Homebuilt ROVs Forum

Hi Rovdude! The forces you mention are correct. The buoyancy is equal to the weight (or volume since water density is 1 *) of the water your ROV is dispacing when fully immersed. So, concerning your frame you should only consider the volume of the walls of the pipes (difficult to estimate). What I d...

Hi Martin and Rossrov, thanks for the info and ideas and sorry for the delay of my answer. Martin, I had thoughts about oil filling things (battery, motors etc) but I don't like the idea in general as it seems a little 'dirty' during maintenace and also quite dirty for the environment in case of an ...

Thank you Rossrov for your suggestions. The ideal solution about battery & relay waterproof box is something that can be re-opened easily for charging the battery and replacing a burnt relay etc. If I understand correctly either the PVC tube (I don't know if I can find such, I'll make a search) ...

Hi everyone! I was absent from the forum for a while due to other obligations. Yet, this summer I managed to make a few dives with the ROV and I also managed to destroy it 2 or 3 times. Anyway, I learned a lot through these dives about the equipment and its behavior underwater. After our initial tes...

Hi Sailman, I had been inactive in the forum for a while, so I just saw your message. Although after 3 months from your post you'll have most probably found a solution, I decided to share some experience on bildge pumps. I also had an ROV-in-a-box kit with the same 500gph Johnson bildge pumps as you...

Hi Therrin, although I don't really have any experience in cave (or mine) diving it sounds quite hard to dive an ROV in such a place. The first thing that crosses my mind is how you'll manage to handle the ROV in that maze and not entangle the tether. It sounds quite difficult. And if you're going t...

Hi Puzzler300, I wouldn't recommend to put something like a cage around the prop. I protect the fans with PVC tubes (you can see them in the video) but if you don't let the water pass as freely as possible then the thrust decreases significantly. In my first try the PVC tubes had not enough openings...

Hi puzzler300, I also mounted computer fanblades on my ROV. The thrust test I carried out also gave good results. Although it is a cheap solution I realized (the hard way) they are quite fragile. I also don't think they can be compared to boat props in efficiency. Yet, they are as efficient as plane...

Actually we had the same thought when we were trying fans from PC power supplies as props. We never tried it though, as we thought that the two props (Left and Right) will push water in opposite directions when put on the same motor. I would expect to lose a lot of thrust (actually to remain more or...

I think it's a very nice initiative!
It will be most helpful, for me at least, as my future goal is Arduino-controlled ROV.
I don't know if I can contribute to the topic as I'm still learning about it, but I'm sure I will read all topics.