OWN OpenWebNet Language Reference

The OpenWebNet protocol was defined in 2000 by Bticino/Legrand to specify the communication with a Bticino home automation gateway, connected via LAN, RS-232 (serial) or USB. Here you'll get a brief overview of the OWN language syntax. To watch live the OWN messages of your Bticino gateway, you should try the Python Monitor in our Code Snippets section.

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Basic Syntax Rules

A Bticino gateway receives and sends so called messages:

• A message is a simple string, containing the characters asterisk (*), hash (#) and numbers from 0 to 9.
• each message begins with an asterisk (*) and ends with a double hash (##).
• within the message, fields are separated by an asterisk (*).

Example: *field1*field2*field3*...fieldN##

The OWN message syntax

Message Type	Message	Note
ACK	*#*1##	Message accepted/understood
NACK	*#*0##	Message not accepted/understood
Standard	*WHO*WHAT*WHERE##	Standard message
Status Request	*#WHO*WHERE##	Request a state (e.g. if a light is ON or OFF)
Attribute Request	*#WHO*WHERE*ATTRIBUTE##	Request attribute value
Attribute Write	*#WHO*WHERE*#ATTRIBUTE*VAL1*VAL2*...*VALn##	Write attribute value(s)

We know already that a standard message consists of *WHO*WHAT*WHERE##.

• WHO identifies the service, such as scenario, light or automation. See WHO table below.
• WHAT is the action to be performed, such as light ON/OFF or dimmer, shutter up/down etc.
• WHERE identifies the object, which can be an area, group, an environment, or just a single light or shutter etc. Check out the WHERE table below.

Some Examples

*1*0*25##           Turn off light 2.5 on local interface 
 | | |
 | | +- light address 25
 | +- 0=OFF
 +- WHO=1 lighting

*0*13*19#4#06##     Launch scenario 13 of scenario list 19 on interface 6
 | |  | |
 | |  | +- #4#06 = interface 6
 | |  +- 19 = address of scenario list
 | +- scenario #13 
 +- WHO=0 scenarios

*1*1*47#4#01##      Turn on light 4.7 on interface 1 (#4#01)
*1*1*0415##         Turn on light 4.15 on local interface
*1*0*0##            Turn off all lights on local interface
*2*1*91#4#03##      open (1) shutter 9.1 in on interface 3 (#4#03)
*#4*#1*#14*0225*3## Set heating zone 1 manually ON to 22.5°C

WHERE Table

The very last WHERE parameter identifies the object, which can be an area, group, an environment, or just a single light or shutter etc. A WHERE field can also come with optional parameters, separated by a hash (#), e.g. *WHERE#PAR1#PAR2#...#PARn

Notice: for smaller home automation facilities, the 88 available addresses (11..99, see WHERE table below) of a normal gateway (like F453AV) are sufficient and can be directly addresse via the local interface (##) of the gateway. But if you have more than 88 light points (like me), you might need/have additional interfaces to extend the addressable lights. A message with an address on the local interface ends with a ##. Adresses connected to on one of your extension interfaces must have the prefix "#4#nn, where nn stands for the 2-digit value of the extension interface number. So a message with an address on interface 7 ends like this: "#4#07##.

WHERE	Address
0	General (covers 11..99)
1..9	Zone/room 1 to 9
11..99	Light point 1.1 to 9.9
0110..0915	Light point 1.10 to 9.15 extended addresses
#1..#9	Group 1 to 9

WHO Table

The tables below gives you an idea of WHO, WHAT, and WHERE:

WHO	Service
0	Scenarios
1	Lighting
2	Automation
3	Load Control
4	Heating
5	Burglar Alarm
6	Door Entry System
7	Multimedia
9	Auxiliary
13	Device Communication
14	Light+shutters actuators lock
15	WHO=15 - CEN
16	Sound System
17	Scenario Programming
18	Energy Management
24	Lighting Management
25	WHO=25 - CEN plus
1000	Diagnostic
1001	Automation Diagnostic
1004	Heating Diagnostic
1008	Door Entry System Diagnostic
1013	Device Diagnostic