CAN PCAN-PCI User Manual

PCAN-PCI

CAN Interface for PCI

User Manual

Document version 2.3.1 (2014-04-29)

PCAN-PCI – User Manual

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Products taken into account

Product Name Model Part Number

PCAN-PCI Single Channel One CAN channel IPEH-002064

PCAN-PCI Dual Channel Two CAN channels IPEH-002065

PCAN-PCI Single Channel
opto-decoupled

One CAN channel, galvanic
isolation for CAN connection

IPEH-002066

PCAN-PCI Dual Channel
opto-decoupled

Two CAN channels, galvanic
isolation for CAN connections

IPEH-002067

The cover picture shows the product PCAN-PCI Dual Channel opto-decoupled. Other
product versions have an identical form factor but vary in equipment.

CANopen® and CiA® are registered communi

ty trade marks of CAN in Automation

e.v.

All other product names mentioned in this manual may be the trademarks or
registered trademarks of their respective companies. They are not explicitly marked
by “™” and “®”.

© 2014 PEAK-System Technik GmbH

PEAK-System Technik GmbH
Otto-Roehm-Strasse 69
64293 Darmstadt
Germany

Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

www.peak-system.com
[e-mail]

Documen

t version 2.3.1 (2014-04-29)

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Contents

1 Introduction 4

1.1 Properties at a Glance 4

1.2 System Requirements 5

1.3 Scope of Supply 5

2 Installing the Software and the Card 6

3 Connecting the CAN Bus 9

3.1 D-Sub Connector 9

3.2 Supplying External Devices via the CAN

Connector 10

3.3 Cabling 12

3.3.1 Termination 12

3.3.2 Example of a Connection 12

3.3.3 Maximum Bus Length 13

4 Using the Software 14

4.1 CAN Monitor PCAN-View for Windows 14

4.1.1 Receive/Transmit Tab 16

4.1.2 Trace Tab 18

4.1.3 Status Bar 19

4.2 Linking Own Programs with PCAN-Basic 20

4.2.1 Features of PCAN-Basic 21

4.2.2 Principle Description of the API 22

4.2.3 Notes about the License 23

5 Technical Specifications 24

Appendix A CE Certificate 26

Appendix B Dimension Drawing 27

Appendix C Quick Reference 28

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1 Introduction

The PCAN-PCI card enables the connection of a PC with PCI slots to
CAN networks. The opto-decoupled versions also guarantee
galvanic isolation of up to 500 Volts between the PC and the CAN
sides. Device drivers and programming interfaces exist for different
operating systems, so programs can easily access a connected CAN
bus.

Tip: At the end of this manual (Appendix C) you can find a
Quick Reference with brief information about the installation
and operation of the PCAN-PCI card.

1.1 Properties at a Glance

PC plug-in card for PCI slot

1 or 2 High-speed CAN channels (ISO 11898-2)

Bit rates from 5 kbit/s up to 1 Mbit/s

Compliant with CAN specifications 2.0A (11-bit ID)

and 2.0B (29-bit ID)

CAN bus connection via D-Sub, 9-pin

(in accordance with CiA® 102)

NXP SJA1000 CAN controller, 16 MHz clock frequency

NXP PCA82C251 CAN transceiver

Galvanic isolation on the CAN connection up to 500 V (only

opto-decoupled versions), separate for each CAN channel

5-Volts supply to the CAN connection can be connected through

a solder jumper, e.g. for external bus converter

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Extended operating temperature range from -40 to 85 °C

(-40 to 185 °F)

Note: This manual describes the use of the PCAN-PCI card with
Windows. You can find device drivers for Linux and the

corresponding application information on the provided DVD in
the directory branch Develop and on our website under
www.peak-system.com/linux.

1.2 System Requirements

A vacant PCI slot in the computer

Operating system Windows 8, 7, Vista (32/64-bit)

or Windows CE 6.x (x86 and ARMv4 processor support)
or Linux (32/64-bit)

1.3 Scope of Supply

PCAN-PCI card

Device drivers for Windows 8, 7, Vista and Linux (32/64-bit)

Device driver for Windows CE 6.x

(x86 and ARMv4 processor support)

PCAN-View CAN monitor for Windows 8, 7, Vista (32/64-bit)

PCAN-Basic programming interface consisting of an interface

DLL, examples, and header files for all common programming
languages

Manual in PDF format

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2 Installing the Software and

the Card

This chapter covers the software setup for the PCAN-PCI card under
Windows and the installation of the card in the computer.

Setup the driver before

installing the PCAN-PCI card.

Do the following to install the driver:

1. Make sure that you are logged in as user with administrator
privileges (not needed for normal use of the PCAN-PCI card
later on).

2. Insert the supplied DVD into the appropriate drive of the
computer. Usually a navigation program appears a few
moments later. If not, start the file Intro.exe from the root
directory of the DVD.

3. On the page English > Drivers activate the entry PCAN-PCI.

4. Click on Install now. The setup program for the driver is
executed.

5. Follow the instructions of the setup program.

Tip: If you don't want to install the CAN monitor PCAN-View for
Windows onto the hard disk together with the driver, you have
the option to start the program later directly from DVD without
prior installation.

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Do the following to install the PCAN-PCI card in the computer:

Attention! Electrostatic discharge (ESD) can damage or destroy
components on the PCAN-PCI card. Take precautions to avoid
ESD when handling the card.

Figure 1: Position of the CAN connectors CAN 1 (lower position)

and CAN 2 (upper position). In the Single Channel version,

CAN 1 remains at the same position

1. Shut down the computer.

2. Disconnect the computer from the power supply.

3. Open the computer's casing.

4. Insert the PCAN-PCI card into an empty PCI slot. For details
please refer to the documentation of the computer.

5. Close the computer's casing.

6. Reconnect the power supply of the computer.

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Do the following to complete the initialization:

1. Turn on the computer and start Windows. Make sure that
you are logged in as user with administrator privileges.

Windows notifies that new hardware has been detected.

2. The drivers are found and installed by Windows.

3. Afterwards you can work as user with restricted rights
again.

After the initialization process is finished successfully you can find
the entry “PCAN-PCI” in the branch “CAN-Hardware” of the
Windows Device Manager.

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3 Connecting the CAN Bus

3.1 D-Sub Connector

A High-speed CAN bus (ISO 11898-2) is connected to the 9-pin
D-Sub connector. The pin assignment for CAN corresponds to the
specification CiA® 102.

Figure 2: Pin assignment of High-speed CAN connection

(view onto a male connector on the PCAN-PCI card)

With the pins 1 and 9 devices with low power consumption (e.g. bus
converters) can be directly supplied via the CAN connector. At deli­very these pins are not assigned. You can find a detailed description
in the following section 3.2.

Tip: You can connect a CAN bus with a different transmission
standard via a bus converter. PEAK-System offers different bus
converter modules (e.g. PCAN-TJA1054 for a Low-speed CAN
bus according to ISO 11898-3).

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3.2 Supplying External Devices via the CAN
Connector

A 5-Volt supply can optionally be routed to pin 1 and/or pin 9 of a D­Sub connector by setting solder bridges on the PCAN-PCI card
(independently for each connector on the Dual Channel versions).
Thus devices with low power consumption (e.g. bus converters) can
be directly supplied via the CAN connector.

When using this option the 5-Volt supply is connected to the power
supply of the computer and is not fused separately. The opto­decoupled versions of the card contain an interconnected DC/DC
converter. Therefore the current output is limited to about 50 mA.

Proceed as follows to activate the 5-Volt supply:

Attention! Electrostatic discharge (ESD) can damage or destroy
components on the PCAN-PCI card. Take precautions to avoid
ESD when handling the card.

Set the solder bridge(s) on the PCAN-PCI card according to the
desired settings. During this procedure take especially care not to
produce unwanted short circuits on the card.

Figure 3 shows the positions of the solder fields on the PCAN-PCI
card. The

table below contains the possible settings.

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Figure 3: PCAN-PCI card, LJ21 (lower marker) and LJ22 (upper marker)

5-Volt supply →

None Pin 1 Pin 9 Pin 1 + Pin 9

LJ21 (CAN channel 1) /
LJ22 (CAN channel 2)

Attention! Risk of short circuit! If the option described in this
section is activated, you may only connect or disconnect CAN
cables or peripheral systems (e.g. bus converters) to or from
the PCAN-PCI card while the computer is de-energized.

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3.3 Cabling

3.3.1 Termination

A High-speed CAN bus (ISO 11898-2) must be terminated on both
ends with 120 Ohms. Otherwise, there are interfering signal
reflections and the transceivers of the connected CAN nodes (CAN­interface, control device) will not work.

The PCAN-PCI card does not have an internal termination. Use the
card on a terminated CAN bus.

3.3.2 Example of a Connection

Figure 4: Simple CAN connection

In this example, the PCAN-PCI card is connected with a control unit
by a cable that is terminated at both ends.

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3.3.3 Maximum Bus Length

High-Speed-CAN networks may have bit rates of up to 1 Mbit/s. The
maximum bus length depends primarily on the bit rate.

The following table shows the maximum possible CAN bus length
at different bit rates:

Bit rate Bus length

1 Mbit/s 40 m

500 kbit/s 110 m

250 kbit/s 240 m

125 kbit/s 500 m

50 kbit/s 1.3 km

20 kbit/s 3.3 km

10 kbit/s 6.6 km

5 kbit/s 13.0 km

The listed values have been calculated on the basis of an idealized
system and can differ from reality.

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4 Using the Software

This chapter covers the provided software PCAN-View and the
programming interface PCAN-Basic.

4.1 CAN Monitor PCAN-View for Windows

PCAN-View for Windows is a simple CAN monitor for viewing,
transmitting, and logging CAN messages.

Figure 5: PCAN-View for Windows

Do the following to start and initialize PCAN-View:

1. If PCAN-View is already installed on the hard disk, open the
Windows Start menu, go to Programs > PCAN-Hardware,
and select the entry PCAN-View.

If you haven’t installed PCAN-View together with the device
driver, you can start the program directly from the supplied

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DVD. In the navigation program (Intro.exe), go to English
> Tools, and under PCAN-View for Windows select the link
Start.

The dialog box for selecting the CAN hardware and for
setting the CAN parameters appears.

Figure 6: Selection of the CAN hardware and parameters

2. From the list Available CAN hardware select the CAN
channel to be used.

3. Select the bit rate that is used by all nodes on the CAN bus
from the dropdown list Bit rate.

4. Under Filter settings you can limit the range of CAN IDs to
be received, either for standard frames (11-bit IDs) or for
extended frames (29-bit IDs).

5. Finally confirm the settings in the dialog box with OK. The
main window of PCAN-View appears (see Figure 7).

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4.1.1 Receive/Transmit Tab

Figure 7: Receive/Transmit tab

The Receive/Transmit tab is the main element of PCAN-View. It
contains two lists, one for received messages and one for the
transmit messages. Representation of CAN data is in hexadecimal
format.

Do the following to transmit a CAN message with PCAN-View:

1. Select the menu command Transmit > New Message
(alternatively or Ins).

The dialog box New Transmit Message is shown.

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Figure 8: Dialog box New transmit message

2. Enter the ID and the data for the new CAN message.

3. The field Cycle Time indicates if the message shall be
transmitted manually or periodically. If you want to transmit
the message periodically, you must enter a value greater
than 0. For a manual-only transmission enter 0.

4. Confirm the entries with OK.

The created transmit message appears on the
Receive/Transmit tab.

5. You trigger selected transmit messages manually with the
menu command Transmit > Send (alternatively Space bar).
The manual transmission for CAN messages being
transmitted periodically is carried out additionally.

Tip: Using the menu command File > Save the current transmit
messages can be saved to a list and loaded for reuse later on.

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4.1.2 Trace Tab

Figure 9: Trace tab

On the Trace tab the data tracer of PCAN-View is used for logging
the communication on a CAN bus. During this process the CAN
messages are cached in the working memory of the PC. Afterwards
they can be saved to a file.

The tracer can be configured to run in linear or in ring buffer mode.
In linear buffer mode the logging is stopped as soon as the buffer is
filled completely. In ring buffer mode the oldest messages are
overwritten by incoming ones.

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4.1.3 Status Bar

Figure 10: Display of the status Bar

The status bar shows information about the current CAN
connection, about error counters (Overruns, QXmtFull) and shows
error messages.

You can find further information about the use of PCAN-View in the
help which you can invoke in the program via the menu Help or the
F1 key.

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4.2 Linking Own Programs with PCAN-Basic

Figure 11: PCAN-Basic

On the provided DVD you can find files of the programming
interface PCAN-Basic in the directory branch Develop. This API
provides basic functions for linking own programs to CAN
interfaces by PEAK-System and can be used for the following
operating systems:

Windows 8, 7, Vista (32/64-bit)

Windows CE 6.x (x86/ARMv4)

Linux (32/64-bit)

The API is designed for cross-platform use. Therefore software
projects can easily ported between platforms with low efforts.
PEAK-System has created examples for the following programming
languages: C++, C#, C++/CLR, Visual Basic, Delphi, Python, and
Java.

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4.2.1 Features of PCAN-Basic

Supports Windows 8, 7, Vista (32/64-bit), Windows CE 6.x, and

Linux (32/64-bit)operating system

Multiple PEAK-System applications and your own can be

operated on a physical CAN channel at the same time

Use of a single DLL for all supported hardware types

Use of up to 8 channels for each hardware unit (depending on

the PEAK CAN interface used)

Simple switching between the channels of a PEAK CAN interface

Driver-internal buffer for 32,768 messages per CAN channel

Precision of time stamps on received messages up to 1 μs

(depending on the PEAK CAN interface used)

Access to specific hardware parameters, such as listen-only

mode

Notification of the application through Windows events when a

message is received

Extended system for debugging operations

Multilingual debugging output

Output language depends on operating system

Debugging information can be defined individually

An overview of the API functions is located in the header files. You
can find detailed information about the PCAN-Basic API on the
provided DVD in the text and help files (file name extensions .txt
and .chm).

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4.2.2 Principle Description of the API

The PCAN-Basic API is the interface between the user application
and device driver. In Windows operating systems this is a DLL
(Dynamic Link Library).

The sequence of accessing the CAN interface is divided into three
phases:

1. Initialization

2. Interaction

3. Completion

Initialization

A CAN channel must be initialized before using it. This is done by
the simple call of the function

CAN_Initialize. Depending on the

type of the CAN hardware, up to eight CAN channels can be opened
at the same time. After a successful initialization the CAN channel is
ready for communication with the CAN hardware and the CAN bus.
No further configuration steps are required.

Interaction

For receiving and transmitting CAN messages the functions

CAN_Read

and

CAN_Write are available. Additional settings can be made, e.g.

setting up message filters to confine to specific CAN IDs or setting
the CAN controller to listen-only mode.

When receiving CAN messages, events are used for an automatic
notification of an application (client). This offers the following
advantages:

The application no longer needs to check for received messages

periodically (no polling).

The response time at reception is reduced.

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Completion

To end the communication the function

CAN_Uninitialize is called in

order to release the reserved resources for the CAN channel, among
others. In addition the CAN channel is marked as "Free" and is
available to other applications.

4.2.3 Notes about the License

Devi

ce drivers, the interface DLL, and further files needed for linking
are property of the PEAK-System Technik GmbH and may be used
only in connection with a hardware component purchased from
PEAK-System or one of its partners. If a CAN hardware component
of third-party suppliers should be compatible to one of PEAK­System, then you are not allowed to use or to pass on the driver
software of PEAK-System.

If a third-party supplier develops software based on the PCAN-Basic
and problems occur during the use of this software, consult the
software provider.

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5 Technical Specifications

Connectors

Computer PCI bus (Rev. 2.2), PC98, 32-bit bus width, for 3.3 V and

5 V systems

CAN D-Sub (m), 9 pins

Pin assignment according to specification CiA® 102

CAN

Specification ISO 11898-2, High-speed CAN

2.0A (standard format) and 2.0B (extended format)

Bit rates 5 kbit/s - 1 Mbit/s

Controller NXP SJA1000

Transceiver NXP PCA82C251

Galvanic isolation PCAN-PCI: none

PCAN-PCI opto: up to 500 V, separate for each Channel

Supplying external

devices

PCAN-PCI: D-Sub pin 1 /pin 9; 5 V, max. 100 mA
PCAN-PCI opto: D-Sub pin 1 /pin 9; 5 V, max. 50 mA
Not assigned at delivery

Termination none

Supply

Supply voltage 3.3 V - 5 V

Current consumption PCAN-PCI Single Channel: max. 150 mA

PCAN-PCI Dual Channel: max. 280 mA
PCAN-PCI Single Ch. opto: max. 260 mA
PCAN-PCI Dual Ch. opto: max. 490 mA

Measures

Size PCB: 93 x 120 mm

See also dimension drawing in Appendix B on page 27

Weight PCAN-PCI Single Channel: 54 g

PCAN-PCI Dual Channel: 63 g
PCAN-PCI Single Ch. opto: 55 g
PCAN-PCI Dual Ch. opto: 65 g

Continued on the next page

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Environment

Operating temperature -40 - 85 °C (-40 - 185 °F)

Temperature for storage

and transport

-40 - 125 °C (-40 - 257 °F)

Relative humidity 15 - 90 %, not condensing

EMC EN 55024:2011-09

EN 55022:2011-12
EC directive 2004/108/EG

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Appendix A CE Certificate

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Appendix B Dimension Drawing

Figure 12: Dimension drawing PCAN-PCI

The figure doesn’t show the actual size of the product.

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Appendix C Quick Reference

Software/Hardware Installation under Windows

Before installing the PCAN-PCI card into the computer set up the
corresponding software package from the supplied DVD (with
administrator privileges). Afterwards, insert the PCAN-PCI card into
a vacant PCI slot of the switched off computer. The PCAN-PCI card
is recognized by Windows and the driver is initialized. After the
installation process is finished successfully you can find the entry
“PCAN-PCI” in the branch “CAN-Hardware” of the Windows Device
Manager.

Getting Started under Windows

Run the CAN monitor PCAN-View from the Windows Start menu as
a sample application for accessing the PCAN-PCI card. For
initialization of the PCAN-PCI card select the desired CAN channel
and the CAN bit rate.

High-speed CAN connector (D-Sub, 9 pins)