candleLight

The candleLight is a low price Open Hardware (CERN OHL) USB to CAN adapter. Like a network card, the candleLight allows to equip a computer with a CAN bus and to communicate via the CAN protocol.

New: This device is also available as candleLight FD in a version with support for CAN-FD.

The candleLight not only fits in any pocket and enables any developer to set up a CAN remote station even when on the road, it is above all an important building block for a reliable test infrastructure: The LXA-IOBus universe is based on the CAN bus infrastructure in order to have a stable communication channel to and between the "devices under test".

Technologies
  • Micro USB 2.0
  • D-Sub 9
  • STM32F07
  • Native socketcan support
  • RX/TX Status LED

Assemble the Hardware

The candleLight will be supplied as a kit. For full functionality, the D-SUB 9 connector must be soldered to the contacts. To protect the PCBA a heat shrink tube is also supplied. (The work should only be carried out by trained and instructed persons).

Features
  • Unlocked Bootloader to use your own Firmware
  • Open Hardware & Open Software
  • Long-Term Availability
  • Runs native on Linux and Raspberry Pi OS

First Steps

The candleLight adapter is supported from Linux kernel version v3.6. The associated CAN driver is CONFIG_CAN_GS_USB "Geschwister Schneider UG interfaces".

This driver is included on all modern Linux distributions, such as Debian, Ubuntu or Raspberry Pi OS.

Just plug the device in and check for a new network device using the ip tool:

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ ip a s can0
5: can0: <NOARP,ECHO> mtu 16 qdisc noop state DOWN group default qlen 10
    link/can
Further Information

Before we can connect it to a CAN bus, we must configure the bitrate that's used on the bus. The bus in the example uses 500 kbit/s:

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ sudo ip link set dev can0 up type can bitrate 500000

You are now ready to use the candeLight with every software that can use the Linux socketcan-interface. For low level access to the bus:

  • cansend to send arbitrary frames
  • candump to log frames and status information into a terminal
  • wireshark for deep, graphical protocol analysis

Our Commitment to Quality

This device is manufactured in Germany. Each device is put into operation and tested by hand by Linux Automation.