Apologies if this has been covered, but I read RL documentation and did a search here and didn't find the topic.
I don't understand the difference between things that Limit Activation vs things that Disable Activation.
For instance, a switch being on or off, a motion sensor, etc - can all be used for both purposes. I assume there's a different intent or nuance but I haven't figured it out.
Thanks!
Michael
Limits are conditions (events that already happened in the past) such as the light switch is already on, or off when the Activation should occur. On the other hand Disable function is driven by an event such as the light switch turns on, or off. In order for the Activation to occur while disabled, a "re-enable" event must occur, which is defined in the app, and can be a different event than the one that disabled the Activation. An Activation can use both limit and disable means.
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That makes things much clearer (for me), thanks @bobbyD.
I was about to suggest pointing these out in the App, but see that the words Conditions and Events are mentioned. Maybe making them stand out more will help.... Or some short explanation like you provided above inside the app would help clear this up for some people (like me...)?
I did also wonder whether disabled should be restricted, like other rules, but perhaps that a conversation for another thread...
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That makes sense - but it seems that in some cases, there isn't really a difference. For instance, is there any functional difference between:
- Limit when Switch 1 is ON , which is no longer present when that switch is off
OR - Disabling when switch 1 turns on and re-enabling when switch 1 turns off
I assume that number 2 requires the switch to move from Off to On to disable, whereas number 1 just looks at the current state - but in practice, I think the result is identical - at least for this example. I could see that for a non-binary condition - eg Mode - that the result would be different.
In my case, I have two instances of RL that contain several of the same lights. You can't have two instances controlling the same lights at the same time. So, you need to disable one when you enable the other. In my case, these are outside lights. I have a scenario where I do not want the floodlight in the back of the house coming on due to motion while we are out by the fire pit. So I use a virtual switch to control that allows only one of the two instances to be enabled at a given time.
Disabled is like pausing a rule. Limiting is like setting a condition for a rule.
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Don't forget that the conditions or events are not the things that actually trigger the lighting. So when using conditions, if / when a trigger occurs, such as a motion sensor detecting motion, the conditions need to be met for the trigger to be honoured. Similarly for the event-based setup, these events simply turn on the ability for the triggers you defined to be reacted to by RL, the event of the switch in your example turning off does not turn the lights on, simply opens up the opportunity for them to be turned on by the triggers you define, like motion sensors, contact sensors, etc.
I think the key to the reason (or at least one) for offering these two options is in @bobbyD 's comment that with events they don't need to be the equivalent event for allowing activation. The possibility of activation may be turned off by the pressing of a button, but re-enabling activation could occur when the button is pressed again or on a mode change, for example. The possibility of these two events to re-enable "motion" lighting is not natively captured in a single device that could be checked, unless you created something like a virtual switch, but with RL you don't need to.
Also, with my example of using a button, this does not have an inherent state that could be used in condition, whereas it can be used in an event-based approach.
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That is a very helpful explanation! Now I get the distinction - thank you. I think the direct answer to my question would be - if there is one and only switch being used for this purpose, there is no difference between limits and disabling/enabling. But when different kinds of devices are used or multiple devices/conditions - that's where the differences matter.
One thing @sburke781 just clarified that I didn't understand is that if 3 devices are set to disable, you don't need all 3 to "reverse" to re-enable. That is a very important difference.
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