I've seen a few posts from 994 users asking about upgrading to eisy. There's another version of eisy hardware just released, read the link for the differences. There's also a new 994 upgrade path discount offer good through 11/21.

Universal Devices

Introducing eisy | home r2!

eISY, ev, iot, matter, node server, plugin, powerwall, smartgrid, storage, tesla

That's about as incremental as an upgrade gets. Still, nice to know.

Very much seems like MeLE stopped making the old hardware, so just pick and validate a new one. It's a big advantage of moving off of the ISY994 and later apu2 (Polisy) hardware, it's quite easy to move to a new platform as hardware ages.

The CPU is of course tons faster in IPC (the N150 has a new core design from Alder Lake), so that's a good thing, as is lower power consumption from the new process node.

Did notice a few things in the email information.

The new R2 has wi-fi 5.0 and Bluetooth 5.1 and the older wi-fi 6.0 and Bluetooth. May not make much difference for some while it may for others.

don't think i've ever been anywhere close to wifi 5/6 bandwidth limited, though 6 vs 5 might have some security benefits. i run wired, so don't really care. not sure what the eisy uses bluetooth for, aside from initial setup i guess, but i don't use audio on the eisy, and the major performance difference between BT 5.1 and 5.2 is apparently audio-focused. meh.

the power reduction is attractive... the v1 tends to run fairly warm to my touch. moving to this platform was probably good for hardware portability, but i never thought a boost in processing power over the 994 was... necessary for my needs, so any reduction in power, even if it's a reduction in MIPS or whatever (not the case here, i guess), is welcome.

so: cheaper, lower power hardware is the trend i like to see. unless someone explains why i'm wrong, i don't think bluetooth versions matter. i think i would have preferred wifi 6 over 5, but it'd depend on details i haven't tracked down, and i won't, because i view this device as infrastructure, and in my house, infrastructure is hard wired.

i don't see a compelling reason to "upgrade" from v1 to v2. if i get a chance to migrate my v1 into a family member's house, i'll take the opportunity then to move myself to v2.

For the eisy network applications I can think of, WiFi 5 or 6 bandwidths are both like bringing a nuke to a fist fight... meaning WAY more than necessary for rest, mqtt, etc. There is a security difference but can only be exploited by your neighbors or someone parked in your driveway,

2 hours ago, fisix said:

don't think i've ever been anywhere close to wifi 5/6 bandwidth limited, though 6 vs 5 might have some security benefits.

On 11/11/2025 at 8:19 AM, Brian H said:

Did notice a few things in the email information.

The new R2 has wi-fi 5.0 and Bluetooth 5.1 and the older wi-fi 6.0 and Bluetooth. May not make much difference for some while it may for others.

Since Wi-Fi 5 barely has support in FreeBSD 15, we're probably 3-4 years away at least until either of these changes make a difference in how the device behaves.

However, if it really bugs you, you can always just take the WiFi card out of the old eisy and put it in the new one, it's just an E-key M.2 card if memory serves.

Doesn't bother me. I just wanted to point it out.

I am 100% happy with my ISY994i as it does everything I need.

WiFi 5, WiFi 6 ... I cannot (in a million years!) imagine either would make a difference for eisy, ISY994, or other home-automation.

But just in case ... my home has been on WiFi 7 (Ubiquiti) for a while now.

32 minutes ago, GPritchard said:

WiFi 5, WiFi 6 ... I cannot (in a million years!) imagine either would make a difference for eisy, ISY994, or other home-automation.

But just in case ... my home has been on WiFi 7 (Ubiquiti) for a while now.

So, shocker, Wi-Fi 7 does make a difference for home automation. There's an update in the spec where devices can sleep and be woken, unlike on previous versions where every device constantly sent beacons and filled up the airwaves. This lets you put more HA devices onto Wi-Fi.

But the Wi-Fi 6 in the current eisy only runs at Wi-Fi 5 anyway.

Edited 23 hours ago23 hr by jec6613

Does anyone even use the wifi capability of their eisy?

The biggest single improvement of the new R2 is probably the reduced power consumption. There have been reports of these little boxes getting quite hot when installed in confined spaces.