Hello. Just curious only turn on switches that are off benefit. I have been selecting this option with each app I have created bc it makes sense. However building an app now where i realized it actually prevented it from working properly bc some of the switches were not turned on by HE and there hadnt been enough time for HE to poll the switches so it thought they were off. So i have 2 options. Decrease polling intervals which I dont like or unselect the only turn OFF what is On. Just led me to the question of if there is any real benefit to selecting this option. Thanks!
The benefit is that it eliminates unnecessary Zigbee or Z-Wave traffic if the light is already in the desires state. The drawback, as you note, is that results may be unexpected if the device doesn't report status to the hub in a timely manner (or at all, though that should be rare). Two situations where this often comes up are many "classic" Z-Wave switches and dimmers that don't report physical changes, and some polling-only LAN integrations like the built-in Hue Bridge integrations (and I think now Kasa).
Sometimes this can be avoided (controlling the devices from the hub, not physically, avoids these delays for most devices) or otherwise mitigated (Zigbee grpip broadcasting uses a command to the group and not each device, if supported, so the traffic thing is less of a concern in the first place). If network efficiency isn't a big concern, commanding "on" to a device that is already on should have no real world effect, and it will save you from this problem.
Ultimately, it's up to you and your preferences, keeping in mind how your devices behave/report.
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Thanks for your response. Seems like the better route is to not select rather than decrease polling since that occurs frequently compared to using the app. I primarily use my Kasa app to turn on & off devices bc the app UI is nicer but so thats why this is an issue at times. I am programming an easy button for my wife & kids so they give me a break on automating the switches. Next I'll be working on a Kill switch mainly for pausing auto shutoff apps.
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