zPoint Products has gone to Indiegogo to pitch an open source, cloudless “BaHa Box” smart hub starting at $219 that runs Linux and Home Assistant on an Allwinner H2+ or i.MX6 ULL with 2x USB, 10/100 LAN, WiFi/BT, and optional Zigbee and Z-Wave.

Delta, Canada based zPoint Products, a spin-off of TechSol (Technical Solutions Inc), has informed us of its Indiegogo campaign for a Cortex-A7-powered home automation hub pre-loaded with a Linux BSP and the popular, open source Home Assistant smart hub stack. The 115 x 90 x 451mm BaHa Box is available in a Residential model with an Allwinner H2+ and a pricier Commercial model with an NXP i.MX6ULL.

BaHa Box, front and back
(click images to enlarge)

Only four days left remain in the campaign, and ZPoint is far from achieving its Indiegogo goal. Yet, this is a flexible funding project and TechSol’s Brian Empsey informed us the BaHa Box had already been ordered by many of its regular customers and will be commercially available at a higher price starting in November. TechSol has been around for several decades, and LinuxDevices (the precursor to LinuxGizmos) covered many of their Arm-based panel PCs, including the TPC-43C.

Early bird prices for the Allwinner H2+ based Residential model start at $159 or $179 (with Zigbee or Z-Wave radios). Early birds for the i.MX6 ULL-based Commercial model go for $219 or $249 with Zigbee/Z-Wave.

The Commercial module has a more IoT-friendly i.MX6 ULL compared to the H2+ and offers a custom Yocto-based BSP instead of a custom Debian BSP for the Residential. It also offers 256MB soldered flash instead of 256KB flash.

The Commercial model provides standard instead of optional DIN-rail mounting and provides a more secure “2-part” power connector compared to a barrel jack. The Residential box, on the other hand, has a wider operating range that supports unheated buildings, although both are limited to indoor use only.

The customizable Home Assistant stack enables private, cloud-free operation with support for more than 2000 devices using multiple home automation standards. ZPoint’s chief claimed advantage over DIY smart hubs and other hubs running Home Assistant is its line of FCC certified wireless devices. ZPoint has been making FCC certified Zigbee radios and other wireless devices for a dozen years.

The BaHa Box is equipped with 256MB DDR3, a microSD slot, and the previously mentioned flash allotment. The 170-gram, wall-mountable smart hub is further equipped with 10/100 Ethernet, USB 2.0 host, and micro-USB OTG ports. A WiFi host and device radio with WiFi AP support and Bluetooth are also standard.

 
Further information

The BaHa Box is available on Indiegogo for six more days starting at $219, with shipments due in November. More information may be found at zPoint Products’ Indiegogo page and its website.