u/Philihar

In an ideal world I have a 3d printer and can get one of those lids you can refill.

Are there any companies that print for a reasonably low cost? Half the things I see on ebay are charging ridiculous prices!

Or should I just stick with cutting a small hole and covering with tape?

So on this page there is a handy breakdown right at the bottom of the things gen 1 does differently to gen 2.

Most of this stuff just looks like generic zigbee items to work with 'their' hub. If I intend to use HA with a zigbee hub of my own, essentially all this is not really worth it? Their add ons are way more expensive than aqara stuff for instance anyway.

£200 ish for gen 2 with room thermostat vs £90 (cheapest I found) for the gen 1 which was released in 2017. I guess I'd never know what they release in the future as this will likely not be supported by gen 1...

Now I also got in contact and their sales team replied with this:

Gen 2 has a few advantages over Gen 1:

• Enhanced Compatibility: Wiser 2nd Gen supports a broader range of devices, including new sensors and smart home products, providing greater flexibility in expanding your smart home ecosystem.
• Improved Energy Management: The updated system offers advanced energy monitoring capabilities, allowing homeowners to gain real-time insights into their energy consumption and identify opportunities for increased efficiency.
• Future-Proofing: Upgrading ensures compatibility with emerging technologies and standards, keeping your smart home system current and capable of integrating with future devices and services.

Wiser Gen 2 also improves the OpenTherm control available:

• Improved modulation algorithm to reduce consumption
• Boiler Errors Diagnostics + share the malfunction type with the installer
• Central heating maximum temperature level
• DHW temperature setpoint level

I can no longer justify spending £159 for what I thought would be a fun smart home project.

Please share with me your experience if you've done this yourself, what you would recommend.

Some things I'm concerned about:

• Electricity usage, one of the key selling points was that HA Green uses so little electricity, I imagine a mini pc can't beat that?
• Noise, my PC is LOUD, this will sit in our spare bedroom and when guests come round I'd rather then not hear the fan at night!
• There are tons of models within the mini pc world, how do I know what CPU and RAM combination will be powerful enough to run HA.
• I've seen some PC's with older versions of windows, assuming HA runs on windows, what version is required? Or do multiple versions work.

I feel like I can justify spending £100-£200 on a computer for this, but if it's sole use is HA, and I want to do very basic things (dabble in complex things later) ideally I don't really want to overspend.

I don't live in a mansion so my HA setup won't be too crazy. Right now I only have smart lights in 3 sections of my house.