Using RC aircraft controller to control ROV

[sk8man101]

Just thought I'd share what I'm trying to do / have done so far.

I am working on converting an old Aqua video under water video camera housing into an ROV. And I want to be able to control it with my RC airplane controller a turnigy 9XR. So far I have been able to use the FrSky receiver and transmitter to send the signal from the remote, to the wireless receiver, then along a 200' cat 5 cable (Super cheap cable around $12 on ebay so poor to no shielding) and into a PPM decoder that will be in the ROV that takes the one PPM signal and breaks it back into 9 individual channel signals. I plan on a 100 to 150' tether that will be a Cat 5, a pair of 10 gauge for 12v (drops to around 10v using calculators) and a rope all will be braided together and the rope will be used to pull the ROV if it gets in trouble. So far so good! The PPM signal can travel 200' with no problem. I had to power the PPM decoder with 5v because obviously 5v wont travel the 200' of cat 5 without significant loss! I was able to move a servo back and fourth traveling through the cheapo cat 5. I plan on having 3 to 4 reversing speed controllers brushed to power the converted bilge pumps. Anyways just thought I'd share. It seems as though it could be a pretty efficient way to control an ROV and easy to set up if you're familiar with RC radios.

Thanks

Dallas

[rossrov]

Hi Dallas. Using a conventional RC transmitter's PPM output is surely a simple and effective way to go. I guess with your FPV background you have some experience with OSD, which would help alot when you get to doing depth and compass. Make sure you use baluns either end for your video. Twisted pair is a balanced cable, and needs to be used with baluns to minimize interference between video and control signals etc.

Cheers,

Ross

[sk8man101]

Thanks for the tip Ross!
I had heard of the baluns set up but was not sure if I needed it. The cat 5 that I've been testing with is not twisted so I'm sure it will not hold a good video signal but have not tried it yet. Only tried the PPM so far. I'll be trying my best to use a typical OSD set up but I'm also considering an on board arduino that would send a signal up to the surface and be read on a separate small LCD. I want it to have depth and direction primarily. Anything else will be a bonus!