Mx00 CAN messaging

Q. We are currently working on developing a custom display for our vehicle. Since we are using your ECU model, the MoTeC M400, we aim to obtain the RPM data directly from the ECU itself via the CAN bus.

Could you kindly advise us on how to retrieve data from the ECU through the CAN interface? For example, we would like to send this data to a separate development board such as an Arduino UNO or any other suitable microcontroller. Your guidance on this matter would be greatly appreciated, and we would be very thankful for your assistance.

A. There is a document attached to this article that illustrates the CAN output stream from the M800 ECU when you enable CAN 0 or CAN 1 data to 1 (using the ADL Dash Logger).

This output consists of a continuous stream of data transmitted on the same CAN address. It utilises a header and checksum, functioning similarly to a serial data stream. 

If you prefer to receive more conventional, sequential CAN messages, you can configure this in the ECU Manager software. To do so, create a custom data set containing the specific channels you wish to transmit. Then, set one of the CAN Data parameters to 'Custom Data Set Sequential.' This configuration will transmit the selected channels on sequential CAN addresses, starting from the base address you specify. Since all the channels are 16-bit, each CAN message will contain four channels of data.