Peak PCAN-miniPCIe User manual

PCAN-miniPCIe
CAN Interface for PCI Express Mini
User Manual
Document version 1.2.1 (2014-04-30)

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Products taken into account
Product Name Model Part number
PCAN-miniPCIe Single
Channel
One CAN channel, galvanic
isolation for CAN connection
IPEH-003048
PCAN-miniPCIe Dual Channel Two CAN channels, galvanic
isolation for CAN connections
IPEH-003049
The cover picture shows the product PCAN-miniPCIe Dual Channel. The Single
Channel model has an identical form factor but varies in equipment.
CANopen® and CiA® are registered community trade marks of CAN in Automation
e.V.
All other product names mentioned in this document may be the trademarks or
registered trademarks of their respective companies. They are not explicitly marked
by “™” or “®”.
© 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]
Document version 1.2.1 (2014-04-30)

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Contents
1Introduction 4
1.1 Properties at a Glance 4
1.2 System Requirements 5
1.3 Scope of Supply 5
2Installing the Software and the Card 6
3Connecting the CAN Bus 9
3.1 D-Sub Connector 9
3.2 Cabling 11
3.2.1 Termination 11
3.2.2 Example of a Connection 11
3.2.3 Maximum Bus Length 12
4Using the Software 13
4.1 CAN Monitor PCAN-View for Windows 13
4.1.1 Receive/Transmit Tab 15
4.1.2 Trace Tab 17
4.1.3 Status Bar 18
4.2 Linking Own Programs with PCAN-Basic 19
4.2.1 Features of PCAN-Basic 20
4.2.2 Principle Description of the API 21
4.2.3 Notes about the License 22
5Technical Specifications 23
Appendix A CE Certificate 25
Appendix B Dimension Drawing 26
Appendix C Quick Reference 27

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1Introduction
The PCAN-miniPCIe card enables the connection of embedded PCs
and laptops with PCI Express Mini slots to CAN networks. There is
galvanic isolation of up to 300 Volts between the computer and CAN
sides. Device drivers and a programming interface 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-miniPCIe card.
1.1 Properties at a Glance
CAN interface for the PCI Express Mini slot
CAN bus connection via connection cable and D-Sub, 9-pin
(in accordance with CiA® 102)
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 controller FPGA implementation (SJA1000 compatible)
NXP PCA82C251 CAN transceiver
Galvanic isolation on the CAN connection up to 300 V, separate
for each CAN channel
Space-saving dimensions thanks to SMD technology
Extended operating temperature range of -40 to 85 °C
(-40 to 185 °F)
Single-channel or dual-channel model

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Note: This manual describes the use of the PCAN-miniPCIe card
with Windows. You can find device drivers for Linux and the
corresponding application information on the provided DVD in
the Develop directory branch and on our website under
www.peak-system.com/linux.
1.2 System Requirements
A vacant PCI Express Mini slot in the computer
Operating system Windows 8, 7, Vista (32/64-bit)
or Linux (32/64-bit)
1.3 Scope of Supply
PCAN-miniPCIe card
Connection cable including D-Sub plug for each channel
Device drivers for Windows 8, 7, Vista and Linux (32/64-bit)
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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2Installing the Software and
the Card
This chapter covers the software setup for the PCAN-miniPCIe card
under Windows and the installation in the computer.
Setup the driver before installing the PCAN-miniPCIe card for the
first time.
Do the following to install the driver and additional software:
1. Make sure that you are logged in as user with administrator
privileges (not needed for normal use of the 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 do not 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.
Do the following to install the card into the computer:
Attention! Electrostatic discharge (ESD) can damage or destroy
components on the PCAN-miniPCIe card. Take precautions to
avoid ESD when handling the card.
1. Shut down the computer.

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2. Disconnect the computer from the power supply.
3. Open the computer's casing.
4. Insert the PCAN-miniPCIe card into an empty PCI Express
Mini slot. For details refer to the documentation of the
computer.
5. For each CAN channel, mount a D-Sub connector with
connection circuit board into a respective hole of the
computer casing.
6. For each CAN channel interconnect a D-Sub connector and
the corresponding port on the PCAN-miniPCIe card.
Figure 1: Positions of the CAN ports on the PCAN-miniPCIe card
7. Close the computer's casing.
8. Reconnect the power supply of the computer.
CAN 1
CAN 2

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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 driver has been successfully set up you can find the
“PCAN-miniPCIe” entry in the “CAN-Hardware” branch of the
Windows Device Manager.

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3Connecting the CAN Bus
3.1 D-Sub Connector
A High-speed CAN bus (ISO 11898-2) is connected to a 9-pin D-Sub
connector. The pin assignment for CAN corresponds to the
specification CiA® 102.
Figure 2: Pin assignment High-speed CAN
(view onto a D-Sub connector)
Figure 3: PCAN-miniPCIe card with connection cables

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To connect a CAN bus to the PCAN-miniPCIe card, use the supplied
special connection cables. After you've plugged in the cable on the
PCAN-miniPCIe card, you can connect a CAN bus to the D-sub
socket.
The pin assignment between the D-Sub port and the 4-pin
connector1on the PCAN-miniPCIe card is as follows:
Figure 4: Front view of a CAN connector (SUR)
on the PCAN-miniPCIe card (CAN 1, CAN 2)
Pin SUR Function Pin D-Sub
1 Not used 1
2 GND 3, 6
3 CAN_H 7
4 CAN_L 2
1Connector type SUR from JST (www.jst-mfg.com),
name of the matching plug: 04SUR-32S

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3.2 Cabling
3.2.1 Termination
A High-speed CAN bus (ISO 11898-2) must be terminated on both
ends with 120 Ohms. Otherwise, there are interfering signal reflec-
tions and the transceivers of the connected CAN nodes (CAN
interface, control unit) do not work.
The PCAN-miniPCIe card does not have an internal termination. Use
the adapter on a terminated CAN bus.
3.2.2 Example of a Connection
Figure 5: Simple CAN connection
In this example, the PCAN-miniPCIe card is connected with a control
unit by a cable that is terminated at both ends.

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3.2.3 Maximum Bus Length
High-speed CAN networks may have bit rates of up to 1 Mbit/s. The
maximum bus length is primarily depending on the bit rate.
The following table shows the maximum 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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4Using 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 6: 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.

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If you haven't installed PCAN-View together with the device
driver, you can start the program directly from the supplied
DVD. In the DVD navigation program (Intro.exe), go to
English > Tools, and under PCAN-View for Windows select
the Start link.
The dialog box for selecting the CAN hardware and for
setting the CAN parameters appears.
Figure 7: Selection of the CAN specific 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.
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 8).

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4.1.1 Receive/Transmit Tab
Figure 8: 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 9: Dialog box New transmit message
2. Enter the ID and the data for the new CAN message.
3. The Cycle Time field indicates if the message will be trans-
mitted 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 trans-
mitted periodically is carried out additionally.
Tip: Using the menu command File > Save, you can save the
current transmit messages to a list and reload them later on.

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4.1.2 Trace Tab
Figure 10: 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 11: Example of the status bar
The status bar shows information about the current CAN connec-
tion, about error counters (Overruns, QXmtFull), and 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 Help menu or
with the F1 key.

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4.2 Linking Own Programs with PCAN-Basic
Figure 12: PCAN-Basic
On the provided DVD you can find files of the programming inter-
face PCAN-Basic in the Develop directory branch. 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 pro-
jects 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 systems
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 channels of a PEAK CAN interface
Driver-internal buffer for 32768 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).