Looking into tethers and the idea of a homeplug adapter on either end is appealing. In theory, this would allow all power and communications to ROV over 2 conductors. Since my voltage is only 12V, and I want to minimize voltage drop, I thought I'd use a heavier gauge tether. I'm having trouble finding anything with a significant amount of copper in it. Most tethers seem to be variations on 24AWG Ethernet cable. Four pairs of 24AWG is rated for just 4 Amps and perhaps less with some awful voltage drop. Best idea I can come up with is using single conductor stranded silicone wire and some sort of sheath. Unfortunately, I feel like it will be difficult to get a sheath which is both buoyant and flexible.
Has anyone been down this road before and have some suggestions?
2 conductor power+comms tether using Homeplug?
Re: 2 conductor power+comms tether using Homeplug?
I was considering 16ga. stranded twinlead speaker cable, twisted up with a drill and fished inside some braided poly rope.
And...this has been discussed to death...you can't really run power down to the ROV from the surface. The amperage requirements of the thrusters necessitate putting batteries on the ROV. Sure, using thicker wire will reduce voltage drop, but when you rev the thrusters the voltage will drop anyway, probably enough to crash your onboard electronics. At least that's the info i've gleaned from years of online research, and listening to guys moan about how they tried to do it, and finally just put batteries on the ROV.
You can get a 6-pack of 6VDC 12Ah SLA batteries off Amazon for $85. https://www.amazon.com/PS-6100-6V-12AH- ... B00GMX72NC That'll give you the option of running 12V (3S), 18V (5S), 24V (6S), whatever voltage you need for whatever ESC you have. And 2 left in series to run your topside station.
Thanks for the Homeplug link btw. I was looking at the Fathom-X Tether Interface, but it's $160 for the set.
And...this has been discussed to death...you can't really run power down to the ROV from the surface. The amperage requirements of the thrusters necessitate putting batteries on the ROV. Sure, using thicker wire will reduce voltage drop, but when you rev the thrusters the voltage will drop anyway, probably enough to crash your onboard electronics. At least that's the info i've gleaned from years of online research, and listening to guys moan about how they tried to do it, and finally just put batteries on the ROV.
You can get a 6-pack of 6VDC 12Ah SLA batteries off Amazon for $85. https://www.amazon.com/PS-6100-6V-12AH- ... B00GMX72NC That'll give you the option of running 12V (3S), 18V (5S), 24V (6S), whatever voltage you need for whatever ESC you have. And 2 left in series to run your topside station.
Thanks for the Homeplug link btw. I was looking at the Fathom-X Tether Interface, but it's $160 for the set.
Re: 2 conductor power+comms tether using Homeplug?
Openrov did the communication based on a of the self homeplug AV set. In one of the topics on this forum I managed to do the same, very easy (Till i fried it).