I'm going to be dropping off all my SLAs at a metals recycling facility in South Plainfield, either this weekend or next, depending on available time and the weather. I would like to do it tomorrow, but tomorrow is our monthly VE Session. We only have one candidate, but he's attempting a land speed record by trying to go from 0 to 100 MPH in one sitting. For those not getting my joke, he's going to attempt to go from unlicensed to Amateur Extra in one session. He seems to feel confident, God bless him. I hope he makes it, but God knows how long this is going to take. After that is the weekly grocery shopping trip and it's supposed to be stormy all day, so battery drop off may have to wait until next Saturday.
Getting back to the battery situation. I saw a 12V 12Ah Li-ion battery with charger up for auction on eBay for $29. I detailed that story of my tiny bidding war in my August 30th post. I paid for it immediately and unfortunately, it's been sitting for a week with a FedEx label made - but that's as far as it got.
My current position here at work is Logistics. I deal with both FedEx and UPS every ..... single .....day. I know firsthand that when you track something and all you get is a "Label Created" status, that means that the item has never been picked up by or dropped off to UPS or FedEx. Both shipping companies are adamant about scanning packages before taking possession of them. It's a chain of evidence - proof of ownership thing. It's their "If we didn't scan it, then we didn't get it" protection.
I complained to the seller that not shipping within a week after immediate payment was unacceptable and that I wanted a refund. I got an answer that FedEx must have "lost the package" so we're refunding your payment. That's pure and utter horsehockey. FedEx never got the package to lose. Someone in their shipping department either lost it or shipped it somewhere else in error.
I went back to eBay this morning and found a brand new 12V 15Ah SLA Deep Cycle battery for $26.00 (free shipping!). Yeah, it's an SLA so it's older battery technology, and yeah, it'll be heavier than a lithium battery, and yeah, it won't make it to nearly the same amount of charge cycles - but the price was right, and it should be here by next Tuesday. A lithium battery of comparable voltage and capacity comes way closer to $100 and even over for some brands. I already have a charger that works fine with SLAs, and won't need to worry about getting a special "BMS" charger, so there's a savings there, too. So not only am I a dinosaur, but I'm a cheap dinosaur, too!
Actually, either "frugal' or "thrifty" sound much better!
72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!
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