Need suggestions on parts

Member Joined: Nov 02, 2006

I'm building a rather primitive ROV for a high school project, and I need some help on some aspects of it.

What type of camera should I use? I've been considering an underwater fishing camera like this one http://cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/product/standard-item.jsp?_DARGS=/cabelas/en/common/catalog/item-link.jsp_A&_DAV=MainCatcat20166-cat21400_TGP&id=0038764018297a&navCount=2&podId=0038764&parentId=cat21400&masterpathid=&navAction=push&catalogCode=IG&rid=&parentType=index&indexId=cat21400&hasJS=true. What are your opinions? I want a color video feed, and I already have a monitor, so I really just need a camera.

I also wanted some sort of indicator of how deep the ROV is. Are there any systems where there's a sensor that could be mounted to an ROV that will send a signal to a display on the surface?

What kind of controllers are people using? I was thinking of just using momentary switches to activate different motors at different times to steer the vehicle. I know this is inferior to using a joystick or computer controls, but I don't have any programming experience, and definitely can't make a board to handle the signals.

Thank you for the help!

ROVworld Webteam Joined: Dec 12, 2003

Everything depends a little on how deep you want go with your ROV.

You can use a cheap camera from a hobby shop which you have to mount in a sealed pvc pipe having an acrylic viewport on one side.

Normally pressure sensors (4-20mA output) are used for depth reading, but maybe you can use some kind of depth meter available from a scuba shop and mount it so it's visible with the camera.

Here you'll find a collection of websites to other homebuilt ROV's for some ideas: http://www.ronsrovlinks.nl/xoops/modules/wflinks/viewcat.php?cid=104

And here are some electronic hobby shops: http://www.ronsrovlinks.nl/xoops/modules/wflinks/viewcat.php?cid=233