What Ordering from Optimum RV Bonne Terre Taught Me About Power Stations, Tool Batteries, and Pressure Washer Soap

The Short Version

If you're about to order from Optimum RV Bonne Terre—or from any Optimum store, really—here's the conclusion up front: most equipment-order failures aren't supplier failures, they're compatibility failures. I've been handling B2B purchasing for an RV/truck shop since 2017. Over that time I've documented 31 significant order mistakes, totaling roughly $7,200 in wasted budget. That number should have been zero.

The three mistakes that generated most of it were an Oukitel P2001 portable power station that looked perfect on the product page but required manual-level verification before it actually worked for us, a Greenworks - 80 Volt 2.0Ah Power Tool Battery that was the right voltage and the wrong physical fit, and a two-year search for the best car foam soap for pressure washer that failed because I didn't first ask what our pressure washer setup could handle.

The good news: all of it was preventable with a 10-minute pre-order check. The even better news: I now have that check down to five steps, and the next section explains them.

Why I'm the Guy with the Failure Log

I'm not a technician. I'm the person who handles purchasing for a shop that installs RV accessories, truck racks, mobile power equipment, and car care products. That means I'm the one who gets blamed when the techs open a box and find the wrong part.

In my first year (2017), I made the classic newbie mistake: I ordered commercial grade foam soap because the price markup looked reasonable. The problem? The product required a specific foam proportioner that our crew didn't have. Three weeks, $260, and one awkward team meeting later, I learned that the product name doesn't tell you what equipment it needs.

The September 2022 disaster was the battery order. On a 16-unit Greenworks order where every single battery had the wrong terminal shape, we learned to stop trusting same voltage in the title. That mistake involved a $3,200 order, a two-week delay, and a lot of phone calls.

Since then, this checklist has caught 47 potential errors. Most were small. A few would have been big.

The Three Orders That Should Have Been Simple

1. Oukitel P2001 Portable Power Station

The Oukitel P2001 portable power station is one of those products that makes buying easy: solid wattage, clean design, available in the Optimum store. We planned to use it for diagnostic tools, bench power, and small equipment on the side of an RV. On paper, it was a no-brainer.

The conventional wisdom says to compare watt-hours and price. My experience says something different. The more important check is the output section of the manual. What types of outlets does it have? What is the surge limit? Are there devices the manufacturer says not to run? I almost skipped this because the product image showed enough outlets. Good thing I didn't: a customer later brought in a sensitive electronic device, and we needed the station's output spec to know whether we could even connect it.

I'm not an electrical engineer, so I'm not going to pretend I understand inverter topology. I can tell you from a purchasing perspective: a retailer's compatible with most devices line is not the same as the manufacturer's validated spec. Pull up the manual before you check out.

If you're buying one for commercial use, buy the first unit, test it with the exact tools you'll run, then order the rest. That's what saved us from turning a one-unit experiment into a six-unit return.

2. Greenworks - 80 Volt 2.0Ah Power Tool Battery

This one still makes me wince. We had several Greenworks tools in the shop—a pair of blowers and a chainsaw—and needed extra batteries. The order screen listed a Greenworks - 80 Volt 2.0Ah Power Tool Battery. Same brand. Same voltage. Exactly what I thought we needed. So I ordered 12.

When the shipment from Optimum RV Bonne Terre arrived, our lead technician looked at the battery, looked at the tool, and said, These aren't going to fit. He was right. The connector layout was different from the tools we had. The return was painless—I'll give the Optimum store credit—but the two-day delay while replacements shipped was not painless.

That's when I learned the difference between a product family and a product version. The same brand, same voltage thinking comes from an era when manufacturers made one battery per voltage. Today, one manufacturer can have several battery generations running at the same nominal voltage. The only reliable shortcut is the model number.

If you're ordering a Greenworks - 80 Volt 2.0Ah Power Tool Battery, or any replacement battery, check the battery compatibility list on the manufacturer's page. If the product listing doesn't show it, call the supplier before you place the order. It takes three minutes.

3. The Best Car Foam Soap for Pressure Washer Trap

I spent about $300 over 18 months trying to find the best car foam soap for pressure washer. I read forum threads. I compared foam thickness videos. I bought premium brands and cheap brands. Then I realized I was asking the wrong question.

The right question is not which foam soap is best. It's which foam soap works with the foam cannon my team actually uses, and at what dilution. We had a cheap foam lance that tended to produce thin foam no matter what soap we used. An expensive soap didn't fix the lance; it just made the thin foam more expensive.

Everything I'd read said the pH and gloss were the important numbers. In practice, the most important number was the dilution ratio on the label. When we switched to a concentrate with a simple dilution chart and put a measuring cap on every bottle, our soap usage dropped by about 25%. The crew was no longer guessing.

I'm not a chemist, so I can't speak to surfactants and pH stability. What I can tell you from a purchasing perspective: if your pressure washer and foam cannon are not capable of aerating the soap properly, no best car foam soap in the world will fix it. And if you're washing RVs with road film, you might need a pre-wash or a higher-alkaline product, not the same pH-neutral soap that works on a sedan.

The Pre-Order Checklist I Actually Use

No need to get creative here. This is the boring part that saves money:

• Confirm the exact model number. The tool you have has a model number, not just a series name. Write it down before you open the product page.
• Look at the connector. For batteries this means terminal shape and position. For power stations it means the outlet type and rating. For foam soap it means the nozzle or lance used in your process.
• Check the manufacturer compatibility list. If the Optimum store page doesn't link to one, find it on the maker's site. If you can't find it, ask the Optimum RV Bonne Terre counter staff.
• Test one before buying a batch. For the Oukitel P2001 portable power station, that meant buying a single unit before expanding. For batteries, it means buying one and physically fitting it. For soap, it means buying one jug and testing the dilution.
• Know the return window. Even with a good supplier, the best insurance is knowing how many days you have to catch a mistake.

This checklist isn't clever. It came after I wasted money and credibility. Over the past 14 months, it's caught 47 potential errors. That's 47 headaches that never happened.

When I'd Tell You to Ignore This

If you're replacing a battery for a single tool and you already have the old battery next to you, order the exact same model number and skip most of the checklist. If you just need one portable power station for occasional home backup and the return policy is good, the extra testing step is probably overkill.

The honest limitation of my process: it's designed for B2B orders where time, money, and repeat purchases matter. A hobbyist buying one item can afford a mistake; a shop that orders 12 units at a time can't.

This was accurate as of early Q1 2025. Product specs, prices, and availability shift. The Oukitel P2001 portable power station you see today might look different in six months. The Greenworks - 80 Volt 2.0Ah Power Tool Battery line might add new models. The best car foam soap for pressure washer hasn't changed in 50 years—it's the one you dilute properly—but the specific bottle might.

The Bottom Line

Optimum RV Bonne Terre is good. The Optimum store is convenient. They handled our returns and answered our calls. But a supplier can't verify compatibility for you. The model number is the only thing standing between a successful order and an expensive detour. Check the connector, check the manual, test one before buying a batch, and read the soap label.

That's it.