What would I need to do to upgrade my BlueROV2 to explore 1,500’ depths? Here’s the things that I have thought about so far. Am I missing anything? upgrade enclosure tubes to the new version remove sonars and maybe Newton gripper coat buoyancy foam upgrade tether to fiber optic maybe upgrade pene…

In my opinion the most important consideration when sending a small ROV over 1000’ is how to get it down there on the location your aiming for, and keep it there with some level of mobility. Small ROVs can not drag that much tether around (the tether will be dragging the ROV around). You should plan…

@nperry Thanks. That is the kind of information that I am looking for since I don’t know what I don’t know. My mission is to explore the deepest part of Lake Chelan in Washington State, so the target location is a reasonably sized area and not a single point. Everyone on the internet seems to agree…

Hi @btrue : I think your list of changes will work fine. We modified a ROV to dive to the bottom of Lake Tahoe, which is a little bit deeper than Lake Chelan. In t his forum post , I talked a bit about coating floats, and linked to a YouTube video that showed the modifications we made. One change …

Hi @nperry If you’re using Cat6 cable for a downline, do you have a separate strength member attached to that, or have you found Cat6 cable with an embedded strength member? -W

I us a fairly cheap CAT6 cable with stranded wires. I pair it with 7/64" Amsteel Blue Dyneema to handle the load (7/64" can lift 1400 lbs with very little stretch). I attach the dyneema to the CAT6 with tape every couple feet. This is the only way I have found to get the lifting capacity I need with…

Hi Walt, Yea, I use Amsteel Blue for the strength member. Its a lot of work attaching it to the CAT6, but works really well.

[image] Walt Holm: That being said, if you feel that you’re going to graduate to multiple cameras, or very high definition cameras, then you will probably need fiber at some point. Fiber tethers can be pretty fussy, and have handling restrictions related to minimum bend radius. For most genera…

Hi @btrue The fussiness I refer to is mainly related to observing the bend radius. If one has a winch and everything nicely goes over sheaves then fiber works fine. But for small ROVs where you’re typically hand-holding the tether, there’s always that chance where in a moment of inattention you s…

@EliotBR Thanks for the info. Another question, Can I re-wire my thrusters so I can use the wetlink penetrators or would I need to buy replacement thruster cores? I didn’t see an answer on the product page whether they can be re-wired and it looks like the cable is potted to the motor. I don’t kno…

Hi @btrue There’s actually a forum thread for that task as well. See: [image] Replacing potted thruster penetrators with WetLink Build I am currently waging war on potted penetrators and replacing them with WetLink penetrators on everything that goes in the water. I hav…

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Mods for 1,500' depth rating?

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