Please shed some light on "Show as". E.g. convert switch to light

I have a bunch of wall plugs which I want to treat as lights in HA. I used the “Show as”, selected “light” and I also changed symbol. So far so good.

But:
1. Why are both entities stored in statistics
The statistics are bloated as it is. I have put recorder filters in place to only save whan I’m interested in.

After converting “switch.022.livingroom” to “light.022.livingroom”, both the original entity and the new helper are stored in the statistics. HA knows that these two entities are the same, doesn’t it? Does the statistics differ between these entities so I’ll need both, or can I safely filter out the original switch from statistics?

2. Should I use the original entity in automations etc?
Will there be any difference in the usage of the two entities in for example automations? Should I stick to the original “switch” in code and automations, or does it not matter?

3. Does “outlet” not have its’ own domain?
Some of my wall plugs are simply used as metered outlets (washing mashine etc). I tought “Show as outlet” was suitable for these.

But my new “outlet” entities are still named with the domain switch. I would have thought that those should be named outlet.name_of_entity.

What is the point of the “outlet” type?

4. Some of my plugs are already identified as "light"
My new Aeotec Smart Switch 7 are already identified as light. This means that my light entities are a mix of real entities and helpers. Is there any easy way to tell them apart without seacrhing in the list of helpers? Or… should I just relax my OCD and let light be light.

Some people may want both. You can exclude either of them from your recorder config.

You can use either. No difference unless for some reason the show-as integration does not load. This is unlikely.

:man_shrugging:

Not that I know of. Do they have the same attributes in Developer Tools → States ?

Thanks Tom.
The Fibaro switches that I “show as light” seem to work the same as the Aeotec “light” regarding on/off.

I’ve been a bit puzzled by the Aeotec “light”, but I now understand. The Aeotec smart switch has both a “light” and a “switch” entity. The light is dimmable and refers to the small led on the plug. The switch is just on/off and refers to the load.

Good thing is that when I turn the “light” on oroff, the load is also turned on/off, i.e same as the switch entity.

Here is the Aeotec light entity: