I have just completed my BS2 controlled Submersible ROV (remotely operated vehicle) project in time for the spring lake thaw here in Michigan. My goal is to survey the bottom of lakes and look at neat fish. Some pictures are attached.

Here are the statistics:

Length 24 inches

Diameter of main tube 4 ½”

Material PVC

Weight with ballast 20 lbs

Internal battery 12V 3000mah NiMh

Microcontroller BS2

Motor and light controls (3) Parallax H-25’s

CCTV miniature television camera (12V)

This ROV is tethered to the surface with a 6 conductor Ethernet cable and nylon support line. It will be placed over the side of my boat and allowed to sink (buoyancy is adjustable with steel plates attached to the bottom of the main tube). Initially the tethered line is only 50 feet long.. Using the surface control console I am able to adjust left and right motor speeds forward and reverse (400 size electric RC brushed motors geared 6:1 and 3” diameter propellers cut down from electric RC props). Keeping the ROV fairly close to the boat I will be able to move it forward, backward and rotate it side to side. The control console has a 7” LCD monitor receiving signals from the TV camera mounted at the front of the main tube and viewing through ¼” polycarbonate plate. I have two 50 watt Halogen lights mounted on the forward top of the tube. I can control the intensity of the lights with a rheostat mounted in the surface control console. The lights are homemade using outdoor garden bulbs housed in 2” PVC with a polycarbonate plate lens.

Electronic control is straight forward using the PBasic RCTime command for all control functions. Five wires in the tether cable are connected to ground, TV monitor, lighting , left motor and right motor rheostats. The microcontroller just reads the resistance readings of the rheostats, converts that to pulse width and sends a pulse to control the three H-25’s. Simple and full proof. There is no need to send any power through the tether cable (except the 1 volt P-P from the TV camera). The control console contains On/Off switches for the motors and the lights. With a switch Off the BS2 sees an open and generates a RCTime of 0. In the program, if a 0 RCTime is detected a 750 msec pulse is sent to the H-25, shutting it off. Cool, huh?

Here is the program:

' {$STAMP BS2}

' {$PBASIC 2.5}

' This program controls a submersible ROV using resistance values from a suface console

' and converting the resistance values to a pulsewidth out to H-25's, which then control

' motors and lights.

RCtime1 VAR Word

pw1 VAR Word

RCtime2 VAR Word

pw2 VAR Word

RCtime3 VAR Word

pw3 VAR Word

light PIN 13

motorR PIN 10

motorL PIN 7

'Initialize H-25's (Parallax code)

DO : LOOP UNTIL light = 1 ' Wait For HB-25 Power Up

LOW light ' Make I/O Pin Output/Low

PAUSE 5 ' Wait For HB-25 To Initialize

PULSOUT light, 750

DO : LOOP UNTIL motorL = 1 ' Wait For HB-25 Power Up

LOW motorL ' Make I/O Pin Output/Low

PAUSE 5 ' Wait For HB-25 To Initialize

PULSOUT motorL, 750

DO : LOOP UNTIL motorR = 1 ' Wait For HB-25 Power Up

LOW motorR ' Make I/O Pin Output/Low

PAUSE 5 ' Wait For HB-25 To Initialize

PULSOUT motorR, 750

'Control the ROV

DO

'left motor control

HIGH 8

PAUSE 1

RCTIME 8,1,RCtime1

IF RCtime1 = 0 THEN RCtime1 = 750 ' swith is OFF, shut off motor

PULSOUT 7, RCtime1 ' control H-25

'DEBUG HOME, DEC4 time1, CR

'right motor control

HIGH 11

PAUSE 1

RCTIME 11,1,RCtime2

IF RCtime2 = 0 THEN RCtime2 = 750 'Switch is OFF, shut off motor

PULSOUT 10, RCtime2

'DEBUG DEC4 RCtime2, CR

'lighting control

HIGH 14

PAUSE 1

RCTIME 14,1,RCtime3

IF RCtime3 = 0 THEN RCtime3 = 750 'shut off motor

RCtime3 = RCtime3 MIN 750 MAX 1000 'set rheostat range from off to full on.

PULSOUT 13, RCtime3

'DEBUG DEC4 RCtime3, CR

LOOP