Your take on CAN...

[Brian Selle]

This is our first year using CAN. After reading through all the forums it was my gut feel that CAN was the way to go for the future. The ability to monitor the jaguars, PID hardware loop, adjustable voltage ramp, and the wire organization mentioned earlier were our main reasons. As FRC CAN matures it's my understanding that there will be more features available.

We decided to give CAN a try with the idea that we can always go back to PWM. After reading about the update rate issues with the serial cable we went with a 2CAN so we wouldn't have to worry about it. I certainly can't say the implementation of CAN has gone without a hitch. We have stumbled across several of the issues (firmware download locked up a jag on Windows 7 - now fixed, bent RJ11 socket pins on the jaguar - Home Depot RJ11 plugs fit too tight, bad cords, etc).

The support we received from Mike C. at Cross The Road Electronics was unbelievable. Dare I say almost too good. When we were frustrated and thought about going back to PWM, he kept us in the game.

We are currently running 9 jaguars and have used almost all the available jaguar/CAN features at one time or another. I'm happy we took the leap.