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Are there plans for a “Homey Pro”?

hello Community,
hello Athom Team,

as the Titel already tells: are there such plans? A Homy with a stronger CPU, more RAM and so on?

why I’m asking is easy. I have a small house and I spend the last months making it a smart home. Starting with lights, heating, dryer, washer, door and window sensors ending with sonos, tv, and wall plug. In total about 120 devices. 

I connected them all with 25 Apps and about 200 flows, making my house smart with statistics, probabilities etc. But there is one simple issue: it seems that this all is a bit to much for my Homey. Swap higher than 300MB after a few days, average load much higher than 1 throughout the day....

Of course I know there are ways to optimise the way, flows are working using Apps like Papertrail, but have you ever tried to use HomeyKit with about 100 devices? In my special case - with all Homezy has to handle - it’s crashing. Thinking about “wife acceptence test” mine is killing me when she goes down to the basement and a simple thing like light stops working, because Homey has to handle the heating in three other rooms and the entertainment of my daughter.

Maybe I’m the only one using the small sphere in such an extreme way, but I would like to have one with more power, and I would pay for it because I know it’s worth.

Regards
Andreas


Comments

  • I also think Homey should be able to handle +100 devices and +200 flows without any problems since in the future we will most likely all end up with these numbers.
  • canedjecanedje Member
    edited January 2018
    Jesper said:
    I also think Homey should be able to handle +100 devices and +200 flows without any problems since in the future we will most likely all end up with these numbers.
    Indeed. I think the current Homey must be able to operate this easely.
    (I'm halfway in numbers you mentioned and until now no troubles, except instability of Homey in general)
  • As far as I have seen the Number of flows nor the number of devices is really an problem.
    If you use smart triggers (events on changes on the devices or on time a couple of times a day) and not trigger flows Every # seconds (to test every 10 seconds if it is dark....) and that for many flows. Homey is imho absolutely capable of running that environment.

    The only problem is having more than ## Apps  installed, where Athom defined this as 16, but this could unofficial also be ~30 or more apps if the apps are not to big/active and you don't  use speech that often (or use an Amazon Dot for Speech!) ...

    Having many apps and therefor swap makes Homey slower specially seen in speech taking long/stuttering.

    It is advisable to keep the number of brands (and therefor Apps) as low as possible.
    (tip for the people with 7 different Z-wave or 433 brands/apps)

  • KikkerX10KikkerX10 Member
    edited January 2018
    It is advisable to keep the number of brands (and therefor Apps) as low as possible.
    (tip for the people with 7 different Z-wave or 433 brands/apps)

    the USP for me to buy Homey was the fact that i could use different kind of brands and different kind of equipment. Otherwise i would have bought a Fibaro system.
  • I only can tell you my experiences with Homey within my microcosms and with the actual hardware (maybe software, too) my device is at it's limits. 

    Of course I have a few flows triggered once in 5 minutes but I took care, that most of my triggers are based on changes in device states or changes in variabels (eg. Better Logic). And of course I am sure, that not every flow is build as perfect as it could be, there is always a better way, but as long as my Papertrail App reports round about 50 triggered flows in about 15 Minutes and my average load is about 1.6 in the last 15 Minutes I have to think, that Homey needs more power if it should make its job as expected in a growing IoT world with amateur users.

    Don't misunderstand me, Homey is a great product as it is and I love it, there is no other smart home controller on the market with such possibilities. It's just my case I'm talking about.
  • @KikkerX10
    You don't have to convince me, but just for someone who thinks the next socket of a different brand is just 10$ cheaper.... (and switching from brand over and over again!)

    A second Homey when First Homey's memory is full will cost more! (Not to mention multiple Homeys don't automatically communicate at the moment.)

    @Seraphim
    is it the number of Devices/Flows/Triggers that is limiting or the  number of Apps installed for your Homey?
    btw: Thanks for Mentionining #PaperTraisl!  ;-) 
  • @GeurtDijker
    Because I don't know how to check this, I have to believe that the Flows are okay, because of the results in Papertrails. There are a lot of Flows for so many devices, of course but in PaperTrails they are not triggered unnormal often. Every Flow has its Papertrail card in the Then column and as already told there are about 50 Flows in 15 minutes triggered (in average, sometimes some more and sometimes some less)

    But maybe we should talk about this in another Topic or on a different way because this wouldn't fit the actual topic.
  • I agree, would love a Pro model and a "Switch controller option". So I can take the current homey and move it to my cabin, and use the Pro model at home without need to redo all the flows/ devices etc.
  • honeyhoney Member
    edited April 2018
    Totally agree. To make it really pro I would add these as well:

    - Battery
    - 3/4G connection
    - Wired LAN connection

    Would be nice to have a longer range Z-wave too and IR receiver what is not blind if the LED ring is on.

    @Bram @Emile
  • rickprickp Member
    honey said:
    Totally agree. To make it really pro I would add these as well:

    - Battery
    - 3/4G connection
    - Wired LAN connection

    Would be nice to have a longer range Z-wave too and IR receiver what is not blind if the LED ring is on.

    @Bram @Emile
    +1 for an "internal ups"
  • gn0st1cgn0st1c Member
    edited April 2018
    i love Homey as is but i would definitely buy a "Homey Pro" with more RAM and usb ports.

    these would be great too;
    * lan port
    * nrf24l01
    * sma connectors (for 433/868)
  • AndyAndy Member
    I completely agree with this request. I have 15 apps installed, around 30 devices (fibaro, neo coolcam, aeotec, xiaomi). My homey is slow and in constant need for more RAM.

    Also from a business perspective this would make sense. I have serious questions about Athom's business model. I spent 300 euro on my homey, but a multiple on sensors and other devices. I think consumers expect Homey to last for at least 5 years (assuming there will be an easy way to copy your flows/devices from your old to the new Homey) and then update to a newer model so recurring revenue from 1 customer is virtually zero. Since Athom has no other products and is currently focused on a niche market (people wanting to invest serious time in setting up home automation using multiple device brands, protocols and programming complex flows), I'm really afraid of their future.

    Don't get me wrong, I love my Homey and I spent 100+ hours playing with it and most of the time it works great. But Athom's management really needs to get their stuff together if they want to survive as a company. I see several scenario's:
    1. Dumb Homey down: make Homey more accessible for non-technical people. This will be no good for the current 'geek' users who bought Homey for the flexibility. If flows are kept simple, I think you're better off sticking with Apple Homekit which have massive market penetration and leverage. Result: RIP Athom
    2. Focus on Pro users: same business model as today. Athom will be highly dependent on its community and will make just enough money to get Homey to a decent level. Possible result: Athom will run out of money and in the end will hand it over to the community.
    3. Start focusing on hardware (business model of Fibaro) and develop a Pro Homey, sensors,... Maybe throw some membership in the mix for recurring revenue (ie. Nest's business model). I'll be happy to pay 5 euro a month for some pro features, stability and verified apps. Recurring revenue = higher valuation and possible exits.

    Just my two cents. :-)
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