I am considering using the GD400 for a real life project but I need to know that it works before I purchase 100’s of them. When I called I was told “There is no live tech support. Post something in the forum and hope somebody responds”
I hope this is not true as this effort is over before it begins.
Who you was talking to? It is a bit hard to believe that you got such a response.
I think the answer would be that there is no GARANTEED live tech support. They do there best, but even buying hundreds off the profit margins are probably fairly low and the level of support you might need could be extensive dependent on your skills and background. Using the forum where possible will get you a faster answer and probably more in depth assistance if you can share. You can normally get an answer here pretty quick form asome really smart members or GHI themselves. GHI monitor this closely are really good at fixing genuine bugs (even in the evening or at weekends)
Do any manufacturers provide “live” tech support?
they are simply telling you, dude the forum is where we live, eat, hang out and play! all day, all night :whistle:
the fastest way to get support would probably be through e-mail or this forum. who still uses phone for work anyway 
, didn’t we pass those gadgets to our kids :think:
The person answering the phone is not technical so they couldn’t answer any of your questions. As for our engineers, we are always here looking to help everyone. When necessary, we would love to get on the phone or work directly thought emails.
So let me ask, what can I help you with. And if you still think this is not enough, call back and ask for me specifically
You are right. How can you answer any technical questions without seeing code or providing links? We tried phones in the past and it was a waste of the customer’s time and our time.
@ Gus - from my point of view you and Gary live on the forum and are constantly providing help. Cannot ask for any better support and service. 
I’m on vacation but would you be so kind as to tell me who at GHI told you to “hope somebody responds”?
@ Gary - you are on a vacation and it is almost 10PM. You are not allowed here. Go back to your family 
@ Gus - I’ve spent all day looking at pink dresses with my precious 4 year old, I need some nerd time…lol
I must agree with this. GHI is certainly extremely responsive here on the forum. And not to even mention all the skilled other enthusiasts who bent over backwards to help others wherever they can. That is why this forum remains my favourite technical hangout.
I don’t remember the person’s name, - not relevant.
I would have liked to directly e-mail, but as a “new user” I didn’t have enough “points” to directly write an e-mail to anybody so my options are limited. that is also not relevant.
I work as a test engineer for a major automotive supplier. I have been tasked to create 10 to 20 systems that will provide extended life test for an electronic module. (I am being intentionally vague due to the public forum) These will be deployed internationally… A key component to this system is a CAN simulation that replicates everything in the vehicle, except the module I am testing. In the past we made a home grown card, very similar in concept to the GD400, but based on 16 bit technology. It is over 20 years old and needs to be retired. We have produced and used thousands of these cards. I would rather not design something from scratch… again. Your GD400 looks like exactly what I need. I bought several of them from Mouser and tried to get them to work and am having absolutely no progress on making the CAN work as I have described in other postings.
Of course there are many options available, Vector has a solution that cost about $1200 per node and is large and clumsy. National instruments has a system, but again cost is a big problem there. Those companys do have live tech support and engineers that will come to me to offer solutions, so I don’t think it is to much to ask to get a phone call answered.
I would very much like you help with this project, but I don’t live on technical forums and it can be days before I can check back for an answer. I need a much more immediate form of feedback, e-mail is good. I think in 6 more postings I will have enough “experience points” to be able to directly write an e-mail.
Are you interested in helping?
Actually this is very relevant. If someone answering the phone is telling customers “hopefully somebody responds”, that is something that I need to address right away.
No need for the points you can email me directly at gary.beaver@ ghielectronics.com.
We have a lot of the G120 modules and they are all used to communicate with and log data from automotive sensors. Its important that you know that the CAN pins on these boards are not the “physical layer” outputs. You need to use a CAN transceiver like the TI SN65HVD251PE4 which we prefer for its high voltage resistance. In the meantime I believe you can connect the Two CAN ports on the G400 RD to SD on both sides and send messages back and forth between the two channels. GHI has really made CAN easy with these products!
We also use the G120 on custom board in automotive (IEC1939) environment and are able to handle 500Kb speed with busload until 75% without problems. (but we don’t actually process this complete load)
You need a controller chip for CAN? ACK, didn’t know that.
Not quite. If you mean you can connect CAN TXD to RXD and visa versa, it doesn’t behave the same way as a UART when doing port to port.
CAN bus needs to see it’s own transmission so that it can detect the dominant and recessive states for arbitration and error checking.
For this reason, you need a CAN transciever on each CAN bus port for this to work.
You are correct Dave, you cannot hook them directly as I described, but there is a way to do it as described by another uC mfg.
@ Gary - Sorry about the earlier response. The direct phone call and e-mail worked just fine.
Just FYI, the problem I was having was the result of the baud rate being wrong in the SDK (Gus, correct me if I am wrong). I was using the CAN example and the line of code
var can = new ControllerAreaNetwork(ControllerAreaNetwork.Channel.One, ControllerAreaNetwork.Speed.Kbps1000);
apparently winds up with the wrong baud rate and to make work at 1000 MB/sec should be amended to
var can1 = new ControllerAreaNetwork(ControllerAreaNetwork.Channel.One, new ControllerAreaNetwork.Timings(1, 7, 7, 6, 1));
Simple solution, probably could have a better way with less fuss.
thanks to all.