I’m planning to build several WiFi connected devices for home automation: an AC remote control and air quality sensors. These devices would send data and be controlled through a local server. I’m considering two approaches: running custom software on a server PC (hardware to be determined) or integrating with Home Assistant’s protocols and purchasing their hardware. Would using Home Assistant be excessive for this use case?
In terms of software, yes. But HA can be run on nearly anything—there’s no need to buy their hardware to use it.
Adding to this, I recommend a used mini PC. There’s lots of cheap used office hardware out there on eBay that is more powerful, more serviceable, and more flexible than the hardware they sell or a raspberry pi.
Companies are throwing away old hardware (like 8th/9th gen Core i5) that’s perfect for running Home Assistant. See if there’s an e-waste recycler near you - they might let you buy an old system for a nominal fee.
While there are some problems with used minipcs (notably drivers), i don’t think they are relevant if it is only going to be used as a Home Assistant
That’s a good point. This can help me with things like adding a DNS server (I’m assuming pi-hole can be run standalone on a mini PC)
I bought a used mini PC and then set up Proxmox. This little thing is a lot more capable than the Raspberry I used before and it runs my complete home lab, excluding my NAS.
Just be careful with SD cards if you’re using SBCs. Home Assistant does a lot of writing and if your SD card can’t handle repeated writes you may suddenly lose everything. Keep backups to another device and have a replacement SD card ready if extended downtime is going to be a problem for you.