Homebuilt ROVs Forum

Does this look correct to you guys who know ? My set-up is :
Turnigy 9X 9Ch Transmitter w/ Module & 8ch Receiver (Mode 2) (v2 Firmware)http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/stor ... ware_.html
6 HexTronik DT700 Brushless Outrunners : http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/stor ... ch=dt%20ex
6 HobbyKing Brushless Car ESC 30A w/ Reverse : http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/stor ... verse.html
50 mm Robbe props - 3 left and 3 right. Each set of thrusters has counter-rotating props. horizontal thrusters : 1 & 2, vertical thrusters : 3 & 4, lateral thrusters : 5 & 6

Left stick :

• up - 1 & 2 horizontal forward
  down - 1 & 2 horizontal reverse
  turn left - 2 forward & 1 reverse
  turn right - 1 forward & 2 reverse

Right stick :

• up - camera tilt up
  down - camera tilt down
  strafe left - 5 reverse & 6 forward
  strafe right - 5 forward & 6 reverse

I am currently looking for an OSD to connect to my laptop ( or tablet ) to display depth, heading, etc. Any ideas or comments would be appreciated thanks.
-Bob

How are you allowing for communication between the transmitter and receiver? Radio waves don't penetrate water well. I used ppm-pwm converters from foxtech for my two rov builds so I can run the signal tether from the trainer port on the tx to the converter.

It looks like he will have a 2 wire tether going from the ROV to the DSC port of his transmitter. This is the method I was looking at before I found the X3 control.

fireslayer26 wrote:It looks like he will have a 2 wire tether going from the ROV to the DSC port of his transmitter. This is the method I was looking at before I found the X3 control.

That's the plan. I have read about others on here doing the same. Here's just one. viewtopic.php?f=18&t=815
Do you have your X3 yet ? It looks great and would simplify things. Programming an arduino is not something I want to get into, so this ' plug and play ' system really looks promising.

scubersteve wrote:How are you allowing for communication between the transmitter and receiver? Radio waves don't penetrate water well. I used ppm-pwm converters from foxtech for my two rov builds so I can run the signal tether from the trainer port on the tx to the converter.

I didn't know I had to convert the signal. As I understand it, the 9X tx has a DSC port on the back that takes a standard 3.5 mm stereo plug. The plug is connected to 1 twisted pair ( 2 wires ) on my cat5 tether. The other end plugs into the BAT connection on the rx.

The issue isnt so much whether the tx has a port that outputs ppm signal (such as a trainer or dsc port) because many do, it's whether the receiver has a means to accepts such a signal (because many don't as 2.4Ghz doesn't typically use dsc functions)

@Lost Bob,
You might want to consider this two wire bi-directional Arduino based system: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=1159 The author will have boards available in December and does offer them built-up except for the Pro Mini. The Pro Mini is easy to program with an FTDI cable that works off of the PC USB port and uses the Arduino IDE. I like Open Source firmware.

I have looked at the X3 and am concerned about the support from Germany. Presently there is no one on their English Forum which is not a good sign. I have worked with the Atmeg 2560 and 328 mcus that are on the X3 and use them for autonomous vehicle navigation in autopilots such as the ArduPilot Mega. Both the Pro Mini and X3 systems use a bi-directional communication system so the tether will be light weight if you put the batteries onboard the ROV.

Therefore I plan to go with njs552's Pro Mini setup for the present and wait and see how the X3 pans out especially in relation to hardware and firmware support.
Regards,
TCIII/SSN626B

Lost Bob wrote:That's the plan. I have read about others on here doing the same. Here's just one. viewtopic.php?f=18&t=815
Do you have your X3 yet ? It looks great and would simplify things. Programming an arduino is not something I want to get into, so this ' plug and play ' system really looks promising.

I don't have it yet, but should in the next couple weeks. I will be the beta tester for the X3. I plan to post my experience with it here.

I too look forward to hearing how you get on with the X3 board - it looks very interesting and quite complete.
The part that interests me most is the software on the PC. Specifically how it will integrate the video with the overlay and how to record both video and overlay in one file.
The actual board seems quite straight forward, but how it relates to the PC and what facilities you have to get the display looking how you want it I feel is important.
I hope there are facilities to map ranges so that motors that start at 15% are mapped to 0 and similarly at the top end.
Also - how is the gyro used with this particular design?
The atmega chips are not programmable by the user, so rely on the PC software for commands and reprogramming when required. I wondered whether it would be possible to program these oneself?

So many questions and more !

I am sure you will have a lot of fun beta testing the board and discovering what you can do with it.

Oldsirhippy wrote: I hope there are facilities to map ranges so that motors that start at 15% are mapped to 0 and similarly at the top end.

Can you clarify what you mean by this?

You can not reprogram the board yourself. Well, you could, but you would have to write all new software to interface with it. You would be defeating the purpose of buying a plug-n-play system.

The control board does not have a gyro on it, but you can use an add on board like the one here: http://www.rov-control.com/shop/Sensore ... -Gyro.html This board feeds the position data (heading) to the control board so it can show you your heading in the HUD. In the future, it will also be part of a "autopilot" function. It will help keep a certain heading and keep the ROV level.