Dallas 1820 temperature IC use a true two wire protocol I would also go for the RS485. (Don't know CAN jet) I was once experimenting with two 16F84 Only two wires between the master and the slave.(GND and 12V) Slave had a backup battery While you dont transmit data - charge the battery! Otherwise pulse the 12V Line for data transfer (few bytes every minute should not be a problem) Francois -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist