Hey guys,
So, I'm designing the data-acquisition system for my university's FSAE team (we build a small formula style car mostly from scratch). I'm planning on implementing something called the CAN bus. My question is this: How do I actually implement a bus system with wire? Do I make a single terminal with multiple 3-way connections, or do I use multiple 3-way splice terminals along a main bus wires? I thought about just cutting the bus and twisting the wires together at any junctions, but then you get a big node sticking out of your wire and I'm pretty sure that's not good for data transmission. BTW, the CAN bus transmits at a maximum speed of 1Mbit/s, and the voltage level is usually 3.3V or 5V. I'm using an AT90CAN128 micro from Atmel but I couldn't find the CAN bus voltage level in the datasheet. Maybe it's just Vcc? (I hear that you usually use an opto-isolator anyway, so it probably doesn't matter). Any ideas on how I can practically do this? It always looks so simple on the schematic . . . :p
Thanks,
Caleb