Bticino myHome Suite documentation and basics

Hardware Home Automation
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Hi guys, I just registered here after a referral by someone on another forum.

I’m a programmer-annalist from origin, so I am tech minded. However after a long day of working, I’m not really interested in doing IT-stuff a lot in my spare time.

I have a bticino system since 2010 but I let the install to my electric guy as I didn’t had the time then to learn the configuration steps for the used programs. I had a broken actuator lately and just for that I didn’t want to call my electric guy, so I had to start reading how the system works. And there’s the problem. There’s not to much documentation to find online on how myHomeSuite works. It is easier now then back in the days as you only have to use one program anymore and can do it from within your home network instead of attaching a cable to the different modules, so I gave it a try.

By testing my system, I played a little bit around offline and then tested the connections from within the myHomeSuite online in the test mode (under tools - tests) without actually sending the configuration to the plant. By doing this, I found out that inside the program there is actually a help file that is clear.

So I write this down over here, because most persons who reply to different forums already know the basics. This way, persons who are literally new to Bticino or don’t have a technical background like myself and might be afraid to test and play around and possibly end up with a broken system would have a starting point… (this post may be placed on a better position or altered to make things more clear):

Here are the basics:

  1. If you have a .plant file, open it in myHomeSuite and check things out. You can learn from that.
  2. If like in my older setup, the system is up and running, but the .plant file is limited or non-existing; then scan the bus for all systems and place them all in the working area
  3. double click every single item (actuator, command, etc) and you can find their corresponding address. Those are composed by a room/area (A) and it’s address (PL) and maybe an optional group (G).
  4. test the command buttons in the software while online and check out which light turns on, which curtain comes down, etc. Give the light a decent description and maybe even note that point in an ecxell with its address. (those are needed for mobile apps configuration if you would like to use them with your smart phone).
  5. make sure that the command buttons addresses correspond with the actuator addresses.
  6. save the project and push it to your system (you can push one device at a time or all at once). Test it with one device and actuator (and note down the original settings or keep a copy of your plant before altering anything). If this test works, it is safe to push all devices at once to the system.

This is the basic start. From their on, you can start configuring scenario’s, touch screens and so on. Every time with try and error and keeping a copy of the previous plant.

The Help file I pulled from the myHomeSuite is in attachment. Read this first.
EDIT: zip file can’t be attached, so you’ll have to check it out in the suite itself…

I hope by contributing even with the beginnings, people can find their way back here and more experienced people with the Bticino system can contribute for more advanced settings so nobody has to reinvent the wheel.

There are still some things I have to figure out, but the main obstacles are gone. I figured out what CEN means and how to work with them. I also have a command that uses PUL and one that uses AUX, but I haven’t found out what their corresponding function is yet. I get that AUX stands for auxiliary, so I guess it might correspond to my weather station but I don’t know yet if it is the wind sensor, rain sensor, etc. I’m not sure what the PUL means, but I guess it has to do with my light sensors and so you can pull it’s state (person present or not) to the actuator or scenario? I have to test it, Unless someone can explain this clearly in a reply :wink:

I hope this post can be some kind of starting point or build-up and act as an online manual for the myHomeSuite and everything involved with it.

Kind regards,
Yoeri

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How does this pertain to OpenHAB?

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It pertains because here there is a very useful binding in development with many helpful expert users.

The problem is that there is actually nowhere to discus the basics and other general openwebnet stuff anymore. We used to have community talk over on the BTicino forum about openwebnet experiences by the end users but BTicino/Legrand decided they only wanted to encourage installers on their forum and discourage end users. The conversations were also less than open. eg openHAB is effectively a competitor to BTicino and their installers as users can now do stuff and build things for themselves.

However, new users need to get to grip with how BUS stuff should work and is setup before launching into openHAB. Hence we would like a place to talk about it.

Yes, I am that someone.

Hi Yoeri, Welcome I hope, lets see. I will alert the openHAB guys that there is a thread here. Maybe it works out. Maybe not.

Tip: I find the MyHomeSuite GUI awful. It kills my old laptop. If you have a lot of BUS stuff then one way to speed it up is to split up the whole house .plant file into different .plant files and only load the one you need. eg One for the scenario controller, One for the actuators, switches and lights, another for the Screen10 panel.

My Home Suite software

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OK, fair enough, I was not aware of the binding.

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I wouldn’t mind betting that once you see what you can do with openHAB you will be tempted to play :slight_smile: Should be a breeze for someone with your skills :smiley:

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Thanks Mark.
I know in general what openHAB can do. I have to do some pentesting and examinations on stuff like raspberry pi, automotive devices, cell phones, GPS devices, servers and all kind of computers in my day job. I run a advisory and expert bureau in digital forensics: diforex.eu.

I’ll try to respond from time to time on the binding topic from another point of view as in from an examiner point or with other tips without actually diving into the code myself. In the hope the more general things on this treat will also come so beginners wouldn’t loose to much time in investing in the basics…

For programmers and forensic investigators, it is a little bit like reading a foreign language without speaking the language ourselves. For example my mothertongue is Dutch, but I can easily read German as there are a lot of similarities. That doesn’t mean I can speak or write in German. I can also read Danish for the same reason, but don’t understand a word when they actually speak it…
Code, whether it is a real programming language or just some configuration rules or scripting is not to hard to read and understand what that bit does, but it doesn’t mean this person can actually write or alter this code. I hope this makes sense for you what I’m writing here?

Kind regards,
Yoeri

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I think it would be great if the OP were captured in the readme for this new binding. That will be the best place for users to find it I think.

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Hi there,

I am from Austria and fairly new to this forum. Just a few weeks back I started to explore my myHome installation which was left untouched for 4 years and just used as installed (MH202 with predefined scenarios for automation/lighting, F454, and CEN+ plugs, Burglar alarm, Video door entry, 10’ touchdisplays).

Initial mapping of my installation (with the help of MyHomeSuite) went well. Then I improved my touchscreens a bit (e.g., added scenario there which my installer never told me) and setup webserver and iMyHome app properly (was not even connected to my LAN). Now I started to experiment with Raspberry / Openhabian installation on top with some initial success (e.g., getting Alexa to work with lighting and shutters in the entire house, using OpenHab App, connceting my air ventilation Helios system with the Helios KWL binding) and writing some basic rules. I am keen to add more components to it over time (Shelly plugs, Heating pump, Sonos, Smartmeter, etc.). I am quite excited about the power of the system esp. with OpenHab and realized that I only used a small fraction of it so far.

I fully agree with previous posts that documentation of BTicino could be a lot better and without some dedicated experts in forums, it would take a lot more time to figure out things.

There are a few things I did not figure out yet, e.g. access my burglar alarm system/video door entry, sending an OWN command via OpenHab to trigger door entry, camera, burglar commands.

I hope to have some good exchanges here on topics - let’s learn and explore together :smile:

Cheers
bellevue

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Maybe of interest to someone with a Screen10. Saw this from the guys who wrote the code for BTicino

Also, when I ssh

root@baia:~# uname -a

Linux baia 2.6.37-g7309d68 #1 Mon Oct 12 16:08:06 CEST 2015 armv7l GNU/Linux

I was looking to see if I can get the time to automatically set correctly after a power loss or daylight saving time change.

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I am having some basic issues with logging into the MH202 and receiving the existing configuration.

The original electrician that installed the system is AWOL and whenever he does reply he says he doesn’t have the original .plant file, the old employee that did your install has now left etc etc.

I am trying to use the MyHOME Suite 3.4.25 software to log into the MH202, and it seems I can connect, try to create a new project then scan for devices. BUT, upon scan it finds about 65 devices and hardly any of the controls/wall buttons are shown, many of them are missing from the scan. Then some of them scan with errors.

In the Configure menu there is no option whatsoever for receiving/downloading the existing configuration from the device.

So is anyone able to help lead me in the right direction on how to actually download the existing configuration from the MH202?

Legrand/BTcino support is non-existent.

Thanks,
Matt

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hi matt,

i suppose youre talking about two different things: with myhomesuite you can mange plant-files. a plant-file contains all your actors, switches, sensors and for example your mh202. devices that have an id can be discovered by usind bus-scanner.

normally the devices must not be shown with an error when configured correct. but the problem is the missing plant-file. so all devices that own an id will be found when starting bus-scanner but you cannot “download” the config - this is only saved in the plant-file that you do not have.

the mh202 you will have to add manually from the list on the left side just by drag and drop in the project-field in the middle. to send or receive the configuration for this you have to know its ip-adress and the password. then you can right-click on it and choose “recieve config” - but i think it will be very difficult to work with that downloaded configuration because most of the text that describes the cenarios will be missing (this is only saved in the plant-file that you do not have).
if you do not have tha password for the mh202 you can use a direct connection with usb. then you can create a new configuration (with new ip-adress and new password) and send this with usb to the device. but then all config will be overwritten and lost!

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little update:
i opened a new plant and discovered devices with the bus-scanner. here too some devices are shown with a yellow warning. BUT: all devices are discovered INCLUDING the config, only the text-describings are missing. so you can discover all your devices that own an id and the parameters are discovered, too.

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Hy Bastler and Matt,

Yes indeed, that’s it. If you don’t have a .plant yet, open a new one. That’s what I’ve described in the 6 steps of my first post. Once you have the .plant, you can scan the bus for what I call the basic devices like buttons and actuators, including their existing configuration. Then make an excell sheet aside and note all the addresses corresponding. This will give you a better overview on how your electric guy had initially configured things. That’s how I’ve done it.

Like Stefan wrote, the more intelligent devices like an MH202, a touch screen, etc. You’ll have to add a blanc one from the left list in myHomeSuite. Just find the correct model. Then you can receive it’s config if you know the IP from it (maybe check your router for connected devices if you don’t know the IP :wink:). To actually configure those type of devices, you have to double click it and a new screen will open for it.

The only thing that might be confusing is, some ‘special’ functions within the configuration like PULL commands, AUX devices, the use of booleans etc. With the excell sheet aside I was able to figure out what they did. That is, because you can use them for anything (a boolean to make an exception for example only do this if it’s dark outside: then a boolean can be used for the state dark or daylight and there are other ways to, so that’s just how you electric guy had it in his head…)

A yellow warning can be for devices that are not fully configured. For example if you have an actuator with 2 addresses, but you only connected one light point to it and disabled the second one. It doesn’t mean that it is not configured correctly. At least, that’s what I think from what I’ve seen in my config…

Good luck, Yoeri

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My advice would be to create one .plant file for all your discovered devices and create another separate plant just for MH202. I have a lot of devices and the screen10 plant really kills my laptop performance.

You can also separately download the MH202 config files, I thinks these .prj, files

Having separate plants makes working with myHomeSuite easier, faster, and if it corrupts then not everything is lost. After initial set up any changes are mostly to the MH202 config >> scenarios

Also be aware that you system may contain a mixture of devices of some that are phyiscally configured with configurators (plugged into the back of the device with numbers on them) and others that are virtually configured with myHomeSuite. You use either but not both for the same device. So, if you have problem with sending, receiving configs for a device it could be because its physically configured. I think myHomeSuite should show if its physically configured.

Oh, if some devies are not found then try playing around the scanner settings. If I remember correctly I had some that were ‘harder’ to discover until I homed in on them a bit first eg device category.

I think there is also a network discovery too (not at home to check) for finding MH202. Or just go your router and see what IP address was assigned to the MH202. Should also see that if have a bookmark in your browser to the MH202 web view. With IP address of MH202 you can manually add the device to your plant and then ‘receive’ its config.

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The network discovery exists for the MH200N, so I think for the MH202 also. But you have to be connected with a wire in order to be able to scan the network for some reason. Over wifi it doesn’t work, while discovering and configuring basic devices works fine over Wifi. Same for a screen by the way (usb or cable network)

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My wifi devices are never discovered. I add them manually.

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I was able to find my plant file and connect to the MH202 successfully.

I can go into all areas of config, scenarios etc.

However the problem I am having (and this is why I am trying to do the work in the first place) is that my installation is suffering/lagging the last few days/weeks. I press a wall button control and nothing happens for minutes on end. Then hey presto five minutes later the function I was requesting suddenly works.

Then the next day everything is fine again and the system is responsive as per normal. A few hours later, it all falls over and is slow and non-responsive for minutes on end again.

If I try to select all the devices in the Project view list in MyHome Suite, right click and choose diagnose it starts the process but the large majority of them fail or come back yellow/red or with no colour at all (grey). How the majority of devices in the network can now suddenly not be working or not communicate at all is mind boggling.

My theory is that there is a rogue device somewhere in the network flooding the bus and not allowing the bus to stay open/vacant long enough for the otherwise good devices to send their commands (as they are waiting for an all-clear on the bus before sending, the old collision avoidance trick). That is just my wild theory though.

I notice two items in the project list do not show an ID hexadecimal address and I cannot click on these and choose diagnose. Could these be the two culprit devices in the system and should I aim to try disconnecting these as a first measure and try the Diagnose on all items again?

If I could throw the MH202/Legrand system in the bin and start again with something else I would, however it seems even the OpenHAB platform needs to keep the MH202 in the system to act as a bridge. Ever since this system was installed it has been crap (when I say crap, I mean slow, where I press a button and it takes a good one or two seconds or more just to turn the lights on/off, which I think is complete garbage in today’s connected world). Anyway, what can I do, the house is built and here I am stuck with this garbage in my walls and now it is even worse because it is not a one/two second problem any more, now it is a 5 to 10 minute problem on each button press and nobody on the Sunshine Coast seems interested in trying to help repair, even though I am willing to pay.

Any help/guidance would be most appreciated.

Thanks,
Matt

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I assume you have tried rebooting MH202? Reset button is behind the small panel on the front face.

I have MH202 and all my lights, blinds and heating on the BUS. I have maybe at most 0.5s delay from button press to action. It varies. Dimmers seem slower.

I have quite a whole house complex setup and a lot of scenarios. 110 scenarios. It runs fine for me.

So, I think something is wrong. Probably its a software issue and hardware is OK. Either way you are going to have to dig in and start a process of elimination to see where the fault is.

I’d start with the MH202 and the scenarios. You could power off the MH202 completely. Most of my switches use point to point addressing and not MH202 to function. These will work even with MH202 powered down. MH202 is only for the fancier stuff using scenarios and a few wall switches to trigger them. If MH202 off helps then you could check the scenarios using myHomeSuite to see if they make logical sense and even start disabling some to see where the issue could be.

If using myHomesuite you can disable them by changing the trigger or use a browser to see which are available, running, stopped. You can also stop, start and disable them from there too.

To see the webview for MH202 type in the MH202 IP address your browser. The login details are those set for web admin in the config for the MH202. Not the same as the openwebnet password!!

I found some scenario things do affect the BUS speed . eg selecting the ‘repeat action’ option (top right in myHomeSuite) for a scenario or any sort of looping.

There are also other diagnostic tools you can run from your laptop to see the what BUS commands are flowing.

edit… I see you also posted on AV forums. That’s a thread I started to try to keep the community together after BTicino abandoned us on their forum. Maybe it works, lets see but I doubt you will get much of a response. The best place I know is now here and this thread. Sorry.

Sunshine coast… is that Australia?

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Mark,

Thank you very much for taking the time to respond.

To help with stability I have a relay on the bus/power input to the mh202 which gives it a power reset every morning at 4am. I have been resetting it a few times already in this process, so I doubt that is the issue. Is the reset button under the front panel going to do anything different to the method of pulling power? If not, I think I’ve exhausted the resetting as a possible solution.

You’ve said most of your switches use point to point addressing and don’t need the mh202 to function at all. How have you done this?

In fact, the idea (from my understanding) of why the mh202 was used in my system was to do things like trigger motion sensors on certain lights at certain times of the day, however it seems it is configured in a way that every single wall control needs it to allow the entire system to function. It never worked properly and I always got annoyed because I would be sittting outside near the pool where there are some scenarios for turning on the lights at night if motion was detected, but I didn’t want them to come on because I was relaxing by the lovely underwater lights only. But then the ceiling lights would come on and I would get annoyed and go back to the control on the wall and turn off and then walk back to my chair and then motion would be sensed and the lights would come on again. No matter how much I pleaded with the electrician that surely it can be set to “motion disabled if I have pressed that particular button over there” he said it was not possible. I personally believe that is garbage and is completely possible with the right logic. If not, what is the point of the whole system? So I just pulled the sensors out, disconnected them and they haven’t been used since. A shame really because if the logic were right, it is a nice security feature and also good in those areas where I have gone outside to investigate something but forgot to turn the lights on. But, if all the mh202 is some of these such scenarios and every other switch could be in this point to point method, I could essentially strip 95% of the scenarios out from the mh202. If I am right (I will check soon) there is a scenario for every single button in the house. And then some additional ones for timers on these motion sensors.

Mh202 off is of no use. It completely disables everything and not a single control will work. Sure, the controls still stay illuminated blue and turn pink on a button press, but nothing whatsoever will happen when the mh202 is off.

I put a scope on the bus to see traffic flowing. I notice the bursts of packets transmitted do occur upon button presses. Interestingly the bursts only look a few volts high. At the 27v bus voltage I guess they are occupying perhaps 23 or 24volts swing below the 27v, so perhaps a 3 or 4 volt swing which I guess is right. So perhaps my “bus is being flooded” theory isn’t the fault at all.

I’ll check the looping on the scenarios. Although I doubt this could be the cause of fault worsening in last few weeks because I haven’t changed any scenarios since it was installed.

Thanks for the tip on the other forum. Yes, I will stick to this one and forget the other one for now.

Yes, Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia.

Who knows, if I become the Legrand master in my area I might be able to charge out my services at a premium for a little side hustle! It certainly seems there is NOBODY able to help me. Even if I go Australia wide it seems there is no interest/help at hand on this system.

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Hi,
Sounds like its been setup up badly by someone who doesn’t know what they are doing. I hope someone else can confirm as I have only my set up as reference and do not claim to be an expert in this!!! There could be other ways to configure the system that I have not come across.

I think you could set it up and get it all working as you want. Its not that hard. I would start with one simple wall switch and do it like its on mine as a test. Make a note of how found it in case you need to go back.

It looks like a reset of MH202 will not not help. I almost never reset my MH202 so it seems a bit extreme to power cycle it every night.

To help you understnd how it could be set up here are some screen shots of my plant that contains all wall switches and actuators. The MH202 is not involved and like I said I have it in its own .plant and it just handles to scenarios. We can get to that later.

So here is the partial screen shot of the list of devices in my main plant

image

I give wall switches names to indicate where they are located eg Office.

I name the actuators with the BUS address range they apply to eg 6.1 - 6.2. Its two modules for shutters.

It helps to list all switches and all devices in an xls spreadsheet so you can easily locate the items. As well as most of the setup details I also have a column listing their function. That way I can filter on say lights and all the light actuators get shown with all their details. main one being the BUS address.

Lets look at the office wall switch configuration. Its two modules. Each switch can be used either as one large switch of two smaller ones. This particular switch can operater the office lights and also the office blinds. Modules one and two.

First module of wall switch with addressing type set as point to point with address A1, LP6 >>1.6. In this case it points to my office light actuator. Function is therefore light control.
image .

Second module of wall switch. Addressing type is point to point with A5 P5 >> 5.5. In this case it points to a blind actuator. Function is therefore automation control.
image

The two switches are located in one panel side by side. But… for info…Its possible to convert a wall switch to function like one big switch and in this case both modules are configured the same. The two seperate switche rockers are replaced with one large rocker that covers both the underlying switch modules. It operates both at the same time and looks and operates like a single large switch. I sometimes convert them from one to the other as I need. You need the plastic rocker parts to do this.

Now for the corresponding actuators:
The relay/actuator that powers the Office light.The wall switch points to 1.6

Heres is the actuator in the main list
image

Here is the config for module 2 of the actuator. It listens for BUS 1.6
image

So, pressing the Office wall switch sends a BUS command to address 1.6 and the corresponding actuator with that address will respond accordingly. In this case its just ON or OFF. There is no MH202 involved for this simple situation.

95% of my wall switches are configured as point to point and will operatre the corresponding actuators without need of the MH202 scenario controller. I have a few wall switches that do trigger scenarios directly but these are cnfigured as function type ‘scheduled scenario plus’ and send CEN commands. We can get to that later.

Hows does the above compare to your wall switches and actuators configurations?