This is my second rover build. I used another Traxxas chassis for this only I used a rock crawler truck, the Summit. It not only is lower geared but has a two speed transmission and locking differentials. The Slash chassis that I used last time did not work real well as we burned up the motor during testing due to the weight and speed of the rover. I used the same video system with a bit better battery.
For the video system I used to IP cameras, a Panasonic BB-HCM531A and a Panasonic BL-C1A. The BB-HCM531A is a P/T for the front drive and surveillance camera and the BL0-C1A is a fixed rear mounted reverse camera. This is connected to a Linksys WRT54GL router flashed with DD-WRT which in turn have two high gain antennas.
The body is built from polycarbonate for less weight and more impact resistance. Because it is polycarbonate, I could attach the electronics directly to the body, again saving weight.
I now have about $2500 in the build with the more expensive Summit chassis. We are getting about an hour run time on the batteries we currently have. An upgrade to LiPO batteries will help that and weight issues. We are getting about 1100 feet line-of-site control and about 250 feet through two walls inside a building. My next project is to convert the servo and speed controller of to a computer via a serial port added to the WRT54 router, hence my other post.
Tristan
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