Learn CAN by communicating with a CAN device (IVTS) using CAN USB.

[govindsankar]

I am trying to learn CAN. So i downloaded XNET. Now I connected an IVTS via CAN USB. So the first thing I am trying to do is to make NI MAX detect it. My Device manager is detecting it. But NI MAX is not. So what needs to be done. Thank you. 

[MichaelS78]

is the IVTS a current/ voltage sensor? I used that with LabVIEW using the DBC file they supplied. is used The HOOOVAH CAN libraries, not xnet.  i was able to set up and use the IVT-S.  What CAN hardware do you have?

[govindsankar]

IVTS is a voltage sensor. The CAN hardware I have is PCAN USB from Peak. It is Peak IPEH 002021.Isnt the first task the NI MAX to detect the hardware. I dont know, do I have to download special drivers for that.

[MichaelS78]

Yes you can't use Xnet or NI Max with that.  You have to use the dll from Peak. I strongly recommend starting with: https://hooovahh.blogspot.com/2017/03/can-blog-introduction-and-downloads.html?m=1

It is an excellent resource and has non NI hardware support. 

I used this driver set with the device you have.  You really need a hardware device this library supports, it will make life easier.

[rolfk]

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@govindsankar wrote:

IVTS is a voltage sensor. The CAN hardware I have is PCAN USB from Peak. It is Peak IPEH 002021.Isnt the first task the NI MAX to detect the hardware. I dont know, do I have to download special drivers for that.

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NI Max AND NI-Xnet obviously only recognize and support NI hardware. Your Peak CAN dongle is from a competitor and NI never ever would try to recognize that device. 😁

It's also not a sustainable support model to try to do that as they have not all the technical details from Peak to properly integrate it into their own software stack. It would require reverse engineering of the Peak hardware and software, which is not only a legally problematic method but also costly and there is no economic gain for NI to do that, so why should they even try to?

[govindsankar]

Oh ok, thank you for that info. So we can only program via CAN only if we use NI devices. 

[rolfk · Accepted solution]

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@govindsankar wrote:

Oh ok, thank you for that info. So we can only program via CAN only if we use NI devices. 

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No! You can use NI-XNet with NI hardware only.

You can of course use any CAN interface in LabVIEW if you use its own driver instead of the NI one. And NI is not going to write drivers for 3-party hardware. The profit is in selling the hardware not in providing free to download drivers. 😁

And even if they would charge for such drivers it is not an economical sustainable model, since people expect to get that sort of things for free.

[MichaelS78]

You need to start at step 1 of the link I showed you.  True, the Peak device is not ideal and not supported by NI drivers but it is not true to say you can only use NI devices. I use NI xnet dbc functions with Kvaser and Vector hardware. 

[govindsankar]

Ok thank you, I did find a driver for PCAN. I didnt test it out because I thought the first step is setting it up in NI MAX. Also it is useless, what I needed to learn was NI XNET. Using the driver from PCAN is useless for me because I need to learn CAN for a different project. Well now I will try to get the NI hardware for the other project and then learn CAN. I planned on learning CAN before getting Hardware. Now I cant, have to wait for the harware to start learning. 

[GerdW · Accepted solution]

Hi govindsankar,

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@govindsankar wrote:

Also it is useless, what I needed to learn was NI XNET.

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Correct, using Peak hardware to learn NI XNet is not the right way…

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@govindsankar wrote:

Using the driver from PCAN is useless for me because I need to learn CAN for a different project. Well now I will try to get the NI hardware for the other project and then learn CAN. I planned on learning CAN before getting Hardware.

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You still can learn "CAN" by using Peak hardware and software. The Peak devices come with free-to-use software (as long as I used them) and this still enables you to learn and understand CAN basics!

Using Peak's CAN monitor you can analyse/send CAN messages and learn how to control your own devices on the CAN bus. When you know which messages are needed for your devices then it becomes easier to handle them later using NI hardware and NI XNet…