CanOpener vs Cansmart vs EzCan

Has anyone ever done an actual comparison of these three devices? I'm not talking about "I looked at Cxxxx and Cxxxx, then bought Cxxxx", but rather someone who has taken the time to do a side-by-side-by-side comparison of these three devices (and any other similar that I've not heard of). WebBike World? Moshe?

(Disclaimer: I have an EzCan. I did not look at CanOpener or CanSmart.)

I don't believe anyone has yet.

The CANsmart is new this year so folks are just getting deep into it now. It is a "re-Branded" Hex ezCAN, so I would suggest that you contact Hex and ask them what differences there are between the ezCAN and the CANsmart. I would also ask them about what they see as the differences between their ezCAN and the Clearwater CANopener.

I have asked TwistedThrottle about the differences between the CANsmart and the ezCAN but they were too vague mostly just repeating that it will work more seamlessly with Denali equipment. Because Hex make both I think they are in the ideal position to give an unbiased opinion (they win regardless of which you buy).

While the CANopener is designed and sold by Clearwater, I would ask Hex about it as well. The reasoning behind that is that according to a fairly in-depth thread here about a year ago, Clearwater had made some disparaging remarks about the ezCAN's ability to operate their (Clearwater's) lights safely. This left Hex in a somewhat difficult position, but they had the presence of mind to go to the engineering department of the company that makes the part for Clearwater that Clearwater had said would not work properly with the ezCAN and the Clearwater lights. That companies engineering department stated (and Hex published it) that there would be no issue using the ezCAN.

I have two CANopeners. Not because I wanted two, but because they are, or at least were, built in such a way that not all their upgrades can be done through a flash of the system or even sending it back to them. I had to pay 70% of MSRP for the new one that would function properly with my RTW. You'll understand why I wasn't impressed. THis was just when the ezCAN had come out but before I was aware of it, so the CANopener was my only option for what I wanted to do at the time. I wish it had been a month later and I would have got the less proprietary ezCAN, but I didn't know.

I have installed both Canopener (R1200RTW) and HexEZcan (R1200GSA without wonderwheel).

1) By watching the install video for the Cansmart on TwistedThrottle website, it appears to be no different from the EZCan other than maybe it is designed to be compatible with their Denali lighting systems and aux brake lights. In the video, the Cansmart connectors don't look to be as water resistant as the EZCan's but that might have been the camera angle.

2) The Canopener does not allow high power circuits but can provide trigger circuits for relay driven circuits. Plus it provides aux brake light functions (Billie Brakelight) beyond controlling the Clearwater lights.

3) The EZCan provides four circuits (Two 10 amp and two 4 amp) in 4 possible configurations for the wonderwheel bikes and 3 configurations for the non wonderwheel versions. How these circuits are controlled limits your design. Some are controlled by the key, some by the horn button, some by the brake levers so that limits how you set things up because you also have the 10 and 4 amp limitations too. It is hard to explain until you are trying to hook up things.

My advice is to figure out exactly what you are going to power first before buying the controller. Then go to the websites (the HexEZcan provides no paperwork for installation anyway) watch the install videos closely and start making the decisions as to how you are going to hook things up depending on what features you would like to utilize. For instance, you can make the on-side aux/fog light turn off when the turn indicator is active on that side but if you utilize that feature you must dedicate two of your four circuits to the aux lights. They must be the two high power circuits which takes away your ability to drive a horn circuit because no high power circuits are left. I must have watched the install videos 25 times because they insert a lot of info very quickly and initially you don't pick up on some of the significance of the instructions.

You might end up either using a more conventional electrical hub alone or in combination with one of these in order to get what you need. I did not end up using the HexEZCan for my aux/fog lights. Horn, aux brake lights, adding Skene front conspicuity lights are what I ended up using the EZCan to power.

Then there is the CanSwitch which now has more outputs than the others and has wifi.
I have one but am still researching auxillary lights. Squadron pro/ Denali D4 2.0
The Denali lights have 3 wires and works with their cansmart, not the 2 wire Excan.

I have the ezcan and have Denali D2 and DX spliced together using both 10A channels. The third wire is not used. The setup works great and all the different ezcan combinations work fine.

After reading my post, I should clarify.
4 lights total mounted using about 3 watts.

aviator said:

Then there is the CanSwitch which now has more outputs than the others and has wifi.
I have one but am still researching auxillary lights. Squadron pro/ Denali D4 2.0
The Denali lights have 3 wires and works with their cansmart, not the 2 wire Excan.

Click to expand...

Yep, the Denali's have 3 wires, but work with the 2-wire EzCan w/o problems. Twisted Throttle will help you with which wire to blank off, whichever Denali lightset you use. There is also a FAQ on the Hex site on the subject. (IIRC, you blank off the white wire. Connect Black to Black, and the red Denali wire to the other EzCan wire).

Enjoy!