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Champlain Explorer uses 74 hand picked 18650 Li-Ion batteries. These batteries were scavenged from old toy hoverboard battery packs (remember when hoverboards were bursting on fire? Yeah..those batteries -- minus the bad stuff). Each individual cell has been capacity checked and matched to insure equal performance throughout the overall pack. 
The blue circuit board below is the charge controller. This will transfer power from the 2 X 100 watt solar panels into the battery pack and maintain equal voltage levels between each cell.

Champlain Explorer is ready for the challenges ahead! Here are some of these challenges and our plan in response: 
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Survival 

Previous attempts have been unsuccessful for several reasons: fishing nets, fishing boats, sea debris and even sharks have disabled competitors. Champlain Explorer is designed to be sleek which helps with efficiency and shedding of seaweed and fishing nets.  ​

Navigation

Unmanned Champlain Explorer uses an autopilot system. Specifically, the open source Pixhawk autopilot running Ardurover firmware. The autopilot uses GPS with a host of other sensors for positional information. We will pre-program waypoints for Champlain Explorer to follow along its journey. Exciting stuff! ​

Energy

Champlain explorer is an all-electric vehicle using two 100-watt solar panels to recharge recycled hoverboard Li-ion Batteries. 
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​Communication

Satellite communication will provide us with a two-way communication with Champlain Explorer at all times.