hey all
I was wondering if someone could tell me if its better to use relays to control the ROV with 1 common power wire or Monetary switches with separate leads running down the tether?
Much Appreciated
A good general rule, the smaller the tether, the better. A smaller tether creates less drag, allowing you to be more agile in the water, as well as allowing your ROV to get the best power ratio out of your thrusters. So the fewer wires in your tether, the better.
So far I have been successful with relays running my thrusters and lights. I run all of this off of one 12/2 power cord from the surface down to my relay box on board the ROV.
I control the relays via CAT6E control cable. So the 12/2, CAT6E and the Video Cable make for a lightweight and fairly flexible tether.