How old is that new battery?

[Kruse]

Originally Posted By: mattwithcats
I always walk behind the shelves, and get the most recent one put on the shelf....


While I would shy away from a battery that's a few years old, I just don't always believe the accuracy of date stickers on a battery. Here's why:
Several years ago, I needed to purchase a battery. I won't mention the store or the brand of the battery here, but the calendar date just happened to be March 2nd, I think the year was 2014. I went to a big-box store to purchase my new battery and the sticker date on it was 3-14. Wow! This battery was only ONE DAY OLD! Okay....giving the manufacturer the benefit of the doubt here....let's just say that the battery was manufactured on March 1st at 12:01 A.M. So then it sits in the manufacturing warehouse. Then it gets loaded on a semi-trailer to be shipped. The battery would then go to a big-box store warehouse. It would be shipped to an individual store where it would finally get put on the shelf for the customer to purchase it. I remember it was early in the afternoon of March 2nd when I was purchasing this battery, so all of this happened in a matter of about 38-40 hours. I'm not believing it for a second.
Pretty sure those stickers are not necessarily the date of manufacturing, but when it was "checked out" by somebody just to see that it was fresh.
Besides, whose to say that some store could just have some stickers printed up to replace some older stickers?

 

[CR94]

Originally Posted By: Nick1994
Sometimes they're time travelers. I've seen batteries with date code of the next month in the future.
I have too, leaving me wondering when it was really made. That seems a bit dishonest.

 

[bdcardinal]

At least on the red label Motorcraft batteries, the actual date of manufacture is on the top label in the corner.

 

[Chris142]

Originally Posted By: bdcardinal
What was the part number on the battery? There are certain ones that sit and don't move but either the dealer or the supplier are supposed to recycle them so there is no old stock on the shelf. That being said I have had one of my suppliers try to deliver old batteries and they get really annoyed when I reject the delivery.
it was whatever small batttery fits an 85 lincoln m7

 

[circuitsmith]

When I buy a battery I go to whatever big box store with a small multimeter.
I look for two or more batts with the latest date sticker, then pick the one with the highest standing voltage.
Then when I get it home I charge it at least 8 hours.

 

[bdcardinal]

Originally Posted By: Chris142
Originally Posted By: bdcardinal
What was the part number on the battery? There are certain ones that sit and don't move but either the dealer or the supplier are supposed to recycle them so there is no old stock on the shelf. That being said I have had one of my suppliers try to deliver old batteries and they get really annoyed when I reject the delivery.
it was whatever small batttery fits an 85 lincoln m7


Ahh that's why. They do list a group 65, but all the other sizes listed are batteries Ford hasn't used in years.

 

[silverbar]

I buy all my batteries at Walmart. I understand they know get them from a different supplier, Johnson controls. I expect they will last 15 years at least, as did the earlier ones.

 

[Jarlaxle]

The $49 Value-Power in my Caddy was 5 months old when I got it. I put it on a charger when I bought it for to top it off...took 2 days at I think 1 amp. Let's see if it will last 9 years like the Everstart MAXX it replaced.

 

[kc8adu]

i just installed a new battery dated 9/89
10 years older than the car.
of course its a panasonic dry charged.
i got a huge load of them cheap.
i am surprised by the number of over a year old batteries on store shelves.
they will have lost a lot of charge and started to sulphate.
and an eq charge may or may not reverse this.
they will still "work" but fail early.

 

[slacktide_bitog]

I've seen batteries with production dates in the future

For example, in December 2017, you might see a battery with a date code of January 2018

 

[Ducked]

Originally Posted By: kc8adu
i just installed a new battery dated 9/89
10 years older than the car.
of course its a panasonic dry charged.
i got a huge load of them cheap.
i am surprised by the number of over a year old batteries on store shelves.
they will have lost a lot of charge and started to sulphate.
and an eq charge may or may not reverse this.
they will still "work" but fail early.


Yeh, I bought one recently from a local mechanic that took A LOT of recharging, and which I expect to die early.

Next time I'll go to a battery specialist that might have a faster turnover.

I'd doubt its possible to buy dry charge batteries here though.