which I would expect to sleep less often if at all.
As for the SD card: some good brand would probably lead to a proper reliability, and having a backup card available isn’t that expensive either.
Hallo,
I’m not so sure I know how to measure the power consumption of the pi.
So far, I like that I have my automation in one location, since I use the Synology for VideoStation too. Also the integration of reverse proxy is helpful and I was able to map my custom domain to my HomeAssistant that is installed in Synology via a Docker container
I tried and tried the Pi route and finally gave up. DS918+ and have only installed once because it works. No failures or issues beyond my dabbling and fiddling. My NAS is on a UPS and thus far not one single failure.
Could you say how should I change recording time?
I found recorder but there was only purge_keep_days and includes, excludes. But how to make Home Assistant write history for 3 days instead of 30?
Also I see there purge_interval. But it is 1 by default, so seems not to be what I need.
I use hass.io by the way.
This is mine. I keep a 7 day history, exclude everything by default and only log things I individually care about… one line at a time.
purge_keep_days: 7
purge_interval: 1
include:
entities:
- sensor.smithville_apparent_temperature
- sensor.smithville_cloud_coverage
- sensor.smithville_daytime_high_temperature
- sensor.smithville_humidity
- sensor.smithville_overnight_low_temperature
- sensor.smithville_ozone
- sensor.smithville_precip
- sensor.smithville_pressure
- sensor.smithville_temperature
- sensor.smithville_uv_index
- sensor.smithville_visibility
- sensor.smithville_wind_speed
- sensor.smithville_wind_gust
- sensor.galveston_apparent_temperature
- sensor.galveston_cloud_coverage
- sensor.galveston_daytime_high_temperature
- sensor.galveston_humidity
- sensor.galveston_overnight_low_temperature
- sensor.galveston_ozone
- sensor.galveston_precip
- sensor.galveston_pressure
- sensor.galveston_temperature
- sensor.galveston_uv_index
- sensor.galveston_visibility
- sensor.galveston_wind_speed
- sensor.galveston_wind_gust
- binary_sensor.kitchen_motion_opened
- sensor.kitchen_motion_humidity
- sensor.kitchen_motion_temperature
- binary_sensor.attic_motion_opened
- sensor.attic_motion_humidity
- sensor.attic_motion_temperature
- sensor.406_roaming_motion_detected
- sensor.condo_humidity
- sensor.condo_temp
- binary_sensor.code_1
- binary_sensor.tool_shed_opened
- device_tracker.mqtt_richard
- device_tracker.mqtt_sandy
exclude:
domains:
- device_tracker
- updater
- camera
- media_player
- sun
- zone
- group
- sensor
- binary_sensor
- automation
- calendar
- input_text
- input_number
- light
- remote
- script
- switch
entities:
- weather.smithvilleI run Hassio on a Pi 3 B+ but I have a Maria Database running on my Synology DS218. A Pi with a good power supply and SD Card seems to be fine for my use, no issues.
Yes, I have the same arrangement.
I expect eventually I’ll move from a Pi to something with a bit more oomph, but for now, offloading the database onto something with real disks is certainly kinder to the SD card!
I had thought of moving to the DS218 completely but the issue for me is the location of it and distance to my Z-Wave and ZigBee devices would be a problem. The Pi gives the flexibility of being centrally located in the house using WiFi. If the current arrangement doesn’t work out then maybe I’ll go to a NUC.
Punkin,
Please tell me more about your DS918+ configuration:
I am thinking over moving from Pi to DS918+ due to Pi’s limitations in 4K video processing.
Regards
Ah, MarVin, so you have Wifi between your Pi and your database?
That’s braver; mine are at least connected by ethernet!
But yes, I have been thinking that plugging my zigbee stick into the Synology wouldn’t be ideal; if I did replace the Pi then I think it would be with a Gigabyte Brix I have spare, or something similar.
I installed the latest version found in the Synology Registry. Home Assistant recognized my camera as soon as I added the camera.yaml file. I’m running surveillance station as well with no conflicts. Currently I only have a couple cheap FOSCAM pan and tilt cameras but they’ve been reliable so far. In surveillance station I can use the pan and tilt but I haven’t yet figured out how to access those controls in Home Assistant.
I should mention I’m using a gen5 Z-stick which is plugged into one of the USB ports on the NAS. Because the NAS lives under my desk, I have a rather long USB extension cable that allows me to mount the z-stick to the back of my monitor so as to get it up a little higher.
I also found this to be rather helpful as well
A NUC would be my next choice as well if there were a reason to get off the Pi. So far things have been rock solid but maybe it’s because I don’t have a lot of automations or devices. I see others who have a device list that is pages long and hundreds of automations. The WiFi has worked well for me but beside the router I have 2 access points hard wired to it so the signal is strong and fast all over my house. Due to the layout of my house I need to keep the Pi centrally located which is my Dining Room and there is no wired ethernet there.
Punkin,
Thank you for the prompt and comprehensive reply. Really appreciate that. Have you had any issues with Phyton 3.5 installation? It has been discussed a number of times here that sort of incompatibility might appear under Synology docker.
What is your NAS Phyton version?
Regards
No problem at all. I’m not the most saavy person in this sort of thing…if I can make it work then it can’t be all that comlex. Here’s a screen shot of the python version I’m running;
