what does 'canbus' mean?

[mark_w]

i've seen this word dotted around the forum but don't know what it means. searched a bit but to no avail - what's it mean??

[Gsi3.2]

Controller Area Network....

It's how the multitude of control modules are connected together and 'talk' to each other......there are two forms on the vectra c.. dependant on age.. pre 2005 cars are 1/2 canbus where not all features are tied into the network.. post 2005 cars are full canbus where even the stereo is part of the network..

[neverlandandy]

glad someone else asked this
is this vauxhalls way to stop you tampering with the car hence a trip to an over priced dealer

[signum_1.9]

glad someone else asked this
is this vauxhalls way to stop you tampering with the car hence a trip to an over priced dealer

Never seen anything like it on an 'ordinary' family car!

[Taffyopel]

pre 2005 cars are 1/2 canbus where not all features are tied into the network.. post 2005 cars are full canbus

Should be the other way around Mark given the lack of features on the facelifts!

[Duncan]

is this vauxhalls way to stop you tampering with the car hence a trip to an over priced dealer

Never seen anything like it on an 'ordinary' family car!

No, not just Vx - you'll find CANBus on many a make of car out there - CANBus is a standard defining data communication, not something exclusive to VX/GM. It was originally designed for the automotive industry (by Bosch) but you'll find CANBus now on other non-automotive applications.

CANBus can dosome neat things that you could never, or as easily, do with convential electric. e.g. the feature where when a brake light goes the taillight then becomes a brake light in it's place is controlled by CANBus. All the different modules in the car communicate through CANBus and controlled by the main controller i.e. ECU.

It's simply a data communication protocol and as at the strat ofmy post, you'll find it on many other makes of cars. Lots of further info here if interested.

[mark_w]

blimey! the wikipedia page goes a bit indepth for a trogledyte like me.

in what way is my [early] 2005 car 1/2 canbus and a later one fully?
what does it do on my car, and what does it do on a newer one?

[signum_1.9]

No, not just Vx - you'll find CANBus on many a make of car out there - CANBus is a standard defining data communication, not something exclusive to VX/GM. It was originally designed for the automotive industry (by Bosch) but you'll find CANBus now on other non-automotive applications.

CANBus can dosome neat things that you could never, or as easily, do with convential electric. e.g. the feature where when a brake light goes the taillight then becomes a brake light in it's place is controlled by CANBus. All the different modules in the car communicate through CANBus and controlled by the main controller i.e. ECU.

It's simply a data communication protocol and as at the strat ofmy post, you'll find it on many other makes of cars. Lots of further info here if interested.

Ever the font of knowledge!!!

[Duncan]

blimey! the wikipedia page goes a bit indepth for a trogledyte like me.

lol, I went and got that link after I'd typed my main post - and my head was spinning after flicking through it all.

in what way is my [early] 2005 car 1/2 canbus and a later one fully?
what does it do on my car, and what does it do on a newer one?

The two main differences that I'm aware of is the first one mentioned by Mark above - the HU is a CANBus module on the full CANBus car and features of it are directly controlled by the CAN controller. The other difference seems to be the headlight switch, that is a CANBus module on a full CAN car. That's why there's no +12V wire to tap off on the headlight switch wiring when there is on a half-CAN car.

[Ste]

Unfortunately, there are several different protocols in current use, eg SAE and ISO.

look at it like this, the bus is the hardware to pass signals through (ie wires for HIGH and LOW) and the protocol is the language.