Powering BlueROV2 from Shore Power (230V AC) over 150m Tether

General Discussion
1

Hi everyone,

We’re building a custom topside for our BlueROV2 and want to power it entirely from a standard 230V AC wall outlet with no batteries. The tether length is approximately 150m.

Our topside will be compact and integrated into our own enclosure, so we’re looking for an external power supply solution we can simply plug in and have the ROV running on continuous shore power.

We have looked at the topsides from Outland Technology, but they seem a bit large for our use case.

We’re completely open on the technical approach, whether AC or DC in the tether, voltage levels or conversion topology, as long as it avoids batteries and works reliably over 150m with a standard wall plug as the only input.

Questions for the community:

  1. What approaches have you used or seen for shore power over longer tethers?

  2. Any recommendations for off the shelf power supplies that work well in this kind of setup?

  3. Any pitfalls to watch out for when moving away from battery power on the BlueROV2?

Looking forward to hearing how others have solved this!

2

Hi @eivinmb -

Welcome to the forums!

What you’re proposing to do is EXTREMELY DANGEROUS! Whatever method you use (AC is more dangerous than DC), you’ll need to use a line isolation monitor to make sure that damage to your tether immediately cuts power to the subsea system, so that nothing gets electrocuted!

The Outland power over tether system is the Blue Robotics recommended solution, as it has this protection built in. However, other Blue Robotics distributors and groups make and sell alternative power over tether systems. Some users have had success with DIY. Be extremely careful!