What does [physical[ and [digital] mean in the logs?

I see these entries in my logs that end in [physical] or [digital]. I'm not physically turning these lights on and off as its all done through rules. This is just out of curiosity- everything is working as it should.
physical

It's supposed to mean that the on/off was performed physically (e.g., by someone flipping or tapping the switch itself) as opposed to digitally (by a command sent from the hub over Z-Wave, Zigbee, etc.).

However, not all devices reliably report this information. In some cases, the driver tries to track things internally and make good guesses (perhaps due to user requests for this feature; I'm not sure). In some cases, it's still wrong, and yours just appears to be one of them. If you don't need to distinguish, it's totally fine to ignore. If you do...I'd probably find a different way to do it. :smiley:

3 Likes

Interestingly, all the devices that report[physical] are all dimmers manufactured by Leviton.

I assume you are saying that it is incorrectly reporting [physical]. If you pose the model number of the device and what driver you are using for it, someone might be able to suggest a different driver.

There are two Leviton model numbers involved, DZH6D (wall dimmer) and DZPD3 (plug-in dimmer). If I use the "Generic Z-Wave Plus Driver" it doesn't show [physical] or for that matter anything else like [digital] in the logs. If I use the "Leviton DZH6D Z-Wave Dimmer" driver, then it does happen.

So dev:1 and dev:109 are correctly reporting digital. What's the difference between both those devices and the others?

Also, when you change drivers, are you clicking on the "Configure" button?

1 Like

Dev:1 and Dev:9 are Jasco switches, not Leviton. I just changed the Laundry Lamp (Leviton) (Dev:296) to the generic driver and the [physical] went away.

So my guess is that the Leviton devices are falsely reporting physical/digital, as the generic driver is not checking/reporting this at all.

2 Likes

I think it should be because it does report this for my Zooz switches/dimmers. Did you click Configure after changing drivers?

1 Like

yes

1 Like

Are your Zooz switches/dimmers using the Zooz driver or the generic one?

I installed the switches before the Zooz driver was available, and never changed them. I'll have to check on the dimmers. The Zen30s are definitely on a Zooz-specific driver.

I've come to think that there is no "right" driver for smart switches/dimmers. There's the one that works. Gun to my head, I couldn't tell you why some of my dimmers (all Jasco Z-Wave Plus) use one of the following.

Generic Z-Wave Plus Dimmer
Generic Z-Wave Smart Dimmer
Generic Z-Wave Dimmer
GE/Jasco Smart Switch

On occasion, I've found that some function that I wanted (e.g. turn dimmer into a on/off switch) wasn't available, so I tried other drivers until I found one that gives me all I needed at the moment.

You may just need to try other drivers until you have one that gives you accurate physical/digital results (if that matters to you), without sacrificing any function unique to that brand/model of device.

3 Likes