Does Hubitat distinguish between when a Caseta dimmer or switch is turned on physically vs digitally via a rule?
There are some situations where I would like to override or disable a rule from turning off a Caseta controlled light if that light has been turned on physically/manually.
Yes.
By coincidence, this general scenario was just discussed earlier today:
https://community.hubitat.com/t/mixing-automations-with-manual-device-control/65986/9?u=aaiyar
How do I distinguish within a rule whether a Caseta dimmer or switch has been turned on physically vs digitally?
You can't. But you can use physical switch/dimmer as triggers to pause/resume any other automation/rule that uses those switches/dimmers.
Is there a specific “physical” trigger event, or am I misunderstanding?
Yes. There are specific triggers in RM called "Physical switch" and "Physical dimmer".
Think of it this way. A physical press = either A you walking up to the switch and poking it with your index finger OR B going into the app and pressing the switch on your screen. A digital activation is a RULE used to turn the switch on or off (or dim). So if you make a rule to lets say come on at 8:00pm and dim 10% over the course of the next hour but at some point you physically interact with that switch either poking it with your index finger or touching your display screen it will cancel operation of that rule until it's 8pm again and the process begins anew. (@aaiyar I hope that was the proper explanation)
Or using a voice controller (Alexa/GH), or using the device page. Basically anything other than physically/manually controlling a switch/dimmer.
Yup.
The only thing to bear in mind that is the physical activation is only available as a trigger and not a condition. Therefore, I imagine one would use physical activation in one rule to determine whether another rule can execute, by pausing/resuming, setting a PB for the other rule, or setting a GV.
Just be careful as the distinction is derived by Hubitat as the Lutron devices do not report the source of control. The Lutron bridge can be attached to more than 1 automation system at a time (like Alexa or Google). If another automation system controls a switch that action will appear to be physical to Hubitat.
Hubitat interprets any unsolicited Lutron device event as physical. Lutron responds the same way to every device command, and the hub tracks when this is in response to it sending a command. Another potential gotcha is the use of phantom buttons (scenes) in the Lutron system. Even when these are activated by the hub, the individual device events will appear as physical, since they appear to be unsolicited.
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