How does CAN work?

[duane]

Originally Posted by kamocat

This is only important with the RS232-CAN adapter.
All regular cables are straight through; it doesn't matter if the connector is reversed, so long as both ends match.

I'd really like to believe you, but, Appendix A of the MDL-BDC24 Brushed DC Motor Control Module Getting Started Guide for the Jaguar specifically says

Cables must be “straight-pinned,” which means Pin 1 > 1, Pin 2 > 2, and so on. This is also referred to as a reverse-cable because the tabs on the connectors are on the opposite sides of the cable.

It would be nice to hear that this is true and that you are specifically having success with cables that do not satisfy the requirements of the manual.

[kamocat]

Yes.
I have an 8-foot phone cable which I've used successfully. It is "straight-pinned", but does have the opposite color sequence.

EDIT:
I suppose I was unclear in what I meant by both ends matching. I was using it as a synonym for the term "straight pinned", which had jogged my mind.

[Alan Anderson]

Originally Posted by kamocat

It is "straight-pinned", but does have the opposite color sequence.

That sounds like a contradiction. I'm probably not understanding it properly. Can you clarify?

[kamocat]

Sure.
On a CAN cable, the color sequence (for both connectors) is White, Black, Red, Green, Yellow, Blue, as read from left to right with the contacts facing up as if you were to plug it into a port directly in front of you.
Both ends of the cable are this way.

On a phone cable, the color sequence is Blue, Yellow, Green, Red, Black, White. Both ends of the cable are this way.

What makes the cable straight-pinned is not the color sequence on either end, but simply that the sequence matches for both ends when both connectors are held in the same orientation.

I hope that's clear enough.

[Alan Anderson]

Originally Posted by kamocat

What makes the cable straight-pinned is not the color sequence on either end, but simply that the sequence matches for both ends when both connectors are held in the same orientation.

Right, but what confuses me is that you said the color sequence on your straight-pinned cable was opposite.

I hope that's clear enough.

I still read "the sequence matches" and "opposite color sequence" as contradictory.