Race Day Five and Six Update
Race Day #5 and #6
The Cannonball Sun Team had an excellent day five right up until the very end of the day. We were expecting more poor weather, but we managed to dodge the worst using the radar as best as we could. We woke up to clear skies in Tiffin, Ohio and got an early start leaving around 8 am and cruising 25 miles up the road to Hancock County, Ohio to charge our vehicle. We had excellent sun in Hancock County and managed to charge almost to 100% of our battery capacity.
We then hit the road again and immediately entered dense cloud cover. The team continued to run for about 40 miles when we hit a freak rainstorm we were not expecting, and we rushed to find shelter. Luckily the storm quickly passed and then we got back on the road. We continued up the road for about 10 miles, saw another storm coming our way, and decided to wait. Finally, thirty miles after continuing on, we crossed into Indiana, our 5th state! After waiting about an hour, we continued on with good sun and finished the day in Logansport, Indiana, driving 180.67 miles.
The Cannonball Sun Team had an excellent day five right up until the very end of the day. We were expecting more poor weather, but we managed to dodge the worst using the radar as best as we could. We woke up to clear skies in Tiffin, Ohio and got an early start leaving around 8 am and cruising 25 miles up the road to Hancock County, Ohio to charge our vehicle. We had excellent sun in Hancock County and managed to charge almost to 100% of our battery capacity.
We then hit the road again and immediately entered dense cloud cover. The team continued to run for about 40 miles when we hit a freak rainstorm we were not expecting, and we rushed to find shelter. Luckily the storm quickly passed and then we got back on the road. We continued up the road for about 10 miles, saw another storm coming our way, and decided to wait. Finally, thirty miles after continuing on, we crossed into Indiana, our 5th state! After waiting about an hour, we continued on with good sun and finished the day in Logansport, Indiana, driving 180.67 miles.
Unfortunately, as we were loading the car onto the trailer for the night, our already limping along motor controller shorted and blew our main power fuse. The continuous overheating damaged our motor controller more than we realized, and the short burst of power required to load our car onto the trailer was the final straw. Due to our meager budget, we did not have a “backup” motor controller. Tires? Yes. Motor controller. No. We worked late into the night diagnosing the issue and making sure none of our other sensitive electronics were damaged.
We woke up on race day #6 and immediately got on the phone searching for another motor controller. Luckily, we have some race contacts in the solar car community through the Solar Car Challenge, and the Iron Lions Solar Car Team from Greenville, Texas, had two spare motor controllers they have offered to loan us. We are incredibly grateful for their help and would have had to end our trip without their support. The motor controllers are being overnight shipped from Texas, and we hope to receive them tomorrow morning, get one installed, and hit the road as soon as possible.
Thank you very much to everyone who helped us source these motor controllers; we would not be able to continue without the support of our community.
Current Mileage Total: 761
Miles to LA: 2284
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