getting started with NI usb-8473 and CANbus

[bennyk]

Hello

i am new to labview and CANbus

i have two NI USB-8473 modules. I have them physically connected together using the vga cable provided in thte kit. i have labview oand the canbus drivers on my computer (NI-CAN 14.0)

i simply want to send a message from one of the USB-8473  to the other. ideally i want an array of data on the block diagram that transmitts from one USB-8473 th other USB-8473 over CANbus and be able to view the transmitted array.

can anyone guide me through creating this arrangement maybe if anyone had a sample vi?

and if someone could tell me how to physically link the USB-8473 from the MAX application to the labview vi. as mentioned i am new to labview.

thanks for the help. im looking forward to learing labview

[Aix-La-Chapelle]

Hi bennyk,

Welcome to the forums and congratulations on being a new LabVIEW user!

For future NI-CAN or NI-XNET requests, you may want to post on the Automotive and Embedded Networks board.

As for examples, all National Instruments products come with example VIs to help customer's get started with their applications needs.  If you open LabVIEW, you can go into the Help » Find Examples.  This will open up the NI Example Finder.  Here you will be able to find examples on many best practices with NI LabVIEW as well as our hardware.  After the NI-CAN driver has been installed, in NI Example Finder, open Hardware Input and Output » CAN » NI-CAN » Frame API » Basic.  This will give you some basic examples to communicate between the devices.  You may be interested in the CAN Receive.vi example and the CAN Transmit - periodic.vi example.  

If you are new to the CAN protocol, you can check out the CAN Overview white paper that National Instruments provides to get started.  I would also recommend for you to review this white paper on what is supported by your USB CAN devices.  I would also recommend taking a look at the NI-CAN Hardware and Software Manual.  The manual is a bit daunting, but it has a lot of great information to help you understand the protocol,  and the API.  The manual is installed on your computer with the NI-CAN driver.  You can find it by going to Start » All Programs » National Instruments » NI-CAN.

Hope this helps you out!  Good luck!

[bennyk]

thanks for the info i actually made progress with it today (small steps at a time 🙂 )

i got the two USB-8473 transmitting data today successfully so that was good. i used the write and read periodic vis to do it.

i am trying to combine tese VI's into one so that i can use the a single VI to transmit and view the data.

what i want is a VI that has an array on its input that you can transmit over the two usb-8473 devices and an array on the output which will show the tranmitted data.

like the read example vi, as this shows the CAN frame ever time you send it

i have a basic picture of what im looking for below

thanks again

[Roji]

Hi Bennyk,

I have bought a NI USB 8473 and I have also installed the NI CAN 14.0, but when I try to find examples or any VI related to CAN bus nothing appears. Where did you find the write and read periodic VIs?

Thank you

[bennyk]

Hello

open labview. once you come to the "getting started" screen i.e. the window that says "create project" and open existing. now click "help" then "find examples"

in the examples window search for "CAN". now select the CAN transmit and CAN recieve examples as shown below.

these two examples can be used to transmit and recieve data over two NI-8473 devices. simply click "write" on the front pael of the transmit vi and you should be able to view the transmitted data on the recieve vi

thanks

benny

[bennyk]

sorry, one other thing use the "CAN Transmit - event based" vi and the "CAN Recieve" vi

[jiujiulong]

What is your LabVIEW verson?

I can't find your example.

[bennyk]

i have labview 2013, is there a help button and then find examples in the drop down?

[jiujiulong]

First You should use MAX to check the signal. use CAN monitor to watch the message. If pass the test, you can do next step.

[jiujiulong]

Yes, I could go to help to find example. but which example you use for USB-8473?