CANBUS Contactless

Inductive CAN reader without electrical connection

✅ 1 Mbps    ✅ 8-90V    ✅ < 20g    ✅ –40°C to +85°C

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Description

The CANBUS Contactless reads the vehicle’s CAN bus traffic without cutting or splicing any wires. The CAN-H and CAN-L wires are secured to the board with zip ties; the board picks up the signal through inductive coupling and delivers it through a CAN passthrough output to any tracker or telematics device with a CAN input.

This manual applies to any tracker brand. At the end there is a section with the specific configuration for Spider IoT and Smart IoT.

Before you start

What you need

• A tracker or telematics device with a CAN input (CAN-H / CAN-L)
• Plastic zip ties to secure the wires to the board
• A multimeter to confirm that the wire pair is the CAN bus
• Vehicle power between 8 and 90 VDC for the module

What data can be read

Vehicle data travels over the CAN bus in two ways, and the contactless reader can only read one of them:

Contactless or direct connection

Installation

Find the native CAN bus

Look for a twisted pair of wires running to the vehicle’s modules. The usual places are:

• Behind the dashboard, in the harness going to the instrument cluster or the body control module (BCM)
• In the engine harness, near the ECU
• At the connectors of modules attached to the main bus

Avoid the OBD-II diagnostic connector. On many vehicles pins 6 and 14 sit behind a gateway, and the bus stays silent unless someone sends a request. The contactless reader sees no traffic on those wires. Look for the native bus, which transmits continuously with the engine running.

CAN pair colors change with brand, model and year: color alone is not enough, you need to confirm it with the multimeter (next step).

Confirm the pair with the multimeter

1. Start the engine (or at least switch the ignition on) so the bus is active.
2. Set the multimeter to VDC, 20 V range or auto-range.
3. Black probe (COM) to vehicle ground; red probe to the wire under test.

Bus state	CAN-H	CAN-L	H − L difference
Recessive (idle)	2.5 V	2.5 V	0 V
Dominant (transmitting)	3.5 V	1.5 V	2 V
Typical reading with activity	2.5 to 3.5 V	1.5 to 2.5 V	fluctuates between 0 and 2 V

To confirm, measure the differential with the red probe on CAN-H and the black probe on CAN-L: the reading should fluctuate between 0 and 2 V.

What you measure with the engine running	Diagnosis
One wire between 2.5 and 3.5 V and the other between 1.5 and 2.5 V	✅ It is the CAN bus, with activity
Both at 0 V with the engine off	⚠️ Normal: the bus is asleep. Start the engine
Both at 0 V with the engine running	❌ Not CAN, or a bus with no traffic
Both at ~12 V	❌ It is power, not CAN
One at 5 V and the other at 0 V	❌ Probably a digital signal, not CAN

Secure the pair to the board

1. Lay both wires of the pair (CAN-H and CAN-L) together along the top strip of the board, over the slots.
2. Pass the zip ties through the slots and tighten them so the wires stay in firm contact with the board.
3. Trim the zip tie ends and check that the board cannot shake loose with vibration.

There is nothing to cut, strip or splice.

Connect the module to the tracker

The module has a 4-pin connector wired as follows:

Module wire	Function	Connects to
Red	Power (+) 8 to 90 VDC	Vehicle positive; it can be the same feed that powers the tracker
Black	Ground (GND)	Vehicle ground
Blue	CAN-H output	Tracker CAN-H input
Blue/Black	CAN-L output	Tracker CAN-L input

On the vehicle side the pair sits on the board regardless of polarity, but on the tracker side CAN-H and CAN-L cannot be swapped: with the output crossed, the tracker does not read any frame.

Configure the tracker

Each brand uses its own tool, but the rules are the same:

Parameter	What to set
Bus speed	The same as the vehicle: typically 250 kbps on J1939 and 500 kbps on light vehicles. The module works from 50 kbps to 1 Mbps
Identifier format	29-bit (extended) on J1939; 11-bit (standard) on most light vehicles
Reading mode	A mode that only listens to the bus: J1939/FMS, passive listening (listen-only / silent) or raw frames with parsers
Not compatible	OBD-II (PIDs, VIN and OBD2 faults): it requires writing requests on the bus

Verify the reading

With the engine running, confirm in the tracker’s tool or on the platform that data is arriving: RPM, speed, engine temperature, fuel level or consumption, depending on what the vehicle publishes.

The module has no status LED: verification is always done from the tracker.

With Rinho trackers

Spider IoT and Smart IoT have a built-in CAN transceiver. Zero IoT has no CAN bus and is not compatible with this accessory.

Wiring

Connect the module’s CAN-H / CAN-L output to the device’s CANH and CANL wires. Colors on the tracker side change with model and version: see Spider IoT pinout and Smart IoT connectors.

Termination (DIP switch)

Configuration with CXCAN

The bus is configured with the CXCAN command. With the contactless reader, use the protocols that only listen:

// Trucks, buses and machinery (J1939)
>SCXCAN1,250K,J1939,29,0,0<
 
// Light vehicles: native bus frames, decoded with CXECU parsers
>SCXCAN1,500K,PLAIN,11,0,0<
 
// Passive listening for diagnostics and bus surveys
>SCXCAN1,500K,LISTEN,11,0,0<

The speed (250K, 500K or 1M) must match the vehicle’s. For light vehicles, the parser for each signal is defined with CXECU.

Verification

>QCXCAN<     // confirms the effective bus configuration
>QCAN00<     // J1939: RPM, fuel, consumption and temperature read from the bus

For light vehicles with custom parsers, values are queried with ECU.

Troubleshooting

Frequently asked questions

Does it affect how the vehicle works?

No. There is no electrical connection to the bus and the module does not transmit: it is transparent to the vehicle’s CAN network.

Do I get the same data as with a direct connection?

All broadcast data, yes. What you do not get is anything that requires writing to the bus: OBD-II requests (PIDs, VIN, OBD2 faults) and commands to the vehicle.

What happens if the wires come off the board?

Reading stops, but there is no risk of damage. Put the wires back in place and retighten the zip ties.

Can I move it to another vehicle?

Yes. Cut the zip ties, remove the board, and the original wiring stays as it was.

Technical specifications

Compatibility

The CANBUS Contactless works with any tracker or telematics device that has a CAN input.

Examples of other-brand trackers with a CAN input:

More information