Custom ROV Circuit Board - Arduino Based

[njs552]

Hi,

Here is a custom ROV control board I designed and had manufactured:



The PCB takes a power input of 8-12v, and supplies all the electronics on the circuit board, as well as any servos or sensors that are connected to the board. It also has some capacitors for filtering noise out of the input line if there are ESC's and such on the same bus.

At the heart of the PCB is a Arduino Pro Mini, running at 5v/16Mhz - the same as an Arduino Uno.
The board communicated with the surface control via a serial line using the MAX488E series of chips.

It supports up to:
-6 motors controlled by PPM
-2 servos controlled by PPM
-2 analog sensors
-4 relays or 4 additional analog sensors

The control board is designed so that all that needs to be connected to the board is Serial, power, and the servo leads from ESC's, serovs, sensors, or relays.


NOTE: This board is designed for ESC's with a onboard BEC. The power(red wire) in the servo connector is not connected to anything on the board.

This control board is specifically designed for ESC's similar to this one with onboard ESC: http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/stor ... verse.html

The Arduino Pro Mini is running a modified version of my v2 software.

UPDATE: I am now selling these boards on my website. I did not expect so many people to want to buy the extra boards, so I setup a webpage where you can put your name on the list. https://sites.google.com/site/underwate ... line-store

Thanks,
njs552

[KR2_Diving]

VERY COOL!

Few Questions:
1.) I like the "heart beat" blue LED that is down by the SERVO connections. I am assuming that is what it was anyway. Curious as to what you did with the code for that.

2.) Where did you get your PCBs from? I have been thinking about getting a few board very similar to this made up. Even have some tough sketches. To be honest, I haven't even looked anywhere yet...

Very nicely done!

[njs552]

You are correct. It is a heart beat LED, and actually has two functions. It shows that the Arduino is running and not frozen, and it also shows the communication status by blink rate.

Here is my code that I have running in the tests: https://www.dropbox.com/s/l8ljfro9w827s ... e%20v2.zip

I have a blink without delay function running that turns the led on and off. There is a timer that is reset each time data is received, and if there is no data for more than 500ms, then it will switch to a safe state and change the blink rate.

I got these PCB's made a iTeadStudio: http://imall.iteadstudio.com/open-pcb/p ... yping.html
I had not heard about this place, but they made the board in about a week, and the shipping was about 2 weeks. About what I would expect for such a great price.

You should use Cadsoft Eagle or a similar program to design the board, then use the embedded CAM processor to export the gerber files, which all manufacturers use to create the PCB's. If you have any questions about Eagle I can most likely help.

Thanks,
njs552

[Kjetil]

If you are planning to make your own PCB, I strongly recommend DFRobot http://www.dfrobot.com/index.php?route= ... r_name=Pcb only USD 9.5 + shipping for 10 ea 5x5cm PCB. Delivered in Norway within 10 days.

[bikerbones1968]

Awesome work Nick. Throw us some updates on where you with the project these days?

[njs552]

My most recent progress is another test of my brushless ROV Thruster: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1163

I just got back from testing my high power LED with the step up converter. Hopefully I can post a video today or tomorrow.

Next I will be ordering some parts for the main pressure housing after I finish some 3d modeling to make sure everything will fit.

Thanks,
Nick

[a_shorething]

Hi Nick,

I'm new here and I saw your offer to pass along some of your spare boards. I've been trying to decide whether to buy some off the shelf motor controllers or just make my own.

Looks like there is another option.

Can you tell me if you still have any available and if so, how much for a populated board sent to 08742?

I plan to post more about my project soon, but my next test requires some beefier motor controllers than the Adafruit shield I've got now....

Thanks in advance,
Mike

[njs552]

Hi,

I just wanted to clarify some things about my board.
-The boards do not directly control the motors. It is still necesary to have a ESC either brushless or brushed to control the motor, or a relay to control lights, etc.
-This board is a hub for the entire ROV, and it is designed so that everything control wise is connected to this. Two control lines connect to the board, and all the control signals are separated from there. The Arduino Pro Mini is running some software I wrote.
-They are about the same price as an Arduino Uno, but they have all the 3 pin servo connectors so that there is no need to do a lot of soldering to connect all the signal pins to an Arduino.

Thanks,
Nick

[jwad7215]

Nick great job. Do you have any boards left? Very untreated in buying two?

[roberto83]

@njs552: Hi, this is very nice and interesting project but I have some questions regarding the motors like what kind of power supply you used for the motors because I think it should be different than the power supply to the ROV Control board as motors need more current than the other electronic parts and can you please tell me about the driver circuit for motor that you used with this board?

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