Communicating to ELMO drive with LabVIEW using Kvaser CAN library

[Hamilton Storage]

I'm attempting to control a motor using an ELMO drive (specifically a Harmonica Drive) with LabVIEW. I am using a Kvaser board in my computer to communicate with it via CAN.

I've downloaded Kvaser's VI Library for communicating to the drive, but I can't seem to figure out how to send commands over. I don't have any experience with CAN, and all my experience with ELMO drives have been using simple commands (such as MO, BG, AC[N], etc.) in their own software given.

Does anyone have any advice or examples that could help? I've looked through plenty of Kvaser's documentation, but I'm not able to understand much of it.

[Peter_W]

Hi Hamilton,

The link below is a great place to start learning about the CAN API and how to send and receive messages over a CAN interface. Since Kvaser supplied it's own set of LabVIEW VIs and examples I would recommend just playing around with those and sending some basic messages to establish that you have everything connected and up and running. That way you will be familiar with what you have available to you and you can eliminate connectivity issues before you begin developing a motor control program.

The NI-CAN Channel API

Also I would recommend going through the Automotive and Embedded Networks Forum with any further questions you have while trying to develop your program. While the LabVIEW community can offer some help and there is undoubtedly overlap between the two, the users on that forum will be much better suited as a whole to help with any issues that arise.

Automotive and Embedded Networks

Regards,

Peter W.