Yellow Whip Pinout

The new otterbox has been demostrated to be water proof. The relays, 12V-5V converter and the Arduino which controls the joystick were moved into the box and are ready for water tests. The otter box has 2 seperate 7-pin water proof bulkhead connectors and appropriate whips (the connector pictured). The yellow whip will be the interface with the tether, and currently will carry the following:

pin 1: 12V +
pin 2: 12V GRND
pin 3: Rx
pin 4: Tx

Future builds will include a second arduino to handle sensor data. This arduino will have SDA and SCL pins for I2C communication.

Voltage drop across the 100 feet ethernet cable

Today we wanted to make sure we can send 48V through our 100 feet ethernet cable without losing more than 12V while pulling about 3A.
So I devised the following setup to figure out the voltage drop across the cable.
















At first I used a 150 W lamp in series and the voltage drop across the cable was about 2V from 1A. Eventually I used two rheostats for a lower total resistance and the voltage drop was 7.2V while pulling 3A. This proves that we can send the power for the cameras and otterbox through the cable without harming it.

Serial Joystick Box

Below is a link to the documentation on the Serial Joystick box. 

http://profmason.com/?p=1805

Orange and White (TX)
Orange (RX)
Green (Ground)
Green and White (5V in)

A couple of implementation notes:  The serial TX (Orange and White) should be on a twisted pair cable with a ground cable (which is green on this box)  These two cables are the minimum that we need to send down.  The green and white wire is power to the box (currently set to 5V, but if we use the wires taped to the back we can set it for 12V)

OtterBox Test Results

The Otter Box was brought back up to surface about 6:50 a.m.

Once the box was opened, I was pleased to find that there were absolutely no water drops inside of the case.




To further test the waterproofing of the Otter Box, the cotton balls were removed individually and inspected one at a time for any sense of moisture collected over the 14 hour sit. The test also indicated no evidence of moisture in each of the cotton balls.



To conclude the first stage of it's durability and waterproofing test, the result proved the Otter Box to be successful. The Otter Box was able to resist water (up to about 9 feet under water) and is officially ready for the second stage of it's testing phase - which will include drilling holes for connectors and re-submerging the box with the connectors underwater again.

OtterBox Test

Here is a snap shot of the pole used to test the depth of the pool.

After the pole was dipped in the water, water traces were left on the pole which was used to determine the approximate depth of the pool. Also, a black line was edited to mark its location of water mark.



In this picture, the same black line drawn from the previous picture shows the approximate depth the Otterbox will sit throughout the day. The measuring tool used is a Stanley, 25' Measuring Tape in the precision of inches. As you can see, the depth is between 103 to 104 inches.





Here is the team's new Otter Box 2.0. Never used and going to sink into the bottom of the pool to test for water leakage penetrating into the Otterbox before attaching connectors. The box will be tied to a long pole which will sit with the Otterbox and also be used to pull it back up.


To test for leakage, a handful of cotton balls are stuffed inside and placed at the base of the otter box with two 1-kg masses inside to sink the Otterbox.

Here is slight side view of the box as it is placed at the bottom of the pool.

Frontal view of the box as it sets at the bottom of the pool.

Here is a closeup of the box as it sits for the next 12-14 hours. This shot was taken approximately 10 minutes after it had set. As we can see, next to no bubbles are floating to the surface which indicates no water penetration... yet?