 I'm not entirely sure what time it is right now, but the sun's about to come up I left this morning at The last time I looked at the clock it was like 4 30 I left 15 minutes after that so quarter to five four 45 and I'm driving to town to pick up Pick up some packages and stuff as I do every month or two Today since I left in the dark this is gonna be the biggest test of the new batteries I put in the boat Definitely the biggest test I've done so far so right now. I'm getting zero energy out of the solar panel. I Won't get anything until You know the Sun gets above the horizon and I've been driving for maybe an hour and a half just on batteries and We've been pretty close to halfway to town So yeah, I'm basically driving halfway there just on batteries Even when the Sun pops up. I'm still not gonna be getting that much energy for a while so most of the trip to town is gonna be just on the batteries and I Have two 24 volt 100 amp hour lithium-iron phosphate batteries are made by Red Odo Red Odo and I've been super impressed with these things. They've been they've been really really good and You know, I've been driving for an hour and a half just on batteries Zero problems, and I just checked the voltage It's at 26.5 volts Which is good. I still have lots of energy in them. I'm not driving full speed But I'm driving. I'm probably driving 75% of my top speed And yeah, everything's going great. Oh, I should also mention a few people have asked me about lithium-iron phosphate battery recommendations and So I guess I could highly recommend the batteries that I have in here the red Odo ones So the other day I signed up for their affiliate program, which means I can get you Like a coupon or something. I don't know. I'll put a link down here in the description For anyone who's any of the people who've been asking me or anyone who's just interested in lithium-iron phosphate Batteries that are pretty awesome. Man, it's incredible how much energy these things have in them So like 50 pounds each like I have a total of a hundred pounds of batteries in the boat And I could drive for hours on it. So crazy Anyway, yeah, I'll put a link down here. I think I think I got a link for a coupon or something whatever it is I'll put it down here So yeah, now I'm just Just driving This morning with a totally clear sky. It's still pretty clear now. There's a bit of clouds coming up over there, but Oh, I can still see a star I don't know if you can see it, but the stars this morning were amazing Yeah, I could see like everything I would have got it on camera, but man cameras just can't do stars justice You know, I've seen Starry nights in magazines before and it's just not the same as being there So if you're shooting stars and satellites and stuff, it was a really clear night All right, I guess I guess I'm just gonna keep driving. Oh and the reason I'm standing up here on the front of the boat is Because it was so dark this morning, which is why the the star showed up so well That I came and stood up here because I could see a little better in the dark and I have this the steering column comes all the way up here like this goes all the way through the boat Look at that sunrise You know and attach this to the steering wheel so I can steer from up here Man, this has been a super useful thing And now I'm still standing up here because it's just a nice view All right, I'm gonna shut up and keep driving Oh, there is another reason I stand at the front of the boat. It's because this is a cargo boat, right? so this is like the cargo area up here in the front and My chair is way back there and my nice comfy chair. Oh man. Those chairs are awesome but When there's no cargo in the boat like right now what I got like an empty wheelbarrow and my my anchor and a paddle Like there's basically no weight in the front of the boat, you know the boat Tips up so the front is a lot higher than the back because all the weights in the back We're the motor and the batteries and the solar panel this whole roof is toward the back of the boat So like all the weights in the back of the boat right now So my boat's kind of going like this. That's an exaggeration But like the front is up and the back is down so I'm kind of plowing through the water So if I stand up here at the front of the boat, it levels me out a little more and I can Run a little more efficient go a bit faster But to actually get the boat level down I have to put about a ton of weight up on the front here So I'm I'm halfway to town right now I pretty much exactly Checking my charge controller here The batteries have been holding steady at 26 and a half volts like the whole time I don't know what they were like right when I started but The first time I checked it. It was 26 and a half volts and it's been holding steady on that the whole time Right now the Sun just came up So I'm gonna have to check When I get back home since I don't have a watch or anything What what the exact time of sunrise is because I left at about 445 and Halfway to town is sunrise I see how the first sliver of the Sun Just as I grabbed the camera So yeah, just popping up now. I should start getting some energy from the solar panels now and It's not gonna be up. It's not gonna be much at first, but I'll slowly get more energy as I go and I've been running my motor at about half speed. Oh Well, no not half speed half power and the way boats work if you if you run your Motor at like half power. You're still going like 75% speed roughly But I think I'll be able to speed up a little As I start getting some Sun. I can also tilt the solar panels up aim toward the Sun Hopefully the Sun doesn't go behind those clouds over there Either way, I'm pretty sure I could make it the rest of the way at this speed on these batteries No problem. I Could probably drive all the way there and back Crazy how much energy these things have I'm so impressed. You know what I've what I've been sitting here thinking about is Like these batteries are so good. It makes me want to build something That I've had designed in my head for a while. I just Haven't done it partly. I mean there are a lot of reasons, but one of the big reasons is just the power source that this thing would need and The thing is is basically an Iron Man suit, you know Like a like an exoskeleton without you know the flying and all the magical blasts and all that stuff Just like a suit I can put on and like triple my strength, you know When I first designed this thing Like I don't know 30 years ago or whatever Just the battery limitations kind of made it like wow I mean that would be cool But I wouldn't be able to run it very very long or it have to have it plugged in or something But with with how good these lithium iron phosphate batteries are Like I could I could put a couple lithium batteries in And run that thing at a at a useful Like for a useful amount of time, you know Like make it would it would be super useful to have a suit I could put on Walk out into the jungle and pick up an Amount of wood that I could not normally carry and carry that back to the boat That would be super useful or even like, you know moving rocks and stuff like that that would be great and Yeah, I'm starting to think I might want to I might want to build that because it would be it would be a super fun thing to build But also super useful if I can if I can do a good job making one All right, what's this thing? Oh, it says I'm getting 0.1 amps from the solar panels now So I mean that's almost nothing but I'm starting to get some energy from the Sun So that means for the last two hours. I've been going solely on these ridoto batteries and Super impressed man 26 and a half volts still all right Shopping paddle Keep driving. Oh Yes, dear bit because it puts the Sun a little bit more to the side Hit these solar panels About 10 minutes from where I'm going and And what a beautiful trip this is bit So good I Didn't speed up to full speed Because I'm getting a bunch of signs on the solar panels now Peek at the batteries Not even warm the beauty. That's great And I presume the one under there is the same let him charge and They might even be able to get it back up to full charge before So in the boat here, I just picked up six more of those ridoto batteries Only two of these are for me. The other four are for a neighbor and Ridoto did Originally send me one of these for free You know to show on my YouTube channel and since then I I bought three more and Between my neighbors. I think they've bought eight Something like that So I think I think they've made a good Profit off the one they gave to me already Anyway, the reason I got two more is because the price went down on And yeah, if anyone if anyone's interested in lithium-iron phosphate batteries and totally recommend those like I said, I have a link I Think I have a link to a coupon that I'll put down here whatever whatever have I'll put the link down here Oh and when I got back in the boat I Checked the charge controller and no energy was going into the battery, which means it was full So the battery charge just in that was at three hours that I was in town so Yeah, you know, I thought I was given these batteries of workout by by coming to town halfway in the dark but They're handling it like it's a piece of cake Probably because it's a beautiful day and it's real sunny. So I've got lots of solar power But man, just those those batteries are really awesome And to be honest, I'm not actually entirely sure what I'm gonna do with my two new batteries I got them because they were on sale I know I can use them for something So I'll have to think of something good I did consider putting two more batteries in this boat, but I don't think it needs it Like this is the farthest trip I do and I don't need the batteries for it. I did half of it in the dark Anyway I don't know I'll have to come up with something cool to do with them. Oh giant robots Now what am I gonna do with a pair of these awesome batteries man? Who I don't know yet. I also got some Lego some 3d printer juice You know 3d printer juice Radio control thing and some other radio control parts and a game of go and then this