[blastro]

My story: Spent weeks / months setting up a fairly sophisticated home automation set up running on a Mac Mini. Worked great for 3-4 years, occasionally I would have to re-pair all of the Z-Wave devices after a power outage, but nothing too serious. Then one day the Mac Mini died and I thought about the days/weeks of work to replace it and just decided not too. In the end, it didn't provide a ton of value beyond the shiny UI and charting abilities. It was fun but I don't think I would do it again, unless I was retired or something.

[Coloranotio]

I have a very unsophisticated setup, would love to have a more integrated one but i also see the issue with complexity etc.

In worst case i don't need it.

But controling heating remotly is great to have. Being able to collect the humidity to prevent mold is also great.

I hope that all of this tinkering and pushing for it, will make a much more stable and fun experience in the long term.

I might have a chance to rebuild a old house, i'm still not sure if i want to put cable (some bus system, 12v or PoE/Ethernet) everywere or just using some radio based components.

The biggest annoyance is defintily the energy usage of bigger things like heating valves or potentially a window or a door.