Faro Helical Adapter + CAN

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tsvilans
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Faro Helical Adapter + CAN

Post by tsvilans »

Hi,

We have been working on getting our Faro Helical Adapter kit up and running. We've fabricated some new hardware bits to attach the scanner to various vehicles / machines and have got the scanner networked so that we can adjust its settings from a laptop away from the actual scanner, etc.

What is crucial is triggering the scanner record / pause precisely so that we can synchronize it with sensors, motors, etc. I have been trying to do this through an Arduino board with a Sparkfun CAN-BUS shield, however I have not had any success so far...

My questions are: Has anyone else run into this issue? What kind of gear is 'typically' used in this sort of application? What is the correct way to connect the scanner to a CAN network (i.e. is it sufficient to connect my CAN controller (Arduino) directly to the scanner or do I need to terminate the CAN_H and CAN_L lines with resistors). I've followed the cable / socket layouts in the docs and I'm getting confirmation of CAN signals being sent out, there just isn't anything coming back and the scanner stays unresponsive.

Any help or suggestions would be very much appreciated! Apologies for the noob-ness, I am still quite new to CAN and signal processing in general :)
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jcoco3
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Re: Faro Helical Adapter + CAN

Post by jcoco3 »

Wow, that was the most informative question I have read in a long time! I think I learned more about the helical mode triggering then I already knew just by reading your post. Sorry I can't help you much, but there are plenty of others that have tackled this topic here. Have you tried searching the forum? Here is earlier post: http://www.laserscanningforum.com/forum ... it=CAN+BUS
First time I have heard of Aurduino being used :P

Please let us know of you success!
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Re: Faro Helical Adapter + CAN

Post by max72 »

I think it's a very interesting project, but some questions are requiring a dedicated elettronics forum.
I haven't any can bus experience but if you don't mind I'll ask some probably silly questions..
The can signals names remind me of rs485. In this case the specs suggest resistor terminator, but they are mandatory only with long lines. Do you have a specs doc with suggested wiring?
Do you have a common ground? This is fundamental...
Can you post pictures and drawings of your setup?
Do you have access to an oscilloscope or a logic analyzer to check the signals?

Massimo
ing. Massimo De Marchi - +39 347 32 17 049 - www.studiodemarchi.net
tsvilans
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Re: Faro Helical Adapter + CAN

Post by tsvilans »

For those that are interested, it was a simple matter of setting the CAN bit rate to 1000kb / s rather than other, lower defaults in the CAN code.

Subsequently sending CAN messages with proper IDs (0x02 to start scan, 0x05 to toggle recording, etc.) works fine. Still have some hardware issues with my CAN controller sometimes freezing up, but the actual scanner communication works!
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Oliver Buerkler
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Re: Faro Helical Adapter + CAN

Post by Oliver Buerkler »

Hi Tom.

Great to see you making progress!

In case you need technical support on FARO products, the FARO customer support team would be a good point to refer to ;-)

Please keep us posted on how your project moves on!!!

Best regards,
Oliver Bürkler
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