Hello, I was wondering if it is possible to connect the ROV to a laptop directly without an FXTI. Thanks!
Yes,
but you will need to change the electronics of the ROV a bit. The Fathom-X Tether Interface (FXTI) transforms the signal from Ethernet to a differential signal, and the Fathom inside the ROV does the opposite.
You need to remove both fathoms or neither. The Navigator / PX has an ethernet port that you can directly connect to, so you can just connect said ethernet port to the teather ( using 2 twisted pairs) and do the same topside, effectively using the teather as an ethernet cable.
This will, however, impact severly the lenght of teather you can use, since the ethernet signal will not be able to survive a 300m cable.
Good luck!
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Thank you for your reply. So I would use the normal tether and connect it to the laptop. But what would I do with the Binder 770 connector on the other side of the tether?
Hi @n3804 -
Can you share why you want to eliminate the Fathom-X?
Because Fathom tether does not meet the Cat5/Cat6 ethernet cable specification, it is not going to carry standard ethernet signals for more than 40-60m…
If this is acceptable, you would need to terminate both the ROV and topside end of the cable with an RJ45 ethernet jack, using two twisted pairs as @ict mentions (welcome to the forum!) That connection should be wired as is standard for ethernet (pin 1,2,3 and 6 connected)
Leave the connector as is, it needs to be waterproof.
On the other side of the connector ( inside the electronics enclosure ) there will be 8 cables ( 4 pairs). The blue pair is normally connected to the fathom, so you can leave it as is or disconnect it and remove the fathom alltogether, since it’s not gonna be used anymore.
Just pick 2 cable pairs ( the same that you used on the topside) and connect them to a RJ45 ( as tony said, using pins 1,2,3,6) and you should be able to connect that directly to the Raspi.
Hope this helps!