So im looking for a tether. It will be ethernet and ill use it with usb/ethernet converters in order to use a webcam and ardunino board. Ill have a usb hub on the rov to which the arduino and the webcam will be connected. Would this work? (i mean attaching 2 devices to the extenders via a usb hub, the hub will be battery powered and the extenders are powered by the pc usb port)
But im not sure what length tether to get. 20m(65ft) or 30m(100ft)
What length tethers do most people use on their rov?
Cat5 cable should be ok right?
I'm not sure what kind of extenders you are using, but I have played with active extenders and didn't have very good results. First off, the majority of extenders only support USB 1.1, not the faster 2.0 that most of today's webcams run off of. The next problem would be powering the USB hub, usually hubs have their own power supply, and if it didn't then you will be putting a lot of strain on one USB port sending power to multiple USB devices that far; my suggestion on powering the hub would be to build your own adapter to tap into the whatever you are using to power your motors. The USB setup could work but it is not the best out there, and you are not going to get a very long tether because of the limitations of USB, with extenders, running 1.1, and powering the hub from something other than your PC, you're looking at a hundred foot tether at best.. and then you run into my problem which is losing signal often, I was using two 30 foot active extender cables to use a webcam also, and I ran into this problem quite often..
hope this helps
Ill be attaching the hubs power to the main power cable
Im using a pair of extenders like the ones in the link. They are rated at 150ft http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/USB-over-CAT5-Ada ... 3f04bce9ad
I think you were talking about active repeater cables though, right?
What would be another option for communicating with the arduino over 100ft? Using the ethernet shield?
Thanks
Philipp
Right, I ended up using active extender cables because my camera only supported USB 2.0, if you have webcam that uses USB 1.1, these shouldn't be a problem, it doesn't say in the description but these kinds of extenders only support USB 1.1 or 12Mb/s USB 2.0. As for the arduino, the ethernet shield is a good way to go ( I ended up doing this also), and RS485 serial connection is another way to go but you may need a couple of adapters. Whats nice about the ethernet idea is you could go with a IP camera and have an ethernet switch on the ROV to convert both the camera and arduino traffic to one ethernet cable going to your PC.
cheers
Ill be attaching the hubs power to the main power cable
Im using a pair of extenders like the ones in the link. They are rated at 150ft http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/USB-over-CAT5-Ada ... 3f04bce9ad
I think you were talking about active repeater cables though, right?
What would be another option for communicating with the arduino over 100ft? Using the ethernet shield?
Thanks
Philipp
Did your setup with USB Hub and CAT5 adapter work?
Would also a USB hub and USB extension cable work?
