Thread: Anyone interested in DIY CAN info?

Hi everyone,
I got a distributable version made up today. It has a couple rough edges, but is almost completely functional. If you have the RTE installed you can open it up and run it, but without the correct adapter and a vehicle there isn't a whole lot to do. Just figured out how to upload files using the advanced post option, see attached.

Couple notes:
Only the large icon works, small one and the Windows tray icon are blank. Not tied to the name Proto-CAN either.
Autoconnect doesn't work, so click the run arrow, then click on the "Connect" button during the countup to begin receiving messages.
Somewhere along the way the periodic TX functions stopped working, need a little bit of research why. The single TX function still works though.
Occasionally errant MIDs show up, the sorting algorithm from the com. port might need some tweaking.
Early message entries are occasionally assigned incorrect time stamps. Irritating, but should be a straight forward fix.

I'll try to get some vehicle recordings made soon and post them. I also need to get my University webspace set up so I can host the files. A spreadsheet viewer will also be available soon which will allow some sorting abilities for recordings. One of our undergraduate classes will be using the software for a lab assignment over the next couple weeks, I may have a pile of recordings and some free research courtesy of the academic process. Ideally we can get a collection of recordings (organized and labeled appropriately) as well as a knowledge base of deciphered values for various models and manufacturers.

Sweet deal, I'm pretty excited. I've had this project on the back burner for awhile, so to finally have it gaining inertia is fun.

Addendum: Pre-2008 vehicle? Check this list, it might still be CANbus equipped.
http://www.auterraweb.com/aboutcan.html

Great, great thread, people.

I need to monitor, decipher and send messages on CAN busses on Dodge and Ford diesel trucks.

Do you think I should start with the Easy Sync or the Audrino shield ?

I don't have Labview, though I have used it in the past. I am a good programmer. I usually work on Linux systems.

Thanks !

Hi elmerfud,
Just to clarify, you don't need a LabVIEW development installation to use the Proto-CAN software, just a free download of the run time environment as linked. If you have the EasySYNC hardware on hand and the PC ready I would guess you could be viewing and recording messages in very short order. The software doesn't automatically decode OBDII messages though, so if you're primarily concerned with only those messages it's not developed enough to be extremely useful. On the other hand, for handling raw CAN traffic there are fewer options. We used to have a freeware Windows CAN viewer software at my school that we used with a CANUSB cable, but it didn't have graphic display or any logging capability besides taking screenshots of the traffic window, which worked as well as you'd expect. Don't remember the name of the software right now, perhaps I can find it though. There are also several commercial packages that do an excellent job of tracking CAN data, as well as integrating other protocols simultaneously. Bring a stack of wallets though, because neither the hardware nor software is cheap.

I haven't tried the Arduino hardware listed, although my brief experience with an Arduino Uno was fairly encouraging. Much easier than stumbling through Microchip's PIC datasheets, although I have managed a modicum of competency in PIC C despite the manufacturer's best efforts I'm not sure if there's an out of the box Arduino application that will do what you envision. Silverjester's description makes it sound like he has real time filtering in place to the PC, but not logging. If that will work for your process that could work. Hopefully he's still privy to this thread and could possibly give more details or even code.

I have recorded off of some Ford Escapes, and diesel smarts, but no full size trucks or Chrysler products yet. There was also talk of Chrysler isolating the OBDII port from the normal CAN traffic. I haven't confirmed, and there are workarounds involving wiring diagrams and soldering irons.

Long story still long: Not sure exactly what your project involves, some clarification could help. To muddy the waters even further, the possibility of streaming from one of the numerous ELM adapters is also possible.

Crosses fingers not a doublepost. We'll see.

Originally Posted by markmakeitso

Hi elmerfud,

Hello. Thanks for the reply.

Just to clarify, you don't need a LabVIEW development installation to use the Proto-CAN software, just a free download of the run time environment as linked.

OK, I didn't know that. The last time I used Labview was in 1990. I'm not kidding.

If you have the EasySYNC hardware on hand and the PC ready I would guess you could be viewing and recording messages in very short order. The software doesn't automatically decode OBDII messages though, so if you're primarily concerned with only those messages it's not developed enough to be extremely useful.

I like doing things in Linux. I was expecting to write my own CAN deciphering software, ALTHOUGH, Linux has a package called Wireshark that specializes in watching data on a "network" and applying filters, etc to figure things out. I have not used it extensively, but I have used it.

Sooner or later I'll need to handle CAN packets in my own code, so sooner or later I have to write that code.

On the other hand, for handling raw CAN traffic there are fewer options. We used to have a freeware Windows CAN viewer software at my school that we used with a CANUSB cable, but it didn't have graphic display or any logging capability besides taking screenshots of the traffic window, which worked as well as you'd expect. Don't remember the name of the software right now, perhaps I can find it though. There are also several commercial packages that do an excellent job of tracking CAN data, as well as integrating other protocols simultaneously. Bring a stack of wallets though, because neither the hardware nor software is cheap.

Like I said, I like doing things in Linux. Its got a lot of powerful tools built in.

I haven't tried the Arduino hardware listed, although my brief experience with an Arduino Uno was fairly encouraging. Much easier than stumbling through Microchip's PIC datasheets, although I have managed a modicum of competency in PIC C despite the manufacturer's best efforts I'm not sure if there's an out of the box Arduino application that will do what you envision.

I doubt there is.

Silverjester's description makes it sound like he has real time filtering in place to the PC, but not logging. If that will work for your process that could work. Hopefully he's still privy to this thread and could possibly give more details or even code.

I'll share whatever I develop.

I have recorded off of some Ford Escapes, and diesel smarts, but no full size trucks or Chrysler products yet. There was also talk of Chrysler isolating the OBDII port from the normal CAN traffic. I haven't confirmed, and there are workarounds involving wiring diagrams and soldering irons.

Well, the Ford trucks have 2 CAN busses, one low speed and one high speed. I'll actually need to look at both. I doubt that both go to the OBDII port, but I might be wrong.

Long story still long: Not sure exactly what your project involves, some clarification could help.

Doing all sorts of things from capturing various human interaction CAN messages (turn lights on) to sending data to and from engines and transmissions.

To muddy the waters even further, the possibility of streaming from one of the numerous ELM adapters is also possible.

I also need an ODBII scanner for both Dodge and Ford trucks, so please tell me about that.

Either way, I want to start with some dedicated hard core CAN scanning, so that will either be the EASYSYNC device or the Aurdino. Are maybe both as sooner or later I'll need to use a microcontroller to manage things.

Any and all insight is welcome.

Thanks again for replying.

So I was able to connect to the com port from my Arduino which then connects to the car via the canbus shield attached to the arduino. I'm still working through how to setup the program, it defaults to com 7 but my board is on com 5. While the PROTO-Can shows it's connected and the timer is running I'm not seeing any data displayed. If I use a terminal program connected directly to the arduino I can see data streaming by. I have the arduino setup to show only the ID, DLC and Data. I'm not sure where to go from here, I'll keep messing around with it though.

elmerfud,
The EasySYNC adapter has very good documentation describing how it transmits data to the PC, that's what I worked from almost exclusively to write the LabVIEW CAN software. You could read the PDFs and evaluate what's required to do the same in Linux. In Windows it makes a virtual com port which buffers the data from the adapter until read by Proto-CAN, which then sorts the data into an array of valid messages (currently just 11 bit ID, hopefully 29 bit support soon). I would guess that reading from the VCP and sorting into a message array would be rather straightforward in most programming languages and OSes.

As for dual CAN networks, I haven't heard of any in vehicle OBDII plugs with access to both, although there is some room for manufacturer's choice. The physical connector would probably need some special attention though, at the very least a connection featuring all 16 pin access.

There is lots of ELM info on these boards, but I haven't used any as of yet. Preet says his ELM327 is capable of simply streaming to a buffer, I assume he means at the PC. If that's the case it might be a matter of reading the buffer at appropriate intervals, sorting into individual messages according to the given format, and displaying the selected ID and data bytes.

that_kid,
Proto-CAN is written specifically for the EasySYNC data transmission format, it's unlikely that any other hardware will transmit the MIDs and data bytes in the same manner. If you have the C for the Arduino application I could take a look and see if I could easily change either the Arduino or LabVIEW code to cooperate, but without some modifications it's unlikely to work properly. Thanks for trying out the software though.

Here's the library for the Arduino shield I'm using

SKPang Canbus Demo sketch and Library

and this is another library as well but it's based on the SKPang library.
Sparkfun CanBus Library

In both Libraries I I had to add an entry so I could connect to a 100kbs canbus.

What type of output does the EasySync present to PROTO-Can?

Hi that_kid,
I'll take a look and see if it'll be easy to do.

Here's the link for the relevant EasySYNC PDF:
http://www.easysync-ltd.com/userfile...x01%282%29.pdf
Try pages 25 and 26.

I actually made a simple program to just grab and display raw characters after setting the connection speed and opening the CAN channel. I knew what MIDs I was looking for, so it was easy to pick them out of the stream and break down the format. A 't' indicates an 11 bit frame and 'T' indicates 29 bit, the data width depends on MID length and whether the timestamp option is enabled.
Fun stuff, have fun.

I have a spare Lawcel CAUSB dongle for anyone interested. Send me a notification if your are interested. I'm in the USA.

Tim