Thruster opinion

Hi! Did anyone have experience with these thrusters? It can be found under different names on Amazon etc and I was wondering if it is suitable for an autonomous boat project and how it compares with the BlueRobotics ones?

Sincerely
Max

E.g. https://www.amazon.co.uk/COLOR-TREE-Brushless-Underwater-Propeller/dp/B081RGXFDN/

I know nothing about them but did notice this once on banggood

Yes, it all looks the same just with different brand. Very affordable just worried about quality / continuity.

Hi @maximosipov,
I have purchased two of these to try out for my autonomous sea going rover boat.
I agree they are cheap and hence quality is in question. So far in the few basic tests I have done in the water they are going ok. I’m not sure how you specify thrust, but they push my 1.5m 10kg boat along at a couple of knots easily (just one motor).
I have probably only used them for a total of a few hours so far. Actually one is on the bench, one is on the boat.
IMG_1139 IMG_1140

Thank you Paul! It is a great project you have!

Hi Paul - are those thrusters performing ? are you operating in sea water ?

Hi Andrew,

They are going well but I am still building the auto pilot electronics and code for my boat before I send it out to sea for long missions. That said, it’s been in the water (sea water) a couple of times for prob less than an hour each time just for some basic testing. So no real heavy testing. They certainly push out some water, my 1500mm yacht style hull gets along easily at a couple of knots with just the one thruster that’s on it.

I do try and get some fresh water over them when I get home I get home.

What are you thinking of doing with them?

Cheers,

Paul

Hi Paul - our application is self positioning buoy for RC yacht racing, then possibly scaling up to off the beach sizes sailing/ racing boats … i see there are a couple of manufacturers out there (marksetbot for example), but price is out of range for most clubs …

May i ask how/where you purchased these from ? - direct from the manufacturer ? by any chance ?

Ah cool that’s a great project.
I bought them on eBay I think, they show up from all sorts of vendors.
A search for “small rov thruster” turns up lots of sellers plus a few different types.

Hello,

How did the project go? I just saw the same item on aliexpress and it states that they cant be submerged in sea water ( link ) ? Has any of you had any problem with sea water?

But they look pretty robust at first sight. I burnt a 30A ESC with a 4s and running them at low RPM, replaced for a 40A ESC and doesn’t heat as much.

I bought a pair for my project and going to splash it in salty water tomorrow. I let you know how they behave!

After a satisfactory splash, I was well surprised with the performance of this thrust. After, replacing the faulty ESC for a 40A it worked like a charm. The USV has been running for 20mins continuously in saltwater and the ESC had normal heat levels.

You can find these thrusts on Amazon and eBay. I was going to get the T200 thrusters from Bluerobotics but they were 200$ compared to this 20$ thrust. I can imagine the quality differs a lot. But it has ticked all the boxes for a small prototype 100mm length USV.

I was using a 4s LiPO set-up with a consumption of 15A.

All the best!

Looking forward to get feedback regarding how it withstand saltwater in the long-term
Any other alternatives to T200?

There are various options at different prices.

Have a google, Amazon and aliexpress browse by typing “underwater thruster” you’ll be surprised (if you haven’t done it yet)

But the T200 look amazing to be honest…

I’ll keep you updated regarding how good they are withstanding saltwater!

All the best!

Thank you Pablo, much appreciated!

Hi,

Not Advisable for Salt Water or they would ned to be modded with epoxy and better corrosion resistant bearings + troughly rinsed and greased eafter use, wouldn’t bet on them.

For freshwater here is a testing pic :slight_smile:

VR Robotics buoys also used these thrusters so I have used them and sadly destroy them quite easily by beaching the autonomous buoy on a sandy beach. I normally use the BlueRobotics thrusters and they are better.

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