Homebuilt ROVs Forum

i was wondering what type of rov i should build. i want it to have a working depth of 50 ft i want to have 100 feet of tether. i want to pick up objects like trash off the bottom what type of rov will i need. it needs to be portable :

Build something with control via telemetry. The direct control would cost too much in wasted power through the umbilical.

I am presently building a direct control unit, but my umbilical is limited to 25 feet (about 8 meters). That way, I can use smaller gauge of cables, and have the thrusters efficiently move the ROV instead of sweating it while dragging the umbilical (the more work the motors have to do, the more current they require, the larger the cable has to be so as not to limit the power availability at the motors via voltage drops along the cables. It's all intertwined, forgive the pun).

My next stage will be to replace the control top box and the umbilical so as to use telemetry (1 power cable (large DC current) also carrying control signals (small AC current), and 1 coax for clean video. And a pull back polypropylene rope for both umbilical buoyancy and recovery capabilities). But I will still limit myself to 50 feet max depth, so that I can use cheap thrusters (modified bilge pumps). Off the shelf thrusters are $$$, and custom home-built ones are complicated and finicky.

The step after that will be AUV!

thanks sounds like a good plan