Let me start by saying this is a question I get at least twice a week from our regular customers and new leads alike— and honestly? It’s one that’s layered with more nuance than most people think, especially when you’re talking about mixing industrial hardware with CANbus infrastructure. As someone who’s spent the last eight years working hands-on with designing, testing, and shipping CANbus cables out of our warehouse, I’ve seen both the wild successes and the very expensive mistakes when companies grab the wrong cable for high-stakes systems like ATMs. Let’s break this down without the jargon fluff— because when an ATM is spitting out $100 bills, you don’t want to be the person who scrambles to fix a cable mix-up at 2 a.m. on a Friday. Canbus Cable
First, let’s recap what CANbus is, because a lot of folks use the term but don’t really get its core purpose (and that’s okay— I didn’t fully grasp it until a senior engineer walked me through a network tester at our trade show booth back in 2017). Controller Area Network, or CANbus, was invented by Bosch in the 1980s to solve a specific car problem: replacing the messy, bulky point-to-point wiring between a car’s engine, dashboard, anti-lock brakes, and door locks. Instead of running a separate cable for every sensor and actuator, CANbus lets all those devices communicate over two twisted-pair wires (CAN High and CAN Low) using differential signaling. That means it’s fast, resistant to electrical noise, and designed for industrial-grade, 24/7 operation— which is why it’s not just cars, but medical devices, factory robots, and ATMs that rely on it.
Now, ATMs— let’s talk about what an ATM’s internal network looks like, because that’s where the line gets blurry. A typical modern ATM has a handful of key components: the card reader, the cash dispenser, the receipt printer, the user interface touchscreen, and the security module (the thing that handles card data, which is non-negotiable for PCI compliance). Back in the early 2000s, many ATMs used dedicated, proprietary serial connections or even older parallel ports between these parts. But by the mid-2010s, almost every major ATM manufacturer shifted to CANbus to cut down on wiring bulk, make troubleshooting easier, and add more connectivity for remote monitoring. That’s where our first question comes in: if an ATM uses CANbus for its internal device communication, can you just swap in a standard CANbus cable?
The short answer is: sometimes, but not always, and here’s where the details matter most. Let’s start with the cases where a standard CANbus cable works. If you’re dealing with the internal communication between, say, an ATM’s cash dispenser and its main controller board— that’s a native CANbus network running at a standard 500 kbps (the common baud rate for automotive and industrial CANbus). For that, a quality, shielded twisted-pair CANbus cable is perfect. We make these exact cables— 24 AWG stranded copper, foil and braid shielding to block the electrical noise from the ATM’s power supply, gold-plated DB9 connectors that lock into place so they don’t wiggle loose during a service call. I’ve shipped over 12,000 of these to ATM maintenance teams in the US and Europe, and I can count on one hand the number of returns— mostly because someone ordered the wrong length, not because the cable failed.
But here’s the big catch that trips people up: not every cable used in an ATM’s network is a pure CANbus cable. Wait, what? Let’s clarify. A lot of people confuse CANbus with the cables that connect the ATM to the outside world— like the Ethernet cable that runs to the bank’s core network, or the USB cable that connects the card reader to the internal controller. Those are totally different signaling standards, and a CANbus cable will not work there. But that’s a basic mix-up, right? The more confusing overlap is when some ATM components use a CAN bus physical layer but have custom requirements that don’t fit a off-the-shelf CANbus cable.
Last year, we had a lead from a mid-sized bank in Chicago call us in a panic. Their in-house IT team had tried to repair 10 ATMs ahead of a holiday weekend, grabbing generic CANbus cables from a car parts supply store. Within 48 hours, three of those ATMs’ card readers were throwing error codes and locking up. When their service tech called us, we walked him through a quick test: using our oscilloscope, we could see the car store cables had thinner shielding (just a single foil layer, no braid), which let the ATM’s power supply’s switching noise bleed into the signal. The car’s CANbus network is in a much quieter environment than an ATM’s, which runs a 120V power supply right next to the data cables. The other seven ATMs that had worked— their tech said— were using OEM CANbus cables that had double-shielding and a specific impedance (120 ohms, by the way— that’s non-negotiable for CANbus networks, a detail so many people miss).
Impedance is another huge point I need to hammer home, because this is where “can you use it” shifts from “yes” to “no” fast. CANbus cables need to have a characteristic impedance of 120 ohms to match the network’s terminating resistors— without that, the signal reflects back along the cable, causing errors and dropped data packets. Our cables are tested at the factory to be within ±5 ohms of 120, which is the industry standard for industrial CANbus. The cheap car parts cables he’d bought were rated at 90 ohms, which was enough to mess with the ATM’s fragile card reader network. That’s not a design flaw in the ATM— that’s a mismatch between a consumer-grade automotive cable and an industrial-grade application.
Another thing we see: some older ATMs (pre-2012) use a variation called CAN FD (CAN with Flexible Data-Rate) for faster communication between components like the receipt printer and main board. CAN FD runs at up to 8 Mbps, which is way faster than standard CAN’s 1 Mbps limit. Our CANbus cables are rated to handle CAN FD, which is why we specify them for that use case, but not all CANbus cables are. The difference is in the cable’s capacitance— a higher capacitance cable will start to degrade signals at higher baud rates. We use 24 AWG stranded conductors, which keeps capacitance low enough for 8 Mbps signals over 10 meters (the average length between components in an ATM). A lot of bulk CANbus cables use solid core conductors to cut costs, which have higher capacitance and are too stiff for the tight, routed paths inside an ATM’s casing— leading to wear and breakage over time.
Wait, let’s also talk about safety and compliance, because ATMs are regulated, right? The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) requires that all internal network connections are secure from tampering and data interception. A standard CANbus cable, when properly shielded, is fine for that— but if you use an unshielded or poorly shielded cable, you’re opening up the network to the risk of signal snooping. I once worked with a partner who tested a generic unshielded cable in an ATM’s internal network and was able to pick up card data signals from 3 feet away with a simple radio receiver. That’s a huge compliance risk— not just for the bank, but for the maintenance team that chose the wrong cable. Our cables are rated for industrial EMI (electromagnetic interference) and RFI (radio frequency interference), so they meet the strict requirements for secure, industrial use, which is non-negotiable for ATM networks.
But let’s not paint all generic CANbus cables with a bad brush. There are some cases where a quality off-the-shelf CANbus cable works perfectly for ATMs. For example, if you’re adding a third-party cash dispenser to an existing ATM, many of those third-party components use standard CANbus signaling and will work with our off-the-shelf 5-meter CANbus cables. Or if you’re replacing the internal cable connecting an old ATM’s display to the controller, that’s a straight swap— no customizations needed. The key is knowing exactly what network your ATM is using, and what the component requires before you pick a cable.
I also want to address a common myth I hear: “CANbus is CANbus, so any cable will work.” That’s the same as saying “Ethernet is Ethernet, so any cable will work” and then plugging a 10 Gbps Ethernet cable into a 100 Mbps port and wondering why it’s slow. Different applications have different requirements— automotive CANbus is built for cars, where temperature swings are extreme but electrical noise is manageable. Industrial CANbus, which is what ATMs use, is built for harsh environments: constant vibration, temperature changes from being outside in a drive-up or inside a busy mall, and close proximity to power supplies that throw off noise. A cable that works in your car will fail in an ATM, no question, over time.
Let me share one more story, because it drives this home. A few months back, a customer from a large retail chain in Texas ordered 500 CANbus cables for their ATM maintenance team, specifying that they were for ATMs. When we shipped them, we included a note that said “Confirm impedance and baud rate with your ATM’s OEM to ensure compatibility.” A week later, he called back, frustrated— he’d ordered the same cables for their fleet of 200 ATMs, and 12 of them were showing communication errors between the card reader and controller. We walked him through checking the ATM’s specs, and it turned out those 12 ATMs were using an older OEM CANbus network that required a 1-meter cable (the bulk order was 3 meters). He swapped the length for our custom-cut 1-meter industrial CANbus cables, and the problem was gone. That’s why custom length options matter— most CANbus suppliers sell standard lengths, but ATMs often need very specific lengths to fit their internal routing. We cut every cable to order, so you can get exactly the length you need without excess slack that gets caught inside the ATM or too little that strains the connectors.
So, to circle back to the original question: Can you use a CANbus cable for ATMs? The answer is: Yes, if it’s an industrial-grade CANbus cable rated for CAN FD (if your ATM uses it), has a 120 ohm impedance, double shielding, custom or precise length, and is built to handle the harsh industrial environment inside an ATM. No, if you grab a generic automotive CANbus cable from a parts store, a cheap solid-core cable from an online bulk seller, or a cable that doesn’t meet those requirements.
At our company, we’ve been supplying CANbus cables for industrial applications for nearly a decade, and ATMs have become one of our most reliable use cases because the demand is consistent, and when we get it right, our customers don’t have to deal with the stress of a broken ATM on a busy weekend. We test every cable before it leaves our warehouse, checking impedance, shielding integrity, and signal strength at different lengths and baud rates, so you know exactly what you’re getting when you order from us.
Hybrid Copper Fiber Cable If you’re working with ATMs, whether you’re a maintenance tech, a bank IT manager, or a distributor, and you need to confirm which CANbus cable is right for your setup, we’re here to help. We don’t just sell cables— we work with you to match the cable to your specific ATM model, network type, and component needs, so you don’t have to guess or deal with costly mistakes. Reach out to our team to discuss your requirements, and we can help you build a solution that keeps your ATMs running smoothly, no late-night emergency calls required.
References
- Bosch. (1991). CAN Specification Version 2.0. Robert Bosch GmbH.
- International Organization for Standardization. (2015). ISO 11898-2:2015 Road vehicles — Controller area network (CAN) — Part 2: High-speed medium access unit.
- Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council. (2022). PCI Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) v4.0.
- Automotive Electronics Council. (2020). AEC-Q200: Stress Test Qualification for Passive Components (relevant to cable shielding and conductor reliability for industrial applications).
- CiA (CAN in Automation). (2019). CAN FD Specification Version 1.0. CAN in Automation e.V.
Zhejiang Chatnow New Material Technology Co., Ltd.
Zhejiang Chatnow New Material Technology Co., Ltd. is well-known as one of the leading canbus cable manufacturers and suppliers in China, specialized in providing high quality customized service. Please feel free to wholesale high-grade canbus cable at competitive price from our factory.
Address: Building 12, No.9 Huajin Road, ZhouWangMiao Town Innovation Center, Haining, Zhejiang 314400
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