The CANipulator is a CAN bus interface that allows the bridging, translation, baud-matching, or manipulation of traffic on two CAN networks between nodes. It was designed with automotive environments in mind, but can also be used in other CAN systems. At the heart is a 160 MHz ESP32-C6, which offers not only dual TWAI (Two-Wire Automotive Interface) controllers, but also 802.11b/g/n/ax WiFi, BLE 5.3, native USB, and many other features. The module is available as an individual board or optionally with a Hammond Mfg. enclosure, two pigtails, and a U.Fl antenna for simple, safe installation.

Main features

• 160 MHz ESP32-C6-WROOM-1U (U.Fl) with 4MB SPI flash
• Robust automotive-qualified 4V-18V input with fuse, reverse-polarity, and transient protection (up to 40V)
• Dual CAN-Bus transceivers up to 1Mbps with standby and shutdown mode, ESD protected
• Jumpered termination resistors (disconnected by default)
• Reset and Boot buttons (Boot button can be used as user button after boot)
• Two Molex DuraClik connectors (V+, Gnd, CAN-H, CAN-L)
• 10-pin female header (3V3, Gnd, 8 free GPIOs)
• USB Type-C connector for power and program upload

Use cases

• Interface CAN-capable devices with CAN networks that they were not intended for (ie. infotainment controls, seat controls, gauge clusters...)
• Translate CAN messages between a peripheral and a CAN network
• Modify baud rate to make a peripheral compatible
• Manipulate CAN messages silently from input to output
• Message manipulation on-the-fly via Wifi/webserver or Bluetooth
• Single or dual network sniffing
• Message simulation

The recommended collin80/esp32_can library currently has dual-TWAI/CAN support. ESP-IDF 5.2 and later officially supports multiple TWAI/CAN controllers. Arduino ESP32 now officially includes IDF 5.2+ and multiple TWAI/CAN controllers. Please update your ESP32 Arduino IDE boards to 3.1.0 or newer.

We have created a fork of esp32_can which has some bugfixes and a CAN frame forwarder example.

For single-CAN ESP32-based development, check out the CAN32 Dev Board.