Shipping your ROV

For those travelling with their BlueROV2, Blue Robotics strongly suggests you remove enclosure vent plugs during shipment by air or road, to allow the enclosures to change internal pressure and reduce stress on the penetrators.  Just remember where you packed them for re-installation when you arrive.

Also remember to take extra desiccant (silica gel) bags to put into the electronics enclosure at your destination, to prevent dome fogging during the dive.

Finally, about flying with ROV batteries: it is our understanding that you can fly with one Blue Robotics 18Ahr battery packed in the ROV (obviously, not connected) but you cannot take any 18Ahr spares in the cabin (they ship as hazardous goods cargo only).  Up to two HobbyKing 8Ahr or 10Ahr batteries can be taken as spares in carry-on luggage, only with prior approval of your airline. Each carrier has their own rules about lithium batteries, so call before you arrive at the airport.

The Fifish V6 can ship as is, as long as the ROV tether plug is in place to prevent electrical shorting. The V6 has a 97.2 Watt-hour battery capacity that is under the 100Watt hour limit for passenger plane carry-ons. It is always wise to take a copy of the technical specifications with you, in case you are asked about the equipment.

To calculate the capacity of your batteries: Power capacity = Voltage * Current * Time e.g. Blue Robotics: 266.4 Watt-hour = 14.8 Volts * 18 Amp-hour

BlueROV2 Button Mapping

The default button setup for the BlueROV2 is below, and can be changed to suit your function preference:


To reconfigure the button functions, with your BlueROV2 powered-up and connected to your topside computer, go to the Joystick tab on the Vehicle Settings page and change via the drop-down menus

The button numbers 1 to 14 correspond to the following physical buttons:

Battery capacity in QGC

When using a different size battery in your BlueROV2, make sure to update your battery parameters in QGroundControl. To do this, with your ROV powered up and connected to your topside computer, go to the QGC’s Vehicle Setup page, BATT, BATTERY_CAPACITY and enter the correct value in mAhr.

The factory default is 18000 for Blue Robotics’ 18Ahr battery.

ALERT – Turnigy 10Ahr battery

To all the BlueROV2 pilots out there: Turnigy has recently (and unexpectedly) increased the size of their 4S, 10Ahr battery, available from HobbyKing.  The new version of this battery no longer fits easily into the Blue Robotics 3” battery enclosure.  It can be inserted but the fit is so tight that the acrylic enclosure edge cuts into / scrapes the battery external pouch and can result in safety issues.

We suggest that, if you need replacement batteries short-term, you switch to either the Turnigy 4S, 8Ahr battery or the Blue Robotics 4S, 18Ahr battery.  We will let you know as soon as we have a better solution to this issue.

UPDATE 28/11/19:

To update you quickly, we purchased four Turnigy 10Ahr batteries this week and found that the dimensions fell within declared specifications, and they all fit into the 3” battery enclosures.  What a relief!
We apologise for raising the alarm earlier but there could still be a possibility that you, like us, might receive a larger Turnigy 10Ahr battery.   There does not appear to be any batch number or any other marker to identify one from the other, so the best we can suggest is that you test-fit any new Turnigy batteries you receive before going into the field.