He who learns must suffer. And even in our sleep pain that cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, and in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God.
Aeschylus
I made it to town and back. I did stop by the village to pick up freight, which included my 24V 100AH LIFEP04 battery from Red O D O.
I am excited about that.
My day started much earlier. At 9 AM it was dark outside, it looked like it was night. The wildfire smoke was so thick you might try cutting it with a knife.
I considered staying home for health reasons. I put on a covid mask to filter out some of the smoke and headed out.
The outside world was eerie and dark. Using the words from the nice lady at the bank. I picked up my battery at the post office. There is a long story that I will tell in my review post. Then it was off to town to pick up groceries, some electrical parts, and some box tubing.
I went to 3 different stores to get the best price on that. The first one was $48 dollars per 4 feet. The next one same store, different branch, $37 each. Then on to my local home hardware store. There it was only $24 per 4 feet.
I picked up groceries and two forty-pound bottles of water. While I was doing that, my right ankle gave out. That would make the day more fun.
After 3 hours of painful limping around town, I made the drive home. So far, the groceries are halfway inside, and I got the battery inside the battery bank room. Then I collapsed onto the couch.
I still have to haul in the groceries and unpack them. I opened the Redodo battery box, which arrived with some damage. I also needed to get fuel for the generator, charge the big battery, also charge the solar battery bank. It is so dark outside, the solar panels will not be contributing.
Another health thing just showed up, I mean besides the pain in my ankle, my back, and dizziness brought on by the heavy smoke. I have a pain in my calf, I suspect a clot. I will go into that another time.
For now, no matter how I feel, no matter what pain I am having, I got stuff that needs doing, and I am the only one here. The cat in front of me isn’t offering any help.
The work got done. I unpacked the battery, and it had a huge bulge at the bottom/ I knew that wasn’t good. I just didn’t know how bad. I contacted the manufacturer right away/ I am still waiting for an answer.
For now, I did a little research, a bulged LIFEP04 battery was bad, and not fixable, the battery would eventually fail, and never be a full capacity. Then was the higher risk of explosion, the bulge was the cells having a build-up of oxygen. The bulge was due to the battery being overcharged at the factory.
I have asked for a replacement battery, we will see if Redodo was a reputable company. They promise a 24-hour return of messages. Most likely due to the manufacturer being in China.
I spent the rest of the day in pain, feeling like the main character in the movie Sling Blade. Even my speech was slower.
Needless to say, the battery was a big disappointment after waiting over two weeks to arrive. A far cry from the 3 business days promised on the website.
I found someone else who found the Redodo Bulge at least he got his battery for free. Even if he didn’t he could have bought in the USA for a lot cheaper than I did here in Canada and got it sooner.
Quite a day of overwhelming wildfire smoke, body pain, and a dead battery. One that cost me half a month’s salary.
