diff --git a/kubernetes/apps/home-assistant/deployment.yaml b/kubernetes/apps/home-assistant/deployment.yaml
index 8ea3a6a6..7bb5c988 100644
--- a/kubernetes/apps/home-assistant/deployment.yaml
+++ b/kubernetes/apps/home-assistant/deployment.yaml
@@ -23,13 +23,10 @@ spec:
       # when that field was dropped from the manifest. Safe to remove
       # in a follow-up once SSA owns it with this value.
       serviceAccountName: default
-      nodeSelector:
-        topology.kubernetes.io/zone: edge
-      tolerations:
-        - key: workload-class
-          operator: Equal
-          value: pinned
-          effect: NoSchedule
+      # No nodeSelector/toleration: HA reads the power meter over MQTT now
+      # (sml2mqtt bridge owns the USB device on edge), so it no longer needs
+      # the edge USB device and schedules on the general cluster pool. This
+      # gets the heavy HA pod (8Gi) off the soon-to-be-tiny edge box.
       containers:
         - name: home-assistant
           image: ghcr.io/home-assistant/home-assistant:2026.6.4 # {"$imagepolicy": "flux-system:home-assistant"}
@@ -43,8 +40,6 @@ spec:
           volumeMounts:
             - name: config
               mountPath: /config
-            - name: stromzaehler
-              mountPath: /dev/stromzaehler
           # Initial restore of a 1 GB encrypted HAOS backup runs single-
           # threaded inside HA's Python and exceeded the old liveness
           # window, getting SIGTERM'd mid-restore. Startup probe gives a
@@ -78,8 +73,8 @@ spec:
               memory: 2Gi
             limits:
               memory: 8Gi
-          securityContext:
-            privileged: true
+          # No securityContext/privileged: the USB meter is gone (read via
+          # MQTT now), which was the only reason HA needed privileged.
         # Reverse-proxy sidecar. ingress-nginx → :8124 → 127.0.0.1:8123.
         # HA's TCP peer is always loopback, so http.trusted_proxies =
         # [127.0.0.1, ::1] is static and never has to change when
@@ -171,9 +166,6 @@ spec:
         # (/etc/nginx/conf.d/default.conf rendered from the .template).
         - name: proxy-conf-d
           emptyDir: {}
-        - name: stromzaehler
-          hostPath:
-            path: /dev/serial/by-id/usb-FTDI_FT230X_Basic_UART_DK0E1GP5-if00-port0
         # code-server's settings/extensions cache. Not on the config PVC
         # so installed extensions don't pollute HA's /config listing.
         # Trade-off: extensions reset across pod restarts.