Which CAN card should i buy?

[OnlyOne]

Hello,

i want to create an application where the computer is the Master and is connected to 10 devices as slave.

Currently i have no CAN card.

As far as i read the new boards are programmed using the NI-XNET API.

1. Is this software included with the card or is it a separate purchase?

2. Does it contain "read-to-use" labview-vis?

3. Is it correct that if i use/install the NI-XNET API then i dont have to care about NI-CAN, CanOpen, OpenCan, ....?

4. And the most important question is: Which card should i buy?

Thx for help

[GerdW]

Hi One,

general recommendation: talk to your local NI sales rep!

That being said:

1. XNET api comes with card

2. Yes.

3. You still have to care about CAN, CANopen etc: you need to know what you are working with…

4. see general recommendation as this (strongly!) depends on your needs.

[OnlyOne]

I thought if i use the new "NI-XNET API"-vi´s then i dont need NI-CAN (which is the old legacy API to older CAN hardware boards from NI)? And also CanOpen library uses the "old" NI-CAN.

[GerdW]

Hi One,

CANopen is a "weak" point in NI's product offer: Apart from the old CANopen library (based on NI-CAN) there is no good support for CANopen.

NI even seems to drop NI-CAN (IMHO): starting with LV2014/2015 they even "forgot" to include NI-CAN with the DeviceDriver DVDs…

Another problem (IMHO) is the lack of supported computer interfaces: there is NO CAN card for recent PCIe bus, you only get cards for PCI bus. For industrial PCs you still can use the PCI bus, but try this with modern (and cheap) office/gamer PCs! PCMCIA is only supported upto WinXP, USB interfaces need external power supply…

To recommend specific hardware you would need to specify the type of computer interface you want to use, number of ports needed, etc. See my comments above and then call your local NI sales rep!

So my recommendation means: You should know how to work with CAN and CANopen protocols even when the NI driver handles most of it. Understanding the protocols will help you in mastering them…

To recommend specific hardware you would need to specify the type of computer interface you want to use, number of ports needed, etc. See my comments above…

[OnlyOne]

Hmm, why should i need more than one port? Isnt one port enough to adress my can slaves in the bus?

[GerdW]

Hi One,

why should i need more than one port?

Sometimes you want/need to have separate CAN busses! In cars/trucks you have several CAN busses: engine control vs. "comfort" functions. To access them you need several CAN ports.

As said before: collect all your specs and then call your local NI sales rep…

[dkfire]

GerdW: What about the CANopen cards and the NI-Industrial Communications for CANopen tool?

There is still a lot of new CAN cards comming. 

But yes, the "new" XNET cards in C-module format is not the best, they need external power. 

[GerdW]

Hi dkfire,

when I read about those CANopen cards I see no "plain" CAN capabilites mentioned (at a quick glance). And I most often want to have CAN communications with the option to have CANopen too
.

And there also is NO PCIe device available.

[a_clucker]

Hi all,

I'll add my two cents:

If you want to do CAN communications, I recommend NI-XNET hardware for new users.

If you want to do CANopen communications, I recommended our CANopen hardware. We offer PCI, PXI, and cRIO models.

For both of these, the driver/API is free.

CAN and CANopen are different protocols that use the same physical layer, and we have different hardware and drivers for each. You will need to determine which protocol the other devices on your network use, and then use that information to influence your purchasing decision.

As the product page says in bold, the CANopen LabVIEW Library is not recommended any more: 

[dkfire]

Hey GerdW

You can, with the NI-Industrial Communication for CANopen, write "plain normal" CAn messages, there are functions for that.