Wired controls for Hydrone (2x T200 thrusters)

General Discussion
2

Hi @Samanto, welcome to the forum :slight_smile:

We likely need some additional information about your requirements and the system you’re using to give meaningful advice here. In particular

  1. How are the thrusters controlled on the boat at the moment?
    • RC receiver → ESCs → Thrusters?
    • RC receiver → (MAVLink?) flight controller → ESCs → Thrusters?
    • Something else?
  2. Is there bi-directional communication, or does the controller just send information to the boat and the boat follows those directions?
    • If information is sent back
      • What kind of information is it?
      • Does it need to be live, or could it be recorded on the boat and retrieved afterwards?
  3. How far do you need to go?
    • e.g. how long of a tether would you need?

There’s some discussion of long range thruster commander usage here. You would need at least three conductors in the tether, and 4 if you want to be able to control speed/turning or left/right independently :slight_smile:

Buoyancy depends on the density of both the item and the fluid it’s in. Our tethers are designed to be neutrally buoyant in fresh water, and slightly positively buoyant in salt water, but manufacturing tolerances and variable water properties mean the buoyancy may be slightly negative or positive.

Note that additional buoyancy generally comes with extra volume, extra drag, and extra mass in air, so there’s a balance to be struck. If necessary it’s possible to attach some small foam pieces to a tether to increase its buoyancy, but that also increases the risks of snagging and tangling.