I gave Hubitat a shot last year after getting frustrated with HomeSeer's UI. Honestly, the local-first approach was a big selling point for me too—especially since my internet can be spotty at times. Setup wasn't too bad, though I did hit a snag integrating some older Z-Wave devices. Once past that, though, it's been rock-solid. Rule Machine took some patience initially, but now troubleshooting automations feels pretty intuitive... definitely easier than digging through YAML files in Home Assistant.
Interesting perspective—I get the appeal of Hubitat's local-first setup, especially with spotty internet. But honestly, I've found Home Assistant's YAML files pretty manageable once you get past the initial learning curve. Plus, the flexibility HA offers for integrating renewable energy monitoring is unmatched... something Hubitat hasn't quite nailed yet.
Good points about Home Assistant's YAML setup—it's definitely not as intimidating once you dive in. Took me a weekend of trial and error, but now it's second nature. I'm curious though, have you found HA's renewable energy integrations reliable long-term? I've been exploring ways to monitor solar production and battery storage more closely, and while Hubitat's local-first approach is appealing (especially since my internet drops out randomly), it does seem limited in that area. Maybe Hubitat will catch up eventually... but for now, HA seems ahead of the curve on sustainability tracking. Glad to hear it's working well for you.
I've been running HA's renewable energy integrations for about a year now, and honestly, they've been pretty solid. At first, I was skeptical—especially since my solar inverter isn't exactly mainstream—but after some initial fiddling, it's been smooth sailing. I did have one hiccup a few months back when an update temporarily broke my battery storage monitoring, but it was sorted out pretty quickly with a minor tweak to the YAML config.
I get what you're saying about Hubitat's local-first approach. It's definitely appealing, especially if your internet connection is flaky. I had similar issues at my previous place—random dropouts drove me nuts. But even with HA, you can set up most of your energy monitoring locally if you pick the right integrations. For example, I'm using Modbus TCP directly from my inverter, and it doesn't rely on cloud services at all. So even when my ISP decides to take a coffee break, my energy tracking stays rock solid.
Hubitat's great for responsiveness and reliability in automation, but yeah, their ecosystem for detailed energy tracking still feels a bit limited. I wouldn't be surprised if they catch up eventually, though. They're pretty responsive to community feedback, and sustainability tracking is becoming more mainstream every day.
If you're already comfortable with YAML and HA's quirks, I'd say give it a shot for your solar and battery monitoring. Worst-case scenario, you end up with a bit of weekend tinkering (sounds like you're already used to that anyway...). Plus, once it's dialed in, the dashboards and historical data views are pretty slick—makes it easy to spot trends or issues at a glance.
Just my two cents from personal experience. Hope that helps!
"Worst-case scenario, you end up with a bit of weekend tinkering (sounds like you're already used to that anyway...)."
Haha, weekend tinkering is basically my middle name these days. Curious though—anyone tried integrating energy monitoring with Apple's HomeKit? Wondering if it's worth exploring or still too limited...
