It's been a while since I read up on them, but over on TMC there are some very techy threads, a couple of the guys that had totally hacked their S are over there, Tesla is on top of their stuff. The security key's, VPN's used, back and forth communication. It's quite impressive. Not to say it can't be done, but most every time he would get close Tesla would shut the door on him.

 

Does anyone have any knowledge of this or come across other useful information that they can share?

Model S (and X) related:
https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/threads/diagnostic-port-index.98663/

 

That's super helpful.

To be clear, I'm talking about the in-vehicle wired data networks, not the cellular or wifi data.

It looks like MountainPass on TMC managed to access data and recommended looking for a twisted pair under the dash in this thread:
https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/posts/2768432/

I have plenty of CAN interfaces and software including Vector which work great if there is a physical CAN bus, but I was figuring the model 3 has moved everything over to Ethernet which I'm not sure how to interface with yet.

The digging will start soon!

 

They have that big screen on board, with some password that opens a maintenance menu, I would think the CAN bus is obsolete?

 

From the TMC post he pointed to MountainPass stated:

We did a fair bit of CAN capturing with the car while we were down there and have decoded a lot of the common messages. There are some similarities to the Model S so we were able to get a head start on that a little bit. We had both analog signal coming from the M1 (shock pots, accelerometer, GPS), as well as a number of CAN signals.

and

Q: How are you tying into the CAN bus on the 3?

A: Search for twisted pair wires under the dash and you'll find what you are looking for

 

I just noticed @Sasha Anis of Mountain Pass is here on M3OC...maybe they can lend some extra details.

 

Would also appreciate any details and photos or diagrams on bus and power harness and connector locations, pinouts, body controllers locations, etc...

 

Hi all - I was just looking thru the "Model 3 Event Data Recorder Retrieval Guide" (https://edr.tesla.com/) and see that there is also a Can bus connector in the right hand base of the B-pillar. I haven't read thru this whole thread so if I'm already posting old info, my apologies.
And I don't know if it fits the adapters that JWardell posted at the beginning of the thread.

Best, stay safe, wear a mask in public -

 

The car has CAN absolutely! You can find them by looking under the driver-side kick panel. Just look for twisted pairs in the harness and start poking at them with your vector scanner. If its CAN it'll be throwing messages at you at 500kbps!

That's all we'll say for now, I hope it is helpful!

 

The car has CAN absolutely! You can find them by looking under the driver-side kick panel. Just look for twisted pairs in the harness and start poking at them with your vector scanner. If its CAN it'll be throwing messages at you at 500kbps!

That's all we'll say for now, I hope it is helpful!

Thanks! And it looks like I'll have a specimen in a few days to try it on! Now if only I could find a DBC file around somewhere.

 

Some visuals here

 

Yep, just watched that video an hour ago and said hmm, I think I see a twisted pair in there...
I should know more in the next week or so.

 

I'm trying to probe around and find some CAN. The red and orange twisted pair are easily accessible in the blue connector, and I see some kind of data signal there, but it's almost as if the bits are RF modulated (see below). Scope can't decode anything with any protocol, tried ground reference and across the pair. The only other twisted pair I see is the extremely thin blue and white wires, can't find where they terminate yet to probe them.
Any suggestions? @Sasha Anis

 

Server is wonky, can't seem to add an image to the previous post...

 

You know how it goes after you take a break after hours and go back to realize there is an exposed white diagnostics connector upside-down on the ceiling right above the dead pedal. Impossible to stick wires into so I could only hold them making it difficult to manipulate the scope, but this is much more obviously CAN data. There are two pairs, two CAN busses going to the four forward-most pins, the pin closes to the driver is not connected.

Great news that it is a plug-and-play connector. But need to identify part and order a plug to make an interface.

 

I thought that was rumored to be a broadr reach interface that aggregates the can bus data?

 

We had previously theorized that, and maybe it is used throughout the car, but certain folks have verified standard CAN data access. I'll continue to work on it while I have time.

 

Have you thought about connecting female leads to the pins individually? This will be one of the first things I will do to try and connect one of the OBD2 Bluetooth parts. Not as elegant as having the mystery Sumitomo connector but at least you wouldn't have to hold probes. If you do, let me know what size you use.

I'll be pleasantly surprised if you don't need a BroadR interface. Looking at the EDR cable I am cautiously optimistic.

 

Yes...I have one more fairly free weekend where I can hopefully spend another day on it, and will try maybe a simple .100 SIP connector, and some proper CAN hardware.

If it's Broad-R then we might need an interface like this
http://www.fibrecode.com/usb-oabr-broadr-reach-100base-t1-stick.html

But Tesla's own data kit says it just has a standard Peak CanUSB interface, which I have several of

 

I think this is it: Molex Mini50

https://automotive.electronicspecif...er.com/connectivity/connectors-help-to-establish-automotive-ethernet-guidelines

...and that might mean ethernet, which I don't know as much about

Edit: no, it's something else

 

@JWardell I am interested to hear where you get with this, I wanted to attach an arduino to ODBC connector but just learned today that there isnt one. If you could figure out how to pull mph from any of these connectors let me know. Been thinking about a DIY OLED HUD for speed. Thanks!

 

Yes, the plan is to eventually build an Arduino controlled display or HUD with speed and hopefully geeky live graphs and data.
I got busy after last weekend and haven't had the chance to continue searching for that connector

 

I'm totally new to Tesla and vehicle hacking, but want to thank all including @JWardell and @Sasha Anis for giving some info to help a newbie!

 

Good news! A 5 pin SIP will fit and the pins are standard .100!
They are back from center though making it difficult, here is a picture where I was totally sure and thrilled to have the connector in...and clearly I missed them completely.
I'm going to try to research connectors a bit more this week, but I might be able to get somewhere with this header at minimum.

 

http://prd.sws.co.jp/components/en/detail.php?number_s=60983810

 

That sure looks like it would work! Do you know for sure or is it just a guess?
Unfortunately the part number doesn't come up at Digikey, Mouser, Newark or Amazon

Here's the datasheet
http://prd.sws.co.jp/components/series/pdf/en/ts.pdf

 

It's just an educated guess. I don't have access to my car right now so I can't do caliper measurements to verify.

https://nexelec.com/SUMITOMO-60983810/

 

I don't know how you're finding these Searching for connectors online is so freaking difficult, it's such a visual thing.

I ordered a few plugs and female pins. I will let you know if they work.

 

The good news is that I can reliably connect to both channels on the diagnostic port with a SIP header adapter I made (below). The bad news is I don't think it's CAN. They are just pulses. I connected the PEAK and tried various software but nothing sees any data, at any common CAN speed. Some bad scope shots below to illustrate.

So back to wondering where exactly @Sasha Anis was reliably receiving 500k CAN. And also wondering what on earth is this data on the diagnostic port

 

Or...maybe I have to transmit some secret message to activate communications. I hope not.

 

Awesome work! But we don't use that port. I'm not sure what kind of signals are on that bus, to be honest, but like you said it's not CAN.

Keep probing twisted pairs with your PCAN and you'll find something under there!!

We're trying to source and create a product that will make it easy to just "plug in" to the cars CAN networks. There are three CAN busses in the car.

We're also working on a display, but I don't think it would be HUD. It would be really cool to see what you guys come up with!

 

Awesome work! But we don't use that port. I'm not sure what kind of signals are on that bus, to be honest, but like you said it's not CAN.

Keep probing twisted pairs with your PCAN and you'll find something under there!!

We're trying to source and create a product that will make it easy to just "plug in" to the cars CAN networks. There are three CAN busses in the car.

We're also working on a display, but I don't think it would be HUD. It would be really cool to see what you guys come up with!

Are you challenging me to a race? An embedded race?
I'm too lazy and old for that
I had a tough time locating connectors and ends of all the pairs in there, partly because the left controller is mostly blocked. I really don't feeling like cutting insulation on tiny 28-guage wires without being sure what it does

 

I'm sure @Ingineer could tell us exactly where those diagnostic connector wires go and what IC they connect to...

 

It's just an educated guess. I don't have access to my car right now so I can't do caliper measurements to verify.

https://nexelec.com/SUMITOMO-60983810/

Good guess. I tried this part today (without pins) and it is a perfect fit.

 

Great to hear. Mine arrives tomorrow. I can update my cable. It's not CAN but maybe then I can try the Tesla black box software. And I need to spend another night probably more twisted pairs too. I could use some California weather for my projects

 

Pin 1,2 (120 ohm termination) 6,7 and 8,9 of the VCU left are all CAN. Yellow, white; blue, grey; blue, violet.
All 3 should be twisted pair. Dunno difference between pairs 6,7 and 8,9 ..... might be redundant

 

That's very helpful...it is very frustrating that the majority of the connections on VCleft are blocked by not easily removable parts of the dash.
We have had a ton of rain the last several days, seriously getting in my way with this and other car projects. I will get back to it soon.