The Translator x2 is a CAN diagnostic device that is equipped with the following hardware:
• 2 CAN ports
• 2 USB ports (host/device)
• 1 RS-232 port
• µSD Card.
• Brown-out super cap.
• Battery backed real time clock
Its USB device port is used to relay CAN messages to the CAN Bus Monitor II program. CAN Bus Monitor II is also used to configure the Translator x2’s settings.
The µSD Card is used to log CAN messages without having to be connected to a PC. Accurate file time and date stamps are supplied by a batter back real time clock. The logged files on the SD Card can be retrieved by inserting a thumb drive into the USB host port on the Translator x2. All of the log files on the USB Card are transferred to the thumb drive. Each file on the µSD Card is erased after it is copied to the thumb drive. The files on the µSD Card are saved under a FAT32 file system. Should power to the Translation x2 be unexpectedly interrupted, the Translator x2 will remain powered by its brown out protection until all of the cached data is saved. It will then power itself down.
There are 2 CAN bus terminating resistors on the Translator x2 circuit board. Both resistors can be removed from the bus circuits by changing the terminating resistor settings from within CAN Bus Monitor II.
The CAN Bus Monitor software displays the raw data that is received on each CAN port in real time. The time stamp displayed with each message is generated by the Translator x2. The Translator x2 clock runs at 1ms and thus the time stamps for transmitted and received messages are extremely accurate and have none of the latency problems associated with Windows applications.
The CAN Bus Mini Monitor can transmit messages in either ISO/J1939 single packet, ISO/J1939 transport protocol or NMEA 2000 fastpacket. CAN message filters can be setup on the Mini Monitor and uploaded to the Translator x2. Since the filters are saved to flash memory, they will be active at power-up even if the CAN Bus Monitor II program is not running. The filters allow for a subset of the potential message that are on the CAN bus to be received by the CAN Bus Monitor II program.
The Translator x2 can be setup to act as a gateway between networks or between a device and a network. Using this feature the Translator x2 will rebroadcast on the opposite port any received messages. This can be done before or after the filtering is applied to the received message. The gateway feature is useful for linking buses together or trouble shooting a device by isolating it from the bus. After a device is isolated the messages passed between it and the bus can be monitored and limited.