MCP2515 CAN BUS MONITOR
DEMO BOARD USER’S GUIDE
2008-2014 Microchip Technology Inc.
DS50001757B-page 13
Chapter 2. Installation and Operation
2.1
INTRODUCTION
The MCP2515 CAN Bus Monitor Demo Board demonstrates the MCP2515
Stand-Alone CAN Controller interfacing to a CAN bus. The MCP2515 CAN Bus Monitor
Demo Board kit consists of two identical boards which, when connected together,
create a small, 2-node CAN bus. This bus can be interfaced to a PC by connecting one
of the two boards via the universal serial bus (USB) port and running the custom
software.
The two nodes are identical in form, however, the function is determined by the
connection to each other and the PC. One node (connected to the PC) will become the
monitor and the other one will become the Traffic Generator. The boards are reversible
(i.e., they can take either role, depending on the connection scheme).
Additionally, the board(s) can be connected to an existing CAN bus where the software
can monitor the traffic and the user can interact with the bus as needed. The software
allows some of the MCP2515 registers to be modified, as well as messages to be
received and transmitted.
The user can gain an understanding of the capabilities of the MCP2515.
2.2
FEATURES
The MCP2515 CAN Bus Monitor Demo Board has the following features:
• Two identical boards and a CAN cable for creating a small CAN bus
• USB interface and PC software to interface to the CAN bus
• CAN bus PC software, which can be downloaded from http://www.microchip.com
• Button for changing the bus load on the Traffic Generator node
• Headers (test points) for monitoring the MCP2515 pins (CAN, SPI, and
status/interrupt pins)
• PIC18F4550 PIC
®
Microcontroller (MCU) with ICD2 interface/header for in-circuit
programming.
