Summary of recommended voltages for ROV battery ........ 27 Boxfish ROV battery charging procedures ............27 Monthly maintenance of your ROV and camera battery ......32 Putting together the Boxfish ROV system .............. 33 Charge the ROV battery ..................33 Connecting cables –...
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Add ballast washers ....................45 Lubricate tether penetrator o-rings and collar o-ring ......... 46 Power on Ninja V ..................... 46 Boxfish ROV pack up sequence (from out of water testing) ......47 10.1 Power off Ninja V Recorder .................. 47 10.2...
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Adjust battery to storage voltage ..............66 17.3 Power on your ROV for six hours, once per month ........66 18 Updating your ROV system ..................67 R6. All rights reserved. Information and specifications may change at any time without notice.
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20.5 How to replace a propeller ................79 20.6 How to put a thruster back on the ROV ............81 20.7 How to take out ROV tray ..................83 20.8 How to remove and replace ROV battery pack ......... 87 20.9...
Boxfish ROV Owner’s Manual Welcome to Boxfish Congratulations on your Boxfish ROV! Please read these instructions carefully before use. If you need further support, please contact us at support@boxfish.nz. We hope you enjoy your Boxfish ROV! R6. All rights reserved. Information and specifications may change at any time without notice.
Terms of Sale (available on our website at https://www.boxfish.nz/support/terms-conditions/). Please ensure all ROV operators have read and understood this manual before using your ROV. We make every effort to ensure that the information in this manual is an accurate and complete description of this Boxfish product at the time of release of this manual.
3 About this document When first using your Boxfish ROV, we recommend reading this document from beginning to end. Once you are familiar with your ROV, you can use it as a reference or to refresh your memory. This document covers:...
Always supervise children around water and when ROV is operating. While ROV is running pay close attention to the thrusters. Do not touch the thrusters any time the ROV is powered on, or serious injury may occur. Keep fingers, long hair and loose clothing or anything that may become entangled well clear of the thrusters when operating.
Boxfish ROV Owner’s Manual DO NOT look directly into the ROV scaling lasers (if supplied). The scaling lasers emit Class 3R laser light. Laser protective eye wear is normally not necessary. A Class 3R laser is not a skin or materials burn hazard.
To protect the battery against total discharge, which is dangerous as well as damaging for the battery and several other components inside the ROV, please also power on the ROV once a month for six hours, after which you must charge the battery to 15.6V.
Use all original padding and protective parts supplied (eg front dome cover) Ensure the ROV battery is charged to appropriate voltage for storage (15.6V or shipping (15.0V) Store the Control Station inside the Accessory Box so that it does not get damaged.
5.1 Charge battery after receiving your ROV IMPORTANT! As soon as possible after receiving your ROV, you MUST charge its battery to 15.6V This will prevent the battery from draining completely and will prolong the life of the battery and protect the components inside the ROV.
Boxfish ROV Owner’s Manual 5.3 ROV A diagram of our standard ROV is shown below. Front and left side view Rear view Pressure vessel Pressure-rated ROV body Front dome Contains Sony RX100 front camera and wide-angle navigation camera Bumpers / lifting...
Retrieve logs from the ROV (if needed for troubleshooting purposes). The Control Station attaches to the tether reel via a fibre patch cable. The tether reel in turn is attached to the ROV via the tether cable. IMPORTANT! The Control Station is designed to be splash-proof but it is not waterproof.
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Boxfish DC Power Cable FIBRE communication port: used to send/receive telemetry, control signals and video between the Control Station and the ROV. Communication is provided by connecting a fibre optic patch cable between the fibre communication port and the tether reel fibre connector and the tether cable to the ROV.
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(such as sonar or USBL) that require a laptop to be connected. Usage will be detailed in the accessory manual. LEVEL button. Can be used to zero the controls and restore the ROV to zero roll and pitch ENABLE button (green).
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32. ACCESSORY port. Supplies power to the Ninja V 33. CLEAN HDMI port. Used to route the video signal from the ROV to the Ninja V Recorder. 34. Air ventilation intakes. Used to keep Control Station cool. Do not cover or allow water to enter 35.
The tether reel comes in a few standard sizes and lengths depending on the depth capability of your ROV. The parts shown below are common to all sizes. The tether penetrator (at the end of the fibre optic tether cable) attaches to the ROV.
Not for use as a winch: do not thumbscrew use winder to retrieve ROV using the tether cable. 5.6 Accessory Box contents The following accessories are provided in the Accessory Box at the time of this manual’s release.
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Fibre patch cable. Note the ends are protected with clear plastic caps – always keep these on when cable not in use . Battery charger and cables The below items are used to charge the ROV battery. R6. All rights reserved. Information and specifications may change at any time without notice.
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ROV. Cable is used to perform cell balancing within the battery Vacuum pump and hose Used to pressurize the ROV vacuum chamber, as a way of ensuring it is watertight. Vacuum Manual hand operated vacuum pump used to apply...
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USB Type A end to your computer. ROV magnetic On/Off keys Boxfish magnetic key used for powering the ROV on and off using the off and on pads. Can be attached to a lanyard, key ring or cable via the hole (on the left side).
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80 x ballast washers (12.5g each) Silicone grease x 1 tube Ball-end hex key set 1 x complete thruster set with longer (aft) cable into the ROV Spare propellers: (CW) and counter clockwise (CCW). 2x M3 x 5 screws are included for each propeller...
Boxfish ROV Owner’s Manual Dummy test tether. Can bypass the tether reel and Control Station directly to ROV. Useful for bench testing or to determine if there are any problems with the tether. 12. L-shaped levers for removing ROV tray.
Please follow these instructions closely to avoid violating the conditions of your warranty. 6.2 Receiving your ROV The first task you’ll do with your new ROV is charge the ROV battery to a suitable storage voltage. IMPORTANT! The ROV should be charged IMMEDIATELY when it is received after shipping.
Boxfish ROV Owner’s Manual 7. Do not bridge the battery charge ports on the ROV with a conductive object. 8. Do not place the battery charger, power supply or ROV battery on a flammable surface or near a combustible material while in use.
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1. Remove the plugs from the three battery charging ports on the rear of the ROV. They are joined by a single cover to keep them together. To remove them, unscrew the black collar from each plug. When you have unscrewed each plug enough you can pull the plugs out one by one.
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The three battery charging ports on the rear of the ROV. From left to right: red (positive), black (negative) and blue (balancing).
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Before using ROV for a 4.20V 16.8V dive Storage When you receive your 3.90V 15.6V ROV for the first time, or Before storing the ROV for more than one month Storage Before the ROV will be 3.75V 15.0V shipped or will be in transit.
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2. Wait until the screen on the charger indicates charging is complete. 3. After charging, disconnect the cables. First disconnect the charge cables from the ROV ports and replace the battery port cover. Then disconnect the cables from the charger.
ROV once a month. Once a month, please take out your ROV and power it on with the magnetic key. Leave the ROV powered on for six hours. After this, please charge the ROV battery to storage voltage.
7.1 Charge the ROV battery The ROV battery will be low on arrival. Safe shipping requires the battery to be discharged to around 15.0V. Full charge for diving is 16.8V and a good storage voltage is 15.6V.
From right to left: Control Station (plugged into a power source) is connected to the tether reel via the fibre patch cable, and the tether reel is connected to the ROV via the tether penetrator at the end of the tether cable. 7.3 Connect Control Station to power Take Control Station case out of its case.
Boxfish ROV Owner’s Manual Handle attached to the side of the tether reel using the thumbscrew 7.5 Connect fibre patch cable to tether reel 1. Locate a fibre patch cable – there will be at least two (depending on your order) in the accessory box.
Fibre patch cable connected and secured to Control Station 7.7 Connect tether cable to ROV When testing your ROV for the first time, place your ROV near the tether reel. Take care when lifting the ROV: use the carbon fibre frame tubes or stainless- steel lifting bars.
7.8 Store fibre port caps and fibre cable caps safely Together, the black plastic tether penetrator protective cap and the ROV tether port plug make an excellent receptacle for storing the protective caps from the tether ports and tether cables (in total, there are 3x clear plastic dust caps and 2x coloured –...
7.9 Attach Ninja V monitor/recorder Attach the Ninja V monitor/recorder to the Control Station for displaying and recording the camera feed from the ROV. 1. Install the SSD card into the back of the Ninja. 2. Insert the battery eliminator into the battery compartment on the back of the Ninja.
To transfer video from the Ninja V SSD to your device, use the SATA to USB converter supplied in your Accessories Box. 7.10 Familiarity with your ROV Now that your Boxfish Luna ROV is put together, note the following items. We will cover these in more details later in this manual. Front dome Keep clean and take extreme care to avoid scratches that will affect visuals from the camera.
8.1 Power on ROV with magnetic key Take a magnetic key and hold it to green ON pad on the back of the ROV. You will see the Status LEDs inside the rear dome light up for the power on sequence.
Depth (m) Depth of ROV according to its depth sensor Various data UPTIME: No. of seconds since the ROV was powered on with the magnetic key. Useful to confirm communication between ROV and Control Station.
Note that when the ROV arrives for the first time there will be no vacuum in the vessel: safe shipping requirements mean it is not allowed to be shipped with a vacuum inside.
3. Hold the green end of the vacuum hose to the vacuum port so it is flush against the ROV. Squeeze the trigger of the vacuum pump to suck air out of the chamber. You will see the PRESSURE reading on the telemetry screen begin to fall.
If the optional scaling lasers are fitted to your ROV, turn the LASERS switch on the Control Station to ON. Hold a piece of paper in front of the ROV to see them. Turn the switch to OFF after your test.
9.7 Lubricate tether penetrator o-rings and collar o-ring The tether penetrator (end of the tether cable) o-rings are used at every dive and need regular lubrication to ensure they keep the ROV water-tight. Before every dive, lubricate the two o-rings on the tether penetrator AND also an o-ring contained inside the black collar on the tether penetrator.
Boxfish ROV Owner’s Manual 10 Boxfish ROV pack up sequence (from out of water testing) Now we’ll practice packing up the ROV so it’s easier in the field. For additional post-dive tasks, see Section 16: After-dive procedures. Note: Make sure the ROV’s battery is charged to 15.6V before packing it away.
Boxfish ROV Owner’s Manual 6. Put the black plastic tether penetrator protective cap on the end of the tether penetrator, and screw in the knurled nut so that it can’t come off. 7. Carefully wind tether cable back onto tether reel. Apply light tension to the tether cable to wind it on neatly.
Bright sunlight can also make the 17” UHD screen difficult to view, so a shady spot is ideal. It is not necessary for the ROV pilot to be able to see R6. All rights reserved. Information and specifications may change at any time without notice.
Height of launch spot: the ROV should not freefall into the water from a height of more than 1 metre – utilise the lifting eye on the top of the ROV if the launch site is higher than this and deploy carefully by rope. If balance...
12 Deploying your ROV in the water 12.1 Overview This section explains how to launch your ROV. It is essential that you have connected and powered on the ROV system correctly and completed the pre- deployment checks in previous sections.
2. While the ROV is upright briefly let go to see if it floats or sinks. Take it out of the water several times to add/remove ballast washers until it is balanced and sitting just below the surface of the water.
Boxfish ROV Owner’s Manual while the ROV is at the surface, you can push the Depth Hold switch to the FN position to zero the depth reading. 12.8 Begin launch sequence After a final check of the Pressure and Battery settings on the Control Station, it’s time to start the launch sequence.
This section describes how to pilot your ROV, recommendations for piloting and the piloting options available to you. IMPORTANT! While your ROV is in the water, ensure the tether is not left to drag excessively, and you consistently monitor the PRESSURE and BATTERY readings.
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ROV. Is useful to understand if the tether cable is excessively twisted or otherwise under stress. We recommend making a note of this value before your ROV goes into the water and checking if it decreases during a dive: when this value approaches -20dBm some video feeds or telemetry data will be prevented from appearing on the telemetry screen.
3. Horizontal forward / back: the ROV will move forward and back along its longitudinal axis 4. Pitch forward / back: the ROV will tilt up (so that the nose is up) or down (so that the nose is down) on its lateral axis 5.
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ROV. Sea Mode is the most commonly used mode. In Sea Mode, the joystick inputs will move the ROV relative to the earth. For...
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Boxfish ROV Owner’s Manual 3. Move the joystick to the left to move (“crab”) the ROV left (to port) along its longitudinal axis 4. Move the joystick to the right to move (“crab”) the ROV right (to starboard) along its longitudinal axis.
Boxfish ROV Owner’s Manual 2. Move the joystick towards you to cause the ROV to pitch down. The ROV will rotate on its lateral axis. The front of the ROV will tilt down while the back of the ROV moves up.
ROV Mode (or ROV-Q Mode) can be useful when working relative to sloped surfaces such as a ship’s hull or sloping sea floor. In ROV Mode, you will tend to pilot the ROV with mainly the central and right joysticks. To move down a slope...
ROV down and move it forward to move the ROV down the slope, and adjust the pitch for the different gradients. Note: You must turn the Depth Hold switch OFF when using ROV modes.
ROV moving up and down with the swell. If you require the ROV to be near the surface, keep it at or below 0.5m from the surface and activate Depth Hold to avoid it breaking the surface.
/ on shore. 14.2 Communication between tether operator and ROV pilot If the ROV pilot wants to move a significant distance, they should ask the tether operator to unwind enough tether to allow free movement, or to wind in the tether to avoid excess drag or snagging risk.
ROV to the launch point by turning the ROV around and following the tether. 2. Recover the tether as the ROV ascends. If it is ascending too fast to wind onto the drum, recover it onto deck and wind it on later.
Replace caps immediately after unplugging. 16.2 Rinse ROV, tether and accessories As soon as you can after your dive, rinse the ROV and tether to remove salt, dirt and debris. Fresh water is ok; warm and soapy water is better.
17.3 Power on your ROV for six hours, once per month Every month, take the ROV out of its case and use the magnetic key to power it on. Leave it for six hours while powered on. This will help to prolong the life of the battery, camera and other internal electronics.
Boxfish ROV Owner’s Manual 18 Updating your ROV system From time to time, you may need to update your Control Station and/or ROV. We will send updates when we have made improvements to your ROV system, or we may send you updates to fix a problem.
Boxfish ROV Owner’s Manual 1. Power up the Control Station (you do not need to connect the ROV). 2. Insert the USB stick into the left USB port on the Control Station. Do not touch any controls on the Control Station until the update is complete.
Power up ROV and Control Station Connect the ROV and the Control Station (using the tether reel and fibre patch cable as you would when testing ROV functions). Transfer files from memory stick to Control Station To complete the update, you will use the below controls/indicators on the Control Station.
(instead of flashing charging ports. orange LED only) Thruster test does not Check all ports on the rear of the ROV are work covered. The thruster test won’t start if any of the port covers are not in place. Also check that the tray is properly secured with...
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Restart the Control Station application using the Restart button. Feed from front camera This can happen if the ROV is left out in the sun, stops completely or if the ROV has been operating for a long time. Check the telemetry screen and if the internal...
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– see Section 19.4: Troubleshooting thrusters during dive. If none of the above work, bring the ROV to the surface and ensure all the thrusters are working (do a thruster test).
If you are experiencing problems with your ROV that require more complicated repairs, we will require you to return your ROV to our factory (unless agreed with us at time of sale that you will be performing repairs in the field).
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5. Replace the port cap. Clean tether port on ROV Use the cleaning sticks for this task. 1. Remove the tether port plug (or tether penetrator, if ROV is connected). R6. All rights reserved. Information and specifications may change at any time without notice.
2. Insert one cleaning stick into the tether port. Ensure the swab reaches all the way down into the tether port to the connector inside the ROV. 3. Rotate the swap ten times in a clockwise direction on the connector inside the ROV.
(such as thrusters, lights or accessories) Preparing the ROV for shipping. 1. Unscrew and take off the cap of the vacuum port on the rear of the ROV. Keep the cap in a safe place while you are working.
We supply one thruster assembly in your Accessories Box. It is an aft thruster (with longer cable). If you need to replace a thruster at the front of the ROV, use a cable tie to secure the extra length of cable.
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1. Ensure ROV is powered off and vacuum removed 2. Locate the cable and plug for the thruster to be removed. Thruster ports are at the rear of the ROV and are labelled T-1 to T-8. 3. Using your fingers, unscrew the penetrator cap (anti-clockwise) for the thruster cable, and gently pull out the plug.
Procedure: 1. Ensure ROV is powered off and vacuum removed. 2. Remove thruster and its cable from the ROV (see previous section). 3. Remove the mounting plate on the outside of the cowl/shroud of the thruster. First, unscrew the 4 x hex head screws from the mounting plate.
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Boxfish ROV Owner’s Manual plate on the cowling is determined by aligning the pin on the mounting plate with the pin hole on the cowling. 4. Unscrew the three Phillips screws from the cow/shroud. 5. Slide thruster motor out of the cowling. Note: Pay attention to the location of the thruster cable on the cowling so that you can re-insert the motor in the same position after replacing the propeller.
3. Line up the threaded holes on the mounting plate with the holes on the thruster mounting point on the ROV. Ensure thruster cable is not trapped R6. All rights reserved. Information and specifications may change at any time without notice.
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4. Slide the 2 x hex head screws through the ROV mounting point into the thruster mount. Tighten with an Allen key. Thruster mounting point 5.
1. Ensure ROV is powered off and vacuum removed. 2. Use an Allen key to take out the four hex head bolts on the rear of the ROV that hold the tray to the ROV body. Put them aside in a safe place.
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5. When you have room to slide you hand under the tray, support the weight of the tray with one hand while pulling out the tray with the other hand. 6. When the tray is completely out of the ROV body, place it on a clean, dry surface, ideally on some foam for support.
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7. When you have room to slide you hand under the tray, support the weight of the tray with one hand while pulling out the tray with the other hand. 8. When the tray is completely out of the ROV body, place it on a clean, dry surface, ideally on some foam for support.
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2. To install the tray, hold the top bar with one hand and support the tray with one hand underneath the tray. 3. Align the tray with the ROV. You will see two internal rails that the tray will grip onto.
Taking out battery pack from ROV tray 1. Ensure ROV is powered off and vacuum removed. 2. Remove the tray from the ROV and place on a clean level surface where you can easily access the battery pack. 3. Using both hands, grip the removal handles on both sides of the battery pack (see pictures below).
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ROV unless the battery pack is correctly fitted. Take care when rotating the handles; they can be easily bent and should rotate freely. 1. Check that the battery pack and the compartment in the ROV tray are clean and dry and there is nothing in the contacts.
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Make sure the fingers on the handles engage the rails on the ROV tray. Note: Don’t use excessive force to lower the handles. If the handles do not move freely, rotate them up again and remove.
If travelling by air, and you are required to store the batteries in your hand luggage. Some airlines may require that you take out these six batteries and store in your hand luggage before the ROV can go on a plane. If we ask you to take out the batteries.
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Boxfish ROV Owner’s Manual 4. Disconnect the white JST connectors from the top three batteries by squeezing in the sides of the connector while gently pulling out. 5. Disconnect the yellow XT60 connectors from the top three batteries by gently pulling out.
20.10 Reinstalling the batteries back into the battery pack Items required The individual batteries from your battery pack ROV charger and power cable (from your Accessory Box) Battery pack case and original padding foam Cable ties (small ties from your Accessory Box)
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Boxfish ROV Owner’s Manual Check battery voltage First, check the voltage of each individual battery. There should be less than 0.1V difference between all of the batteries. 1. Connect the power cable to the charger and plug the charger into the wall (don’t power on yet).
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Boxfish ROV Owner’s Manual 5. Press ‘Start task’ and wait for the battery to finish charging. 6. Repeat steps 1-4 for the other five batteries. Put batteries back in battery pack 7. Reinsert the batteries and foam back into the battery pack, noting the orientation of the batteries and cables.
TIP! If the ROV batteries are quite full, discharging them to shipping voltage can take a long time. It’s faster and easier to run the ROV in the water with lights at 100% until the batteries are closer to 33% (15.0V).
The heaviest item in your ROV system will be the ROV itself. It may be possible for you to check the ROV into the hold if it weighs close to the weight limit for your airline – in many cases this is 30kg but please check with your airline in advance.
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Some ideas for removing weight from the ROV case is below. Removing battery pack and/or batteries from battery pack Your best option for removing weight from the ROV is to take out the battery pack, which weighs around 4kg. To take out the battery pack, see Section 20.7:...
Boxfish DC Power Cable FIBRE communication port: used to send/receive telemetry, control signals and video between the Control Station and the ROV. Communication is provided by connecting a fibre optic patch cable between the fibre communication port and the tether reel fibre connector and the tether cable to the ROV.
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(such as sonar or USBL) that require a laptop to be connected. Usage will be detailed in the accessory manual. LEVEL button. Can be used to zero the controls and restore the ROV to zero roll and pitch ENABLE button (green).
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23. OK button (✓). Used for thruster test 24. Cancel button (X). Pressing and holding the Cancel (X) and Mode buttons together for six seconds will power the ROV OFF remotely. Note: This is equivalent to using the Magnetic Key to power the ROV OFF and ALL functions will be SHUT DOWN.
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32. ACCESSORY port. Supplies power to the Ninja V 33. CLEAN HDMI port. Used to route the video signal from the ROV to the Ninja V Recorder. 34. Air ventilation intakes. Used to keep Control Station cool. Do not cover or allow water to enter 35.
While it restarts the telemetry screen will go blank, but video will still appear on the 17” 4K monitor and you can pilot the ROV using the controls as usual. Pilot and Sonar buttons: Use only if a Sonar accessory is installed.
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Steering: Currently in development Humidity: Displays the current ROV humidity and a trend line to give an indication of the humidity over time Source voltage: Useful for verifying the power source is supplying the...
Two (2) 8mm diameter x 460mm long parallel rails accessories with a 52mm spacing centre to centre on both the top and bottom of the ROV. Used for mounting additional sensors such as USBL. p104 R6. All rights reserved. Information and specifications may change at any time without notice.
Positive and negative ports (terminals) for connection ports x2 to the Battery charger for battery charging. DO NOT put in water or submerge the ROV without the battery terminal port covers in place Depth sensor Port containing ROV Depth sensor used to detect depth.
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Control Station so that the lighting intensity falls below 30% and the rear navigation LED's will turn off. Note: All status indicator LED's will turn off when the ROV is in the water. p106 R6. All rights reserved. Information and specifications may change at any time without notice.
Rx Signal loss value on telemetry screen New navigation modes Sea-Q and ROV-Q. 9/3/2022 Change to R5 versioning system New requirement to charge ROV for six hours per month during storage periods New voltages for storing and shipping ROV battery. Simplified battery charging-related instructions and...
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Boxfish ROV Owner’s Manual 8/4/2022 Added how to take out and reinstall batteries in the battery pack p108 R6. All rights reserved. Information and specifications may change at any time without notice.
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Boxfish ROV Owner’s Manual p109 R6. All rights reserved. Information and specifications may change at any time without notice.
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