Adafruit PiCowbell CAN Bus for Pico - MCP2515 CAN Controller

£14.80 GBP Sale

The Adafruit PiCowbell CAN Bus is a versatile accessory designed to connect your Raspberry Pi Pico or Pico W to a CAN bus network, ideal for automotive, robotics, or sensor network projects. This compact board brings the power of CAN Bus to your Pico, enabling communication in noisy environments or over long distances, which is a key advantage over other protocols like I2C.

  • CAN Bus Communication: The PiCowbell enables communication via a 2-wire differential CAN bus, providing reliable messaging at up to 1 Mbps. It uses the MCP2515 controller and TJA1051/3 transceiver, which are well-supported in both Arduino and CircuitPython.
  • Powerful Extras:
    • 5V Charge Pump: Even though your Pico runs at 3.3V, the PiCowbell includes a charge-pump voltage generator to provide the necessary 5V for the transceiver.
    • Onboard Termination Resistor: A 120-ohm termination resistor is included, which can be easily removed by cutting the jumper marked Term on the board for easier network configuration.
  • Connectivity:
    • A 3.5mm terminal block is pre-soldered to the board for easy access to the High, Low, and Ground data lines.
    • It also includes a right-angle JST SH connector for I2C, STEMMA QT, or Qwiic connections, providing 3V, GND, SDA (IO4), and SCL (IO5).
  • GPIO Pins: The CS (Chip Select) and INT (Interrupt) pins are pre-connected to GPIO #20 and GPIO #21 on the Pico, but can be reconfigured if needed by cutting solder jumpers and using breakout pads.
  • User-Friendly Features:
    • Reset Button: To restart your program easily.
    • Customizable Solder Jumpers: Each pad has a duplicate hole next to it for solder-jumpering, allowing for flexible configurations.
    • Gold-Plated Pads: Ensures easy soldering and reliable connections.
  • Configuration: The PiCowbell CAN Bus is compatible with Arduino (using the Philhower core), CircuitPython, and MicroPython. For Arduino, Wire is pre-configured for IO4 and IO5, while SPI defaults to IO16, IO18, and IO19. For CircuitPython or MicroPython, you'll need to specify the SDA/SCL pins and configure the SPI port accordingly.

Assembly: Each order comes with the assembled PiCowbell CAN Bus PCB, but you will need to solder in the header yourself. You have multiple header options to choose from:

  • Pico Stacking Headers for breadboard connections.
  • Pico Socket Headers for a solid, non-poking connection.
  • Short Socket Headers for a slim, pluggable design.
  • Direct soldering to Pico headers for the most compact and low-cost option.

With these features, the Adafruit PiCowbell CAN Bus is perfect for expanding your Raspberry Pi Pico project into automotive, robotics, or IoT networks that require robust communication.

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