ROV progress

[bikerbones1968]

Now for the penetration part and sealing the wiring. I am using 4mm Female Banana Plugs. With a very tight hole bored through the Hull I push in the plug. Here is a pic of one banana plug seen from the exterior and the interior of a scrap piece of PVC. Once all holes are drilled and female Banana Plugs are in place inside the "Potting Well" I will mix up and pour QSIL 216 two part silicone sealant and fill the exterior "potting Well" just to the top of the plugs. I will let that dry for 24 hours. Then from the inside fill the deeper "Potting Well" This will encapsulate the Banana Plug, cover the soldered joint and with the insulation stripped back allow the potting compound to seep into the strands of the conductors.

Banana Plug Outside.jpg (17.12 KiB) Viewed 10483 times

[bikerbones1968]

While I am waiting for the QSIL 216 to cure I have been working on my water leak alarm setup. I bought off eBay a small DIY water leak sensor circuit board (left circuit board). It has a small audible horn and a NO/NC relay. I connected the NO contacts to another small tone generator (right circuit board) bought also on eBay. It is connected to a small speaker powered off a 9 Volt battery. I plan to put the main sensor board (left) on the ROV and via a single pair the tone generator board (right) with the speaker topside.

[bikerbones1968]

I looked high and low but to the best of my web hunting ability came up short for the actual sensor board I wanted. The ones I did find were very small 2" to 3" inches long and 1/2" wide.

[bikerbones1968]

So being a little creative I decide to build one from scratch. I used a very thin and flexible styrene sheet for the base. I then purchased some thin copper foil (the stuff that is used for fabricating stained glass work) The copper foil has a self-adhesive backing and it sticks nicely to the styrene. I used the typical pattern used on water or leak sensors and with a black sharpie drew the design on the copper foil. Next I used an exacto blade and cut the unwanted area out leaving me with a sensor board 9" long and 4 1/2" wide. ***Also note after you solder your wires to the copper foil make sure to use some flexible silicone over the entire area. It will prevent you from tearing the thin copper foil off the board.***

[bikerbones1968]

With this homebrewed board I can cover a much larger surface area. It will be glued down with 3M 5200 marine adhesive directly to the bottom of the Hull. The beattiful thing about this board is it's flexibility. It will easily bend and mold to the curvature of the Hull.

Felxible board1.jpg (54.88 KiB) Viewed 10478 times

Flexible board2.jpg (42.88 KiB) Viewed 10478 times

[KR2_Diving]

So being a little creative I decide to build one from scratch. I used a very thin and flexible styrene sheet for the base. I then purchased some thin copper foil (the stuff that is used for fabricating stained glass work) The copper foil has a self-adhesive backing and it sticks nicely to the styrene. I used the typical pattern used on water or leak sensors and with a black sharpie drew the design on the copper foil. Next I used an exacto blade and cut the unwanted area out leaving me with a sensor board 9" long and 4 1/2" wide. ***Also note after you solder your wires to the copper foil make sure to use some flexible silicone over the entire area. It will prevent you from tearing the thin copper foil off the board.***

Simple! Brilliant!

Are the gaps in your design going to be close enough together to detect a small leak? I would think you are going to need a significant amount of water with that design...

[bikerbones1968]

It is deceiving in the picture the size of the gaps and size of the foil area. The foil is no more than 5mm wide and the spaces are 1 mm wide. I thought about that for a while before building it. The thing to remember is that your ROV will never be 100% level at all times. When you dive it might canter to the left, to the right, to the front or to the back a slight amount. The same thing applies when you move either forward or backwards or if there are any water currents it will also shift from 100% level when submerged. I tested it with a single drop of water in my mock up Hull. As soon as the ROV shifted from 100% level even a few degrees. The drop of water rolled along the bottom and sounded the alarm. The water does not have to stay in constant contact with the sensor board either. Just rolling over it will sound the alarm and a single drop of water leaves enough residule moisture where it passed over the foil that it doesn't shut off. You actually have to wipe it A LOT!! with dry paper towel to get it to shut off. Even the natural moisture in your finger alone when passing over any points of the foil sets the thing off. I will try to do a video demo tonight after work.

[KR2_Diving]

Very cool! Didn't realize just how sensitive that would be! THis has been noted (and added to my to-do list)!

Thanks!

[bikerbones1968]

Here is a video of me bench testing the leak sensor board. Sorry for the poor quality, trying to hold the camera steady with tennis elbow I might aswell have been holding an anvil steady.

[bikerbones1968]

Now that the potting wells are glued firmly in place I had to bore all the holes for the motor and LED conections. Three per motor and two per LED lights. Sixteen in total as evenly spaced I can can get them.