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Integrations Contributing

First setup

Wire WiCAN USB to the bus, join its access point from your phone, give it a password of your own and put it on your WiFi. Everything happens in the browser; there is no app to install. If you only want a wired USB adapter, the first step and the [USB serial](../connectivity/usb-serial.md) chapter are all you need.

You need

A phone or laptop with WiFi, a bus to connect to (or just a USB cable for now), and the name and password of your WiFi

Access point

WiCAN_ followed by twelve letters and digits, factory password @meatpi#

Setup address

http://192.168.80.1

Saves

Nothing until you press Submit Changes; WiCAN then restarts with the new settings

  1. Wire WiCAN USB

    The screw terminal takes, in the order printed on the case: VIN (7.5 V to 36 V), GND, CANL and CANH. Connect CANH and CANL to the bus and GND to the bus ground. Power comes either from VIN or from the USB cable; for a first setup on the desk, the USB cable alone is enough. A bus end needs a 120 Ω termination, see Hardware.

    The power LED lights as soon as WiCAN has power.

  2. Join the WiCAN access point

    On your phone, open the WiFi settings and pick the network whose name starts with WiCAN_. The factory password is @meatpi#.

    Tip

    Your phone may warn that this network has no internet. Stay connected anyway. If the phone keeps switching back to mobile data, turn mobile data off for a few minutes.

  3. Open the web interface

    In a browser, go to http://192.168.80.1. The Status tab opens: WiFi mode AP, the mDNS name of your device, the CAN settings and the voltage on Vin (near zero when only the USB cable powers WiCAN).

    The Status tab of a new WiCAN: WiFi mode AP, channel 6, station not connected, the mDNS name, CAN bit rate 500K, port 3333 and the battery voltage
    The Status tab on a new device. The seven tabs are on the left; Submit Changes stays grey until something is changed.

  4. Set a new access point password

    Open Settings. Under AP Config, replace @meatpi# in AP Password with a password of your own, 8 to 63 characters. The factory password is the same on every WiCAN, so anyone in range could join until you change it.

    The AP Config card: Mode AP, AP Channel 6, AP Password @meatpi#, Auto-Disable AP greyed out
    AP Config on a new device: access point only, channel 6, the factory password.

  5. Join your WiFi

    Set Mode to AP+Station. The Station Config fields wake up: type the SSID (the name of your network) and its Password, and pick the Security your router uses: WPA2 for most routers, WPA3 only if yours is set to WPA3. WiCAN joins 2.4 GHz networks only.

    The Station Config card with the SSID, Password and Security fields
    Station Config. The fields are greyed out until Mode is AP+Station.

    Auto-Disable AP decides what happens to the WiCAN access point once your network works: Disable keeps it on (the factory setting), Enable switches it off as long as WiCAN is connected to your network. Keep it on for now; you can turn it off once everything works, see WiFi.

  6. Choose how the bus is read

    Under CAN, set CAN Bitrate to the speed of your bus (500K for a car's OBD port, 250K for most trucks and J1939 networks) and pick the Protocol. Leave slcan if you are not sure; every use has its own chapter and the protocol can be changed any time.

    Protocol For
    slcan SocketCAN, BUSMASTER and other CAN tools, over WiFi or the USB cable. The factory setting.
    elm327 OBD apps such as Car Scanner, and RealDash's OBD2 mode.
    realdash66 RealDash as a CAN device, over WiFi or the USB cable.
    savvyCAN SavvyCAN.
    AutoPID Home Assistant and MQTT: WiCAN reads the vehicle by itself.

    The CAN card: CAN Bitrate 500K, CAN Mode Normal, Port Type TCP, TCP/UDP Port 3333, Protocol slcan, MQTT Disable
    The CAN card with the factory settings. Silent mode listens without ever transmitting, for a bus you must not disturb.

  7. Submit

    Press Submit Changes at the bottom of the page. WiCAN answers Configuration saved! Rebooting... and restarts; the page goes quiet for about 20 seconds. If the button stays grey, a field is out of range and a red message at the top of the page says which one.

  8. Find WiCAN on your network

    Put your phone back on your WiFi and open WiCAN's new address. Your router's device list shows it as WiCAN_<device id>, and on most networks http://wican_<device id>.local works too; the device id is the twelve characters from the access point name, in lower case. While the WiCAN access point is still on, you can also join it again and read Station IP off the Status tab.

    The Status tab of a WiCAN on a network: WiFi Mode AP+Station, WiFi Station Connected, a Station IP
    The Status tab of a WiCAN on a network: WiFi Station Connected, with the address the router gave it.

What next

  • A wired CAN adapter: USB serial for SocketCAN and RealDash over the cable.
  • Home Assistant or MQTT: switch the protocol to AutoPID and set up what to read, see AutoPID, then Home Assistant or MQTT.
  • SavvyCAN, SocketCAN, BUSMASTER, RealDash, Car Scanner: see Apps over WiFi, BLE and USB.
  • A vehicle that sits for days: with Vin on a 12 V battery, WiCAN draws power while the engine is off. Turn on sleep mode under Power Saving, see Sleep and battery alert.
  • The whole interface: The web interface is a tour of the seven tabs.
The page does not open at 192.168.80.1?

Make sure the phone is on the WiCAN_ network and not on mobile data, and type the address with http://, not https://. A WiCAN that has been set up before may have the access point switched off while it is on a network (Auto-Disable AP); reach it through that network instead. Common problems has the rest.