I am totally new on building a ROV, just bought two T200 with two R3 ESC, and a thruster commander. It works great on using the thruster commander to control the T200s. However, I would like to build my ROV that can be controlled by a remote controller. Therefore, I need help on how to connect the RC receiver to the arduino, and the arduino to the ESC to control the T200. Or even connect all these items with the thruster commander. I would like to control the ROV to turn left and right by just the two T200s without a rudder. I have a hard time on coding it in arduino. Any help and advice will be greatly appreciate! Thank you very very much!
The Thruster Commander and RC receivers both use the same kind of output signal, so an RC receiver should work as a drop-in replacement for the Thruster Commander in your setup. Simply connect the ESCs’ PWM cables to the receiver, making sure to follow the labels on the receiver to wire them correctly.
If you plan to use independent left- and right-thruster controls (similar to the LEFT IN and RIGHT IN controls on the Thruster Commander), plug the ESCs into two separate channels. Usually the left ESC should be on channel 3 and the right on channel 2 (this can be changed according to preference).
If you want to use mixed controls (similar to the SPEED and STEERING controls on the Thruster Commander), you will need a channel mixer (such as this one) or you will need to configure your transmitter to mix the channels for you. For the former, plug the ESCs into the mixer. For the latter, plug the ESCs into the channels into which you have mixed your inputs on the transmitter.
That being said, as you mentioned that this is for an ROV, I must warn you that most wireless signals have an extremely hard time travelling through water, and RC equipment is no exception. If you plan to operate your vehicle on the surface, you shouldn’t have any problems, but you will lose connection almost immediately after diving below the surface.