CANbus development tools

[Simon]

Can anyone recomend CAN tools? I'd need a CAN to USB adapter and some software to generate messages. I am familiar with Peak CAN explorer but this is now 600 euros and lots of things that were part of it are now addons making in 600 euros to simply be able to send a message.

I am looking to develop CAN coms on the SANC series of ARM micro controllers.

[nctnico]

I have good experience with CANUSB from Lawicel.

[TopLoser]

Yep I’ve used their CANUSB and CAN232 adaptors without any problems, software is free and the hardware is cheap.

[Simon]

Yea they don't seem to sell any software other than a moniter software. Basic monitor software comes with most CAN/USB adaptoers these days.

[legacy]

The Linux support is ... "not good" ( I want to be polite ), and a couple of PCI-CAN bus boards are now deprecated and abandoned, and nobody seems interested in updating the kernel driver to modern kernel v4 or v5.

It's a shame because despite the poor Linux support these cards were cheap (< 50..100 euro).

[Simon]

Not wanting to make this a linux debate and as much as i hate windows, Linux will never gain serious traction in the desktop environment and particularly in the engineering field until someone like Linus Torvaids gets behind a distro and it becomes the defacto like there is only ever one current version of windows. i can'n use an OS tha no one develops engineering software for.

[legacy]

Not wanting to make this a linux debate

What I mean is: if the support sucks and the Peak support is expensive, at least you have a chance to fix OpenSource and Semi-Opensource stuff by yourself. It might be an option.

The problem I have is related to the lack of interest in help, and even the company who did those boards has recently replied to my emails telling me that the product is EOL, therefore there will be no support from them concerning the kernel driver for recent kernels. And tools in userspace are generally ... poor.

This means you need to put your effort here, developing stuff, updating stuff, porting stuff, etc, because with CAN bus nothing is ready out of the shelf, and this is probably the bad face of semi-OpenSource. You have a source, but there not much interest, and you are alone, but It's better than nothing when you are not willing to spend money on commercial products like Peak USBCAN.

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The other option is Coldfire v2 since they had something implemented by Motorola and Freescale.

[Simon]

I don't mind spending money. i need to develop CAN on microcontrollers not try and learn to write PC prgrams too and i need to know that one side of the chain is working. i can use PeakCAN explorer 5 at work with one of their dongles but was looking for a solution of my own, now i will easily be buying 1000 euros worth of gear and i have not been impressed with peak can explorer 5 so I'm not sure if i wnat to drop 600 euros plus more for plugins that used to be basic functionality of the software if it's still as bad as what i have at work. My now famous retort at work henever I have to come and sort out CAN problems is "shit german software".

[errorprone]

I've used the Komodo Can analyzer by Total Phase at work that comes in both single and dual port.  Also not that cheap around $450.  The stock software is pretty good and it come with a C and python library.

https://www.totalphase.com/protocols/can/protocol-analyzers/

Sent from my LG-H810 using Tapatalk

[nctnico]

Yea they don't seem to sell any software other than a moniter software. Basic monitor software comes with most CAN/USB adaptoers these days.

You can buy software https://www.antratek.nl/can-monitor-pro for less than 40 euro.

[Simon]

thanks, that looks much better.

[Fire Doger]

I have used Peak CAN usb for CANOpen development, its 180€ non isolated.
In my case it was very usefull because it was supported by all the CANOpen related programs I used. I didn't use PCAN-View because Canopen is an addon but you can send raw message.
Their USB libraries must be very good for custom software.

Also a good logic analyzer can also help in message decoding during development.

[MosherIV]

The best tool by far is CANalyser and their VN16xx interfaces by Vector.
However, at £8000 it is out of reach for most hobbiests.
We have PeakCan as well at my place of work. Very basic.
Also have Ixxat CAN interfaces - again very basic.
One of the suppliers visited recently and showed me kvaser interface, basic but worked much better than the PeakCAN.

CANalyser is the defacto standard in automotive industry.
It not only logs messages with time stamps.
It does real time message decoding if you supply the message format in a .dbc file.
Vector provide a .dbc edit as part of CANalyser.

I have written a number of CAN device simulations in the CANalyser language CAPL.

[Simon]

I just need something that i know works to bat messages to my prototypes and display messages sent back.

[Simon]

https://www.antratek.com/usb-can-adapter-isolated
https://www.antratek.com/can-monitor-pro

Less than £170.

[JPortici]

We use a Kvaser interface.
To generate traffic i use either their free software (can king) or busmaster (open source, suppports many interfaces). They also have paid software which is fantastic, they tell me.
if i wanted i could also load a c program in the interface itself so i don't even need the laptop anymore

[Simon]

um, yea, Kvaser stuff is over 500 euro's for anything. So you actually pay for the software when you buy the hardware.

[Simon]

OK, just found a kvaser adapter for 275 euro's, can live with that.

[MosherIV]

Hi

I know what you mean. Why cant someone do a really good CAN protocol analyser and not charge a fortune for it.

Forgot to mention, Busmaster is the basic protocol analyser that I have seen work for PeakCan and Ixxat.
The supplier was using some paid for protocol analyser from Emtas. Did not look any better than Busmaster.

Some of my colleagues have also been using CAN with National Instrument.
Again the NI CAN tool looked really basic, only shows raw CAN with no decoding.
Apparently, it does load .dbc files but not for message decoding.

[rounin]

I have one I've released https://suburbanmarine.io/product/hadou-can-beta/, good bit cheaper than Vector et all. Disclaimer, it hasn't seen a lot of use outside my lab yet  .

Protocol compatible with the Lawicel CAN232 (+ extensions for CAN FD, and a lot more config options), but supports CAN FD @ 12Mbps and is electrically isolated. No GUI at the moment.

Is .dbc file reading / graphical display a hard requirement? I'd like to do that but a GUI wasn't on my road map anytime soon.

[Simon]

Well i bit the bullet and bought a kvaser adapter.

.dbc files are essential for sending and receiving and very much so for receiving or you can't see in real time what is going on and what is what.

[digsys]

What is the link to that adapter? I've been messing around with the same issues - bought a few "cheapies" with the same results as others describe -
So far, the MICROCHIP APGDT002 CAN BUS ANALYZER TOOL has been the most useful .. just have to start writing my own interface I guess.

[Simon]

https://uk.farnell.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=15001&langId=44&productSeoURL=kvaser&storeId=10151&partNumber=2400355&krypto=OsZL%2F0%2FqRTTa5JL9y29ABcthKHpCBj7gV9AyfW7xSckQSJtMMbNmmpgCyQDQcFr4Va6LPE06wkDgGVLAOBcA8Q%3D%3D&ddkey=https%3Aen-GB%2FElement14_United_Kingdom%2Fkvaser%2F00685-0%2Fcan-module-usb-leaf-light-v2-1ch%2Fdp%2F2400355

[jhpadjustable]

For those of us who love a $7 CAN interface... I'm using the candleLight firmware right now on a barebones STM32F072 board containing a non-isolated CAN transceiver, a micro USB jack, and little else: https://github.com/normaldotcom/candleLight_fw The supplied image was loaded via SWD. When plugged into my Linux desktop, the device showed up as a CAN network device. I've done HLP development by sending and receiving raw packets using the command line cansend and candump tools, which was not entirely horrible. I've been running a simple NodeJS server, receiving and logging environmental data sent by an own-built remote device, and handling J1939-like network management. CAN FD support is unknown/untested.

Not tested: I just found a free .dbc interpreter plugin for Wireshark, including Windows DLL and source, assuming it hasn't been folded into upstream yet: https://canlogger.csselectronics.com/downloads.php?q=wireshark

Disclaimer: I do not pretend that this is a match for Vector or Kvaser tooling in any way. All trademarks and identifying names are the property of their originators and are used purely for insinuation purposes.

[Simon]

The problem is that I have to develop my ECU, not spend time assembling my own tools. While my budget is not limitless I prefer to spend a little money up front to save having to debug the tool that is supposed to debug my prototypes.

I have chosen kvaser over peak because I have poor experience with peak and kvaser seems to be supported by many 3rd parties.