2 hardware options for newbie

Hardware Server
1

Hi

I’m new here. I run veraplus since 1 year and it’s realy unreliable. I’m planning to switch to OpenHab. I hesitate between 2 hardware options for the server. The both are same price in my region:

1- Raspberry Pi 4 4GB ram with 32GB micro SD Card, 3A power supply.

2- Raspberry Pi 3 B+ 1GB ram with 120GB Kingston SSD, usb to sata cable, 2.5A power supply.

I know the problem of micro SD card corruption. Is SSD a good solution?

Also, I hesitate between Aeon Labs ZW090 Z-Stick and using vera as zwave bridge only

What do you think?
Thanks

p.s.: Sorry, english isn’t my primary language.

2

Welcome to the forum!:smiley:

This is my exact setup that has worked great for over a year.

I would like a Pi 4 with more ram (not that my OH setup needs it) but with current issues I’m gonna wait till a later version rolls out and hope the bugs are worked out.

SSD will eventually fail but is much better IMHO than SD card. Either route you pick just make sure you make a backup and verify it works. Nothing ruins a good day like losing all your hard work and no way to restore it. If you do decide to go the SD card route check out this topic ZRAM status as it may help with sd wearing out.

Can’t help with this one, I use zigbee with zigbee2mqtt and a CC2531 coordinator with no issues. You may want to check your location to make sure whatever zwave stick works.

3

Welcome.
I believe SSD is a good option but opinions here vary.
The recommendation from our trusted Z-Wave developer would be to use the zwave binding.I think the less overall complexity leads to a more reliable system.

4

I don’t kown about somes issues with Pi 4. What about that?

So, I’ll be better with Aeon Z-Stick???

5

And what about UPS or battery backup?

6

I haven’t read to much about it other than not being able to boot without an SD card like Pi 3.

Anytime your running a linux/unix server it’s a good idea to have a UPS to prevent memory corruption during times when there is a power blip. If a power outage is more than a blip you will need enough battery to keep the server running until you can properly shut it down.

7

You could look at the ODroid C2

Which has a UPS optional extra

8

Absolutely, I’ve got this one too. It works perfect. With Vera you have an extra point of failure.

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9

There is one USB stick that needs to be connected through a usb 2 hub to a Pi 4 because the stick says it supports usb 3 when it does not. That is the only caveat with using a usb stick on the Pi 4.

I just verified with a search that the Aeon Z-Stick needs to be connected through a hub to the Pi 4.

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10

Seem to be that the bootloader of RPi 4 is new. USB boot not enable right now: https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=243995

What hardware the guys here is using?

Is it true for the HUSBZB-1 too?

Thanks everybody. My setup become clearer in my head

11

I do not know and I do not have a Pi 4 to test with. I only heard of issues with the z-stick.

12

Thank you all for your help. I received my hardware last week. RPi 3 B+, Z-Stick Gen 5 and 120GB Kingston SSD. I will try to install in the next days.

Thank you

13

I strongly suggest to use openHABian.

14

Yep!!! I installed openHABian this morning