CANbus

CANbus Solutions:

Controller Area Network or CAN is an integrating electronic controls system in vehicles and machinery giving savings on cabling, construction and building. And it is all brought together by one of the most widely successful control system standards ever: CANbus. Developed originally (by Bosch) with automotive applications in mind, CANbus is now an international standard (ISO 11898), which is why it is the most sensible (and widely-used) approach to developing such a control system. A single pair of wires is sufficient as the transmission medium (making wiring very easy), and because CANbus is now used in such huge volumes, all the components are extremely affordable. Its high transfer rate and high transmitter reliability, as well as the ability to recognise data error, makes it ideal in electrical noisy environments, where earthing/grounding can be a problem. This wonderful system makes your car cheaper and easier to build and is almost a universal across platform standard.

Your new CANbus enabled car might be saving the manufacturer time and money in construction costs but it has taken away your freedom to expand the system as you could with older models. For instance try installing any electrical accessory to a CANbus enabled vehicle and you will soon be in trouble.

Ray Smith in car solutions has many CANbus adaptors and specialist products to overcome the modern multiplex car wiring in such a way as to provide opportunities to expand the audio / video and security systems while maintaining the integrity of the standard wiring, thus not invalidating any warranties. Your car may have automatic door locking by the remote key and possibly has a factory fit immobiliser however would you be surprised that it most likely has no integrated alarm installed? Your vehicle supplier will charge you a fortune for the factory fit optional alarm or reverse parking sensors and the factory upgrade audio options are astronomically priced. Don’t let them rip you off or worse still, put you off having the accessories you want with their horror stories of aftermarket devices invalidating your warranties etc. They could be right if you have after market equipment fitted by someone who does not understand CANbus. The damage to the vehicle wiring and CPU engine management systems could be considerable.

The Factory head unit sound is poor and I want an auto-changer plus I need my steering wheel controls to operate. This scenario is has a CANbus solution: To improve upon the factory sound system you might need our CleanSweep DSP-based smart interface with your choice of Amplifier and Speakers CD and DVD auto-changers with OEM adaptors can be found here Stalk and steering wheel adaptors here

Portable navigation is fine as far as it goes but I want the accuracy and extended database that only a fully fitted DVD based navigation can offer but my car is CANbus.

This should not be an issue, simply inform us of your vehicle type and model and we can supply the correct CANbus speed pulse generator etc.

Cobra have now developed a range of CANbus alarm systems that fit a large range of vehicles. These Thatcham Category one alarms interface with the cars CANbus system and behave exactly like the factory option so your VW Audio or BMW / Mercedes alarm can operate from the door key remote.

Digital TV tuners can be installed as well as all sorts of DVD video systems