WiCAN is an ESP32-C3 CAN bus adapter that works over USB, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth LE, and designed for car hacking and general CAN bus development.
The device is available in USB-CAN and OBD-II form factors and comes with firmware that works with RealDash to create nice-looking dashboards with the data. RealDash can be installed on Android, iOS, and Windows 10 operating systems.
WiCAN specifications:
- Wireless module – ESP32-C3-MINI-1 with ESP32-C3 RISC-V microcontroller with 2.4GHz WiFI 4 and Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity, 4 MB flash, PCB antenna
- CAN 2.0 A/B interface up to 1 Mbps
- Host interface
- WiCAN-OBD – OBD-II connector
- WiCAN-USB – Mini USB port for USB-to-UART up to 6 Mbps
- Power Supply
- WiCAN-ODB – 7.5V to 16V (Vbat)
- WiCAN-USB – 7.5V to 36V via screw-terminal connector
- Power Consumption – <= 1 mA in battery-saving mode
The CAN Bus adapter also supports firmware updates over WiFi, and can be used either in access point or station modes. While BLE is supported, it does not seem to be the focus here, and WiFi seems to be the wireless standard of choice, while USB is also an option for the WiCAN-USB board.
Besides RealDash, WiCAN can also be accessed with the company’s WebCAN web-based interface and supports open-source tools such as SavvyCAN, BUSmaster, and python-can.
You’ll find the firmware source code (working with the ESP-IDF) and instructions on Github. Another interesting feature of the WiCAN-OBD model is MQTT battery alerts with the adapter monitoring your battery voltage and sending an alert if that voltage drops under a set threshold. This is especially useful for users owning multiple cars.
The company also provides a comparison against other wireless CAN Bus solutions based on ESP32, namely Macchina A0 and Freematics ONE+ Model A.
WiCAN-USB and WiCAN-OBD ESP32-C3 CAN Bus devices are both available on Crowd Supply crowdfunding platform for $42. Shipping is free to the US, $12 to the rest of the world, and deliveries are expected to start by mid November 2022.
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
Support CNX Software! Donate via cryptocurrencies, become a Patron on Patreon, or purchase goods on Amazon or Aliexpress
I have a features wishlist on GitHub, what other features you’d like to add?
Please consider an integration for Home Assistant, or at least engaging with the Home Assistant community for encuraging a new CAN Bus integration that would work with it
What Hedda said. I want my car to automatically connect to Home Assistant when I get home and update certain data points.
We have an open issue on GitHub about home assistant integration. Keep an eye on it for updates.
See feature request dicusssion on GitHub https://github.com/meatpiHQ/wican-fw/issues/3
It has a mini USB port. What year is it?
This device was designed to be powered of the Screw Terminal connector, the USB to CAN is an extra feature, there are a lot of USB to CAN projects out there. I’m using a pre-made enclosure for this project, and I’ll be making few hundreds units only so it doesn’t really justify the cost of designing a custom enclosure.
I think Sean means that any new device should really have a USB-C port instead of USB-Micro or USB-Mini. Not having an USB-C port makes it feel old in the tech world, plus USB-Micro is a horrible physical port and not many people has USB-Mini cables lying around these days.
I’m not happy with the USB mini either. it’s a design compromise I had to make to avoid designing an enclosure. I prefer to have a nice an cheap enclosure rather than USB-C… But this is just me I know many USB-C fans will disagree.
If I get 2000 orders I’ll design a custom enclosure with USB-C 🙂
Hello
Is it possible to do diagnosis over the internet?
Currently no you cannot.
Can USB be used to recover the firmware on the OBD version, or is there another way?
Yes of course, instructions in GitHub link below. You can use the USB to debugging as well it’s connected to the internal ESP32-C3 usb interface.
https://github.com/meatpiHQ/wican-fw#2-usb