Ring Ring: Anyone There?

I woke up this morning at oh-dark-thirty with the most shrill ringing in my ears .... I lay in my bed thinking "Geeze, I never thought Tintinitis could be this bad!"   Finally I got up, thinking that maybe it was a blood pressure issue, or something.   One thing I knew for sure after a few minutes, it couldn't get much worse.

But it did.  I walked out of the bedroom heading for the Dark at the top of the Stairs and it got louder.
It sounded electronic, so I headed for the spare bedroom (a.k.a. "The Hell Room) where my desktop computer is stored.  It got louder, but the computer was in sleep mode.  I had already figured out that the cause was external, nothing to do with me.   The sound was coming from the floor, to the left of the roll-top desk.  There was a red light flashing in the dark ... I reached down and pushed a button: the sound stopped and the red light changed to green. 

Pushed the button again: "SHRILLLLLLLLL!"

So I turned on the lights.  The UPS (Uninterrupted Power Supply) unit, with it's power button, warning light, and label were there.   The label said: "Red Light: Replace Battery".

Turned the light off, unplugged everything and plugged the lines into the wall socket, and went back to bed.

Since then, I pulled the battery out of the UPS.  It's like a motorcycle batter, weighs about 3 pounds, and a liquid electrolyte battery.  Non-rechargeable, I found, when I looked up the literature.

The manufacture offers a replacement battery for $40 on their website.  Shipped from the Phillipines.

Bought a domestic replacement from Amazon for $20, including shipping.   Problem solved, it'll be here by the end of the week.

After all the problems I've had in the last six weeks (gun, computer, car) it's a relief to have something fixed so easily.  Well, I still haven't actually done the replacement but it looks simple enough, with just two leads which are pull-off/push on.   On the other hand, that's what I thought when I tried to fix my toilet 20 years ago ...

Oh, BTW ... my car?  I hadn't heard from the dealership where I had it towed for repair last Thursday.  They said "We couldn't find a problem.  We got into the car and it started right up!  Drove it around to warm it up, and every time it started right away."

They have had it for two full days and hadn't bothered to notify me.


So I explained that it happens intermittently (I know, the worst kind of problem to track down.)

"This only happens to me under specific circumstances. (I said.)  I'm on the freeway for a while, then I pull off at an exit into urban traffic.  I try to make a sharp turn at low speed ... like, a u-turn, or parallel parking ... and it dies.  At first it would restart in a few minutes, but this time it wouldn't start after a 40 minute wait.  I want it FIXED, even if it seems to run okay NOW."

They said they would try that.

I'm still waiting.

Damned Old Ford!