It Started With a Hardware Limitation I have been using Quectel GNSS modules in my designs for a while. They are reliable, well-documented, and the support ecosystem is solid. But the module I had been using had one problem that I kept running into: no external antenna support . For most projects that is a minor inconvenience. For a marine vessel monitoring and control system , it is a non-starter. A vessel hull blocks sky view, antenna placement is critical, and the difference between a clean fix and no fix at all often comes down to whether you can mount the antenna where it actually has line of sight. An integrated antenna in a sealed enclosure below deck simply does not cut it. So I went directly to Quectel. The Conversation With Quectel I reached out through their official sample request channel. I was not expecting much — most component manufacturers have a standard process: fill out a form, wait, get a few uni...
During the last trial runs the boat just flipped over by an wave and sunken, but with help from a friend i was able to rescue it. When it was rescued almost all the electronics was under sea and started to corrode. With lots of cleaning and soldering i was able to run it again. But with new motor, ESC, SD card and battery. So after that i modified the boat a lot and the final result was very successful.
Earlier the propeller was bit high and it don't cut enough water. Now the shaft and everything is lowed around 1 half inch. New brushless motor and ESC was tested for two weeks for speed controlling and finally a bit more water proofing. Old shaft coupler removed and made my own coupler for shaft and motor. Most of the firmware also cleaned up ;)
After all these modifications i finally did a wonderful trial run. :) Early morning checked the tide table and it was perfect for test so packed everything and went to testing area.
Today i have done continuous for runs and it was perfect. The best part was the coupler and shaft modifications was perfect. It runs in water smoothly without the noisy motor sound (earlier there was high motor noise due to misalignment) It runs like a champion and the new speed controlling code was much perfect then before.
Sorry that i was not able to capture some video because the phone was kept at home charging. :)
Earlier the propeller was bit high and it don't cut enough water. Now the shaft and everything is lowed around 1 half inch. New brushless motor and ESC was tested for two weeks for speed controlling and finally a bit more water proofing. Old shaft coupler removed and made my own coupler for shaft and motor. Most of the firmware also cleaned up ;)
After all these modifications i finally did a wonderful trial run. :) Early morning checked the tide table and it was perfect for test so packed everything and went to testing area.
Today i have done continuous for runs and it was perfect. The best part was the coupler and shaft modifications was perfect. It runs in water smoothly without the noisy motor sound (earlier there was high motor noise due to misalignment) It runs like a champion and the new speed controlling code was much perfect then before.
Sorry that i was not able to capture some video because the phone was kept at home charging. :)
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