Towed Camera Sled

What are you working on .... Show off your Rov's Projects here.
Post Reply
nperry
Posts: 3
Joined: Feb 15th, 2017, 1:05 am

Towed Camera Sled

Post by nperry »

Hello,
I thought I would share my home built towed camera sled since it shares much of the same tech as an ROV, minus the propulsion system. In fact, this sled morphed from an ROV, into the towed sled since I needed to be able to operate deeper than a simple ROV was going to allow.

The camera is towed (very slowly) from the boat using an electric winch with slip-ring, on 1500' of umbilical. The umbilical is made up of a cable with 2 pairs, and 7/64 Amsteel Blue rope. One pair feeds analog video up to the boat, and the other is used for RS-485 communications to control the cameras, power, and lights, as well as to send depth, temperature and other information. The Amsteel rope is needed because the camera sled weighs in at about 80 lbs in air (probably less than half that in water).

The camera is self powered by a 30 amp/hour NiMH battery back, so the umbilical can be kept as small in diameter as possible. I get about 1 hour run time per battery pack with all of the main LED lights on.

For my application, the lights consume 90% of the battery power. I run a ton of LED lights since I typically use the camera at depths over 300', and here on the west coast its pretty much dark at that depth, so lots of light is needed for good quality footage. I record high definition video and stills using a few GoPro cameras, and the live video that is fed to the boat is just low resolution analog cameras, only used for navigation. I can switch between 4 different live cameras depending on what view I need.

I have spent a lot of time getting the lighting and stability of this camera sled correct. It is still a work in progress. My footage is all from Southern California in water ranging from ~170' to 1400'. Visit my youtube site for more footage. I add new video every couple of months usually. https://www.youtube.com/user/NPerry8051/videos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wadnhVKPzA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7QKQ1ehkog

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRWzQ6FfjIU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jum47rAP4tg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whekZebWxy4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrAHX4HMUu8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7e_UKFxW_kU

Hope you enjoy the footage!
Nathan
nperry
Posts: 3
Joined: Feb 15th, 2017, 1:05 am

Re: Towed Camera Sled

Post by nperry »

I almost forgot to show a few pictures of the camera itself, and the winch. I plan to make a video showing some of the details of the camera, winch, and how it all works pretty soon.
Attachments
IMG_2095.jpg
IMG_2095.jpg (116.28 KiB) Viewed 5054 times
Winch_01.JPG
Winch_01.JPG (199.73 KiB) Viewed 5054 times
20160722_150926.jpg
20160722_150926.jpg (716.82 KiB) Viewed 5054 times
Silver dollar
Posts: 75
Joined: Feb 20th, 2011, 3:03 pm
Location: Munkedal, Sweden

Re: Towed Camera Sled

Post by Silver dollar »

This is amazing footage! Wow!

Is the sled towed by the boat or do you winch it? You are going so close to the bottom. I would be so scared to get the sled stuck in a rock.
nperry
Posts: 3
Joined: Feb 15th, 2017, 1:05 am

Re: Towed Camera Sled

Post by nperry »

Silver dollar wrote:This is amazing footage! Wow!

Is the sled towed by the boat or do you winch it? You are going so close to the bottom. I would be so scared to get the sled stuck in a rock.
Thanks!

The answer is both. The camera is towed slowly, and I use the winch to control the depth. As I tow along (or sometimes just drift depending on the currents and weather) I watch the live camera feed and raise/lower the sled to "fly" along the bottom.

I have had some really close calls. Its not the rocks that scare me, its the old lost fishing gear that I run across from time to time.
Silver dollar
Posts: 75
Joined: Feb 20th, 2011, 3:03 pm
Location: Munkedal, Sweden

Re: Towed Camera Sled

Post by Silver dollar »

Perhaps you could have some emergency ascent mechanism to use if necessary? A powerfull motor faced down or a tank connected to a pressurized air bottle. So when you see a big obstacle, you hit the big red button and the sled will go up.

And once agai: Nice job with the sled and marvelous video!
Post Reply