Homebuilt ROVs Forum

Alright, I finally found a cheap thruster that has enough butt to build my bigger skid out of aluminum. I will be adding a panning Camera, Manipulator arm, GPS or Compass, Depth, and maybe 360' Sonar and Variable Buoyancy. I found a cheap Hummingbird unit for cheap. To be continued...

Looks like you have a real solid start there.
What sort of control and power are you planning on?
What are the dimensions of your rov?

Is 22"L X 16"W X14" D. I was thinking about ordering an Open ROV kit and using the controls etc. Right now it has Analog controls. That's the way the first ROV I built ran. Think one has all the controls etc. from the previous one. It has 12 Volts down the tether now.

Well I made progress. I got all the bugs worked out and I think I've got the trim set close. First test dive on Wednesday. 50ft well see how it does

Looking forward to seeing your results! Keep us posted!

really keen to see how deep those thrusters will go!

Ok everyone. The ROV test was good to 50. The buoyancy was a bit touchy. I also used it for a real job. Ill upload the video when I can.

Ok another update. I tore down the thrusters etc to check them an found one flooded. I think it was a fluke but I'm going to try and figure out a way to seal them a little better and see how it goes. I maxed the ROV out this morning so 125' is the stock limit without modding them.

Ok. After some tweaking I figured out why the motor leaked. The gearbox to motor seal is round and wasnt placed in the housing right which left it offset and made a leak. I went back thru all the motors with Liquid Electrical tape and sealed everything. These motors also come with a great shaft seal set up which is adjustable with two screws and has orings in it. I think this fixed the limit for these motors and as soon as I can confirm I think it will go at least 200. More too follow.

Ok Guys got a few updates. I discovered that the weal link in the motors is the gear box seals. They can take about 15PSI before they leak. Because of the design a new seal cant be installed. With that said the company that designed the motors was kind enough to provide a small port which is perfect for an OIL port. So I filled the motors and wala no more water in motor issue. I couldnt even tell I filled them. The amp draw only increased by .2 accross the board. So I decided to start building the new housing. I picked up 3 ft of 4.75" clear Lexan tubing today with 2 X 5" Delrin pucks that im going to machine and put o-rings in for end caps. I also am looking at running a different system for control. I have no experiance with the Arduano kits but am considering one. Can someone go over what I would need to get it started? Im looking at running an UNO with two Motor Shields but Im not sure which shields etc to get. and what else I would need. I'd like to run 120AC down to the ROV and have a 120AC to 12DC Converter inside the housing. I have 300' of real ROV tether in a box that has the video w/Shield, Power, Ground, and a 4 wire set. This tether is neutral in the water and has a braided wire in it for strength. Im going to be using that.