Something tells me that Oceangate is going to be in bankruptcy court shortly, If anything, this is a wake up call to all those wealthy thrill seekers who think that a quick ride into space, or a dive to a famous shipwreck is nothing more than an expensive amusement park ride..
Potentiometers being more reliable the more expensive they get is a road I've gone down with little success.Originally Posted by Caballoflaco
His problem was not encasing it in carbon fiber and putting a Raytheon sticker on it or something.
Potentiometers in a moist, salty environment?
Nope.
"The victor is not victorious if the vanquished does not consider himself so."
― Ennius
Yeah I don't know much about those.
Resistors with a "wiper" on them: the farther the wiper is to one end, the more the electrical reading changes - used for analog joysticks.
The problem is that the pots are (in essence) a wire coil. If you get any corrosion, it can span different turns on the coil, leading to "jumpy" readings in the electronics. But they're cheap.
Digital encoders are the way to go.
(I may be a "tactical nobody", but this is my AOO.)
"The victor is not victorious if the vanquished does not consider himself so."
― Ennius
I was being a bit facetious.
Encoders have their own set of issues, especially for this particular application. There's a similar video game controller in my go bag specifically for this sort of issue. They are amazingly durable pieces of equipment.
A pot could fail from corrosion, but so can an encoder and often with no warning. A lot of vessels that upgraded to encoder position feedback went back to pots. Jumpy operation prior to failure is preferable to lost signal in some applications. Drift is better than dead stick.
Encoders have their place and are a significant upgrade for some systems. It depends on the consequences of failure and what occurs when failure happens.
There may have not even been a mechanical problem, for all we know one of those folks thought that the bottom of the ocean was a perfect place for a quadruple murder suicide. Or maybe somebody freaked out with the claustrophobie and pressed the wrong button.
im strong, i can run faster than train
So, supposing the $30 controller breaks, did they have a backup?
There's a lot we don't know now, and may never know.
"You win 100% of the fights you avoid. If you're not there when it happens, you don't lose." - William Aprill
"I've owned a guitar for 31 years and that sure hasn't made me a musician, let alone an expert. It's made me a guy who owns a guitar."- BBI
It's a really dangerous activity. There's a lot that can go wrong. I wouldn't get in one of those things for a billion dollars and I have a lot of respect for those that do.
Did some outside authority inspect and certify this thing for use, or is it a pure homebuilt?
"You win 100% of the fights you avoid. If you're not there when it happens, you don't lose." - William Aprill
"I've owned a guitar for 31 years and that sure hasn't made me a musician, let alone an expert. It's made me a guy who owns a guitar."- BBI
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