Diagnosing Heavy Duty EV Batteries Remotely via Dashboards
Case Studies / MCFA
Mitsubishi Caterpillar Forklift America
About: MCFA manufacture and distribute material handling equipment and parts under the Mitsubishi Forklift Trucks, Caterpiullar Lift Trucks, and Jungheinrich brand names across 400+ dealer locations.
What problem did you solve?
We want to measure customer usage of our product, but we also know that installing devices where operators can see them will change the operator's behavior. There is also risk to sending our usual $10,000+ equipment to the field, in addition to needing technicians trained to troubleshoot that equipment during the measurement period.
How did you solve it?
The CANedge2 is small and doesn't require much power [1W], so we were able to hide it underneath the dash panel next to the CAN diagnostic connection. We are also able to collect some analog signals using an I/O module connected to the second CAN port without crowding the vehicle CAN bus.
What benefit has this led to?
Using the CANedge2 will allow us to monitor multiple vehicles at once for much less cost compared to previous customer measurement tests we've conducted. We no longer need to send our larger data acquisition systems and package in a computer to transmit data, which allows us to be discrete when monitoring forklift truck behavior.
"The CANedge2 is great! - I'm quite pleased with the remote configuration updates, open source software, and the customer service is outstanding"
Why did you choose the CANedge2?
I've previously used the CL2000 and CL3000 units and liked the simplicity and packaging on those devices, but for newer projects the second CAN port is necessary. Free programing and processing software is also a huge plus.
— Andrew Kruckenberg, Principal Test Engineer, MCFA
Comments by CSS Electronics
The CANedge2 is an ideal fit for warehouse telematics use cases, e.g. for forklift/AGV fleets. The SD + WiFi functionality is ideal for deployments where e.g. forklifts periodically come within range of a WiFi router, allowing the CANedge2 to offload recorded CAN bus log files automatically.
Further, the compact size of the CANedge2 (8 x 5 x 2 CM) makes it ideal for the size-restricted forklift/AGV use cases.
In particular, the CANedge2 is frequently used in predictive maintenance use cases for forklifts and AGVs. For more details, see our intro to predictive maintenance.
The CANedge2 - 2 x CAN bus data logger with WiFi
The CANedge2 is a professional-grade 2 x CAN/LIN data logger with WiFi - learn more below:
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