Homebuilt ROVs Forum

Working on designing a sub/drone to do my boat inspection, things like zincs, and bottom condition as well as fun exploring. Saltwater environment in the Pacific North West. I have a 40 Nauticat sailboat hence the name Nautisub.
KISS is the guiding engineering process.
Equipment gathering so far:

Gopro hero, 7, and 8
Gopro dome lens housing
Underwater LED lights (Manual turn on before dive)
First two drive thrusters (Will need two more) - ordered
Fish Finder Video with 100' tether and 7" display - ordered
Hobby box for relays
Speaker wire for power however considering onboard batteries - Need to research what kind of batteries.

Control joystick
On/off switches - ordered
Fuse - ordered
Polyprop hollow 100' for tether - ordered

Initial sketch but still designing and researching.



Comments more than welcome

I recommend using a raspberry pi with a servo/pwm hat and a ethernet cable as a tether. Reason being you'll need decent bandwidth to steam the video back and you can control it from a laptop.

Some of the items accumulated so far

Ianth3impler wrote:I recommend using a raspberry pi with a servo/pwm hat and a ethernet cable as a tether. Reason being you'll need decent bandwidth to steam the video back and you can control it from a laptop.

Thanks for the suggestion. It is a good solution especially for the camera feed. However I have already ordered a camera system that will both display and record video. Along with a secondary (but better video) GoPro that will just be set on record at launch. The camera lighting will also be set on at launch. Not high tech but simplicity for this first build. That only leaves motor control which can be done with 4 relays.

Big question for me now is battery onboard or up top. If onboard what type of battery for 12V DC operation sealed for saltwater use.

Battery on board is the best bet. You will have major voltage drop unless you use at least 10 ga wire. I would look into 18650 cells, they are cheap and easy to build battery packs out of.

Ianth3impler wrote:Battery on board is the best bet. You will have major voltage drop unless you use at least 10 ga wire. I would look into 18650 cells, they are cheap and easy to build battery packs out of.

Thanks I will look into those.

Build so far, just run out of pipe and T's

The system will utilize 8 relays and 4 19650 Li batteries. Housing these components in waterproof (and pressure) would be difficult. However, not chucking anything away, I found an old diving lamp that used to house a large square battery and light lens. Removing these gives me a watertight housing that I can fit all my circuitry and the batteries. Making them easy to remove for charging.

And it includes a nice powerswitch to turn on your ROV

Buenas tardes desde España.
Si pones un interruptor, mira la posibilidad de que sea magnético como los sensores de las alarmas, como este del enlace, es mucho mas cómodo que cualquier otro tipo, con este interruptor podrás encender el ROV sin necesidad de abrirlo, ni de hacer agujeros en la carcasa.
Te pongo el enlace para que veas a que me refiero, no para que lo compres en esta tienda

http://www.arduinosaltillo.denivel.com/ ... magnetico/

Un saludo.

Good afternoon from Spain.
If you put a switch, look at the possibility that it is magnetic like the sensors of the alarms, like this one of the link, it is much more comfortable than any other type, with this switch you can turn on the ROV without opening it, nor to make holes in the housing.
I put the link for you to see what I mean, not to buy it in this store

http://www.arduinosaltillo.denivel.com/ ... magnetico/

Greetings.