Fathom connector faulty. Possible to fix, or replace?

Blue Robotics Products Tether Interfaces
1

Hi all,
One of the fathom connectors on the end of the short tether that connects the spool to the connection box is faulty. It’s an intermittent fault, but if the connection is jiggled the video stream slows down/cuts out.

Is it going to be better to try and fix the connection, replace the plug, or replace the whole short tether? I’m okay with small soldering, if that helps.

Any suggestions appreciated.
Thanks

2

Hi @Dean.C,

This is likely best handled through our support email (support@bluerobotics.com), particularly if the product was bought quite recently and hasn’t been extensively used (in which case it might be something we should replace/sort out for you).

From your description it’s not clear whether the issue is in the short length of tether, the connection between the tether wires and its connector, or the connection between the tether connector and the connector on the FXTI box.

If you’ve got access to a multimeter you could try measuring the resistance (for each wire) between the two ends of the short length of tether to see whether jiggling the connector measurably changes anything, in which case it’s most likely the first or second option.

Repair or replacement is largely dependent on what’s wrong - if the tether has a corroded wire then that shouldn’t continue to be used, but if there’s just a wire that’s not solidly attached to the connector or has an obvious break close to the connector then it may be fine to repair that attachment. If the connector itself has a loose/damaged contact then it likely makes the most sense to replace the connector.

3

Hi Eliot,

Thanks for the response, I’ll send through details to the support email, but the short version is that it’s definitely the connector on the end of the tether in some way, if I swap to the spool end then that end becomes vulnerable to wiggling. So it could either be the connector itself, or the connection between the tether and the connector.

The spool (with short tether) was bought 18months ago, and has been used on approximately 50 trips in that time.

Thanks