1/22/2023

It’s finally here, our battery storage system for the solar panels! After waiting for several years now (we started this process in early 2020), our battery has arrived. Years of back log, supply shortages, and recalls almost had us forgetting that we had requested this to come with our system. Because our municipality has tiered rates and my wife works from home, it seemed like a very nice addition to keep our energy bills evened out when electricity is at peak hours.

After several rounds of back and forth to get “site inspections”, my wife was a little nervous. “They didn’t really answer any of my questions,” she said, which put me on edge as well. If they weren’t able to answer her questions, had they even seen the system before? Even the basics, such as what wall to put it on, whether we needed to make sure there was access above and below the breaker box, and whether we wanted the unit mounted to the wall or sitting on the ground seemed beyond the estimator’s ability to discuss. Having obviously arrived utterly unarmed to this battle of wits, it is as yet unclear who exactly ties their boots.

Even so, our unit arrived today. Rather than try to sway you with more words, I’m just going to show you what I came home to. Folks, I give you our install:

Indeed, I am impressed! Astonished, even. It takes work to make this simple of an installation look this bad. I have not been able to bring myself to produce this level of craftsmanship since at least the second grade. If you zoom in close, you can almost smell the failure of that ripped down 2x4, stuffed back behind the other two like a forgotten dust bunny in honor of the year of the rabbit. When confronted with such an atrocity, such an absolute assault to logic and affront to the very definition of craftsmanship, I can only conclude that surely there must be some reason:

  • Lack of skill? I might point you to the excellent Mr. Chickadee, whose calming YouTube videos contain the very skill needed to make a decent platform to get this device to be flush to the wall.
  • Lack of tooling? Perhaps Lost Art Press can help, as they publish excellent material for succeeding at furniture level craftsmanship with elementary tooling. Indeed, with even a rather dull chisel and a saw with chipped teeth I could produce better results than I see here.

Being a generally reasonable person, I would like to provide several offers:

Firstly, the unit can be reinstalled correctly and neatly without gaps to the wall, either by creating a platform from the material of your choice or by purchasing the wall mount kit available from the battery supplier. Obviously this is my first choice, as this constitutes the professionalism that I am paying for.

My second option is less ideal for me, but may alleviate the burden for the installer: I can create a platform sufficiently sturdy and level on which to set the battery. However, I would require payment for such a service, and my skills do not come cheap. To do this, I would need to be paid by the installer $200 for the cost of skill and materials, which I will provide.

The third option is in the spirit of teaching a man to fish: I can teach the skills needed to be able to do this better. Scribing to an uneven surface, making do with small toolkits, how to ask the right questions before installation, and what constitutes a “good job” and a reasonable level of workmanship. I can offer this and more as a 4 hour class at $400 per person. Let my wife know if you decide to take us up on the class and we can make room in our schedule for it.

If after all of this my options are not satisfactory, I would kindly ask that the unit be returned to sender, and we will work to find a different contractor or else not go forward with the installation at all.

-Fuzzy

Update 1/24/2023:

After choosing option 1, I had to get a call from my wife at work to discuss moving the unit. Why? BeCaUsE iTs EaSiEr tO pUt a bOaRd tHeRe. Oh well. Here’s what we got:

OK, It’s against the wall, I’ll give you that. But what’s that below?

Yeah. Shims go the other way for support, so it appears that your IQ has risen to rival that of a molding jar of pickled pigs feet. Fine. Obviously this is the best I’m getting out of you, and it sounds like even that was a struggle. I am certain that you are at least safe from zombies, so that’s a plus. Perhaps a job at the postal service would better suit this level of care?