I understand that AC Delco encodes the month of manufacturing a car battery using two digits and encodes the year by one digit.
The battery I just purchased, for example, is labeled P124R, which, IIUC, means that it was made in December 2014.
AC Delco manufactures car batteries for automobiles. The batteries come with a warranty that guarantees their operation for an amount of time after the date of manufacture. To help you figure out if your battery is still under warranty, AC Delco prints the date of manufacture on the battery.
I'm puzzled by this ambiguity regarding the decade of manufacture. How does a buyer rule out he's dealing with an exceptionally unscrupulous retailer who put on the market 10+ year-old stock? Just as importantly, how can a manufacturer of AC Delco's renown make the date this ambiguous? Is it, for instance, the case that a battery that has been sitting on a shelf for 11 years will be so unusable that it could not possibly be sold as a one year old battery?
3 Answers
NOTE: Much of your question seems to be a rant, so I will answer the last part, which seems to have gone unanswered to this point.
According to the Battery University, a typical lead acid battery will lose about 5% of its charge every month (whether this means 5% of of the total charge when completely full - ie: 5%, 10%, 15%, etc, or 5% of the remaining charge - ie: 5% of 100%, 5% of 95%, 5% of 90.25%, etc, is unclear). This means if a battery sits on the shelf too long, it will need recharged after a period of time to be fully operable in a vehicle.
Ac Delco Battery Date Code
That is for a battery which is stored wet (with acid in the cells). A dry battery (one without an electrolyte) will maintain on the shelf indefinitely. Once the electrolyte is placed in the cells, the process begins.
There is another factor which will make a battery go bad. According to the same website:
With usage and age, however, the flooded lead acid builds up sludge in the sediment trap, which causes a soft short when this semi-conductive substance reaches the plates.
This can cause issues when the battery gets old. I assume it happens at a slower rate while on the shelf, but will still happen over time as it becomes aged.
What this means is, a battery with acid in the cells can only sit on the shelf for so long before it must be recycled or it will not work right. Have no fear, though, lead from batteries is one of the most recycled things we humans pull out of the ground. A battery which has sat on the shelf for too long, while it may not provide you good usage, will still be able to be exchanged for a new one under the normal battery warranty programs. I'm sure batteries are sold beyond their expiration dates, but they are also easily replaced.
AC Delco's website addresses this:
How do I read the warranty date code on my battery?
The warranty date code is located on the top label of the battery. The first character iseither a P or S. The next two digits determine the month, the third digit is year and thefourth digit indicates the manufacturing plant. For example, P 094N means the batterywas made in September 2014.(http://www.acdelco.com/content/dam/ACDelco/North-America/ACDelco/nscwebsite/en/Home/Auto_Repair/Battery_pdf/ACDelco-battery-warranty-information.pdf)
See the answer below for more information about battery life. Either way, the warranty period for your battery starts from the time of purchase.
Ac Delco Battery Date Identification
It pays to get a Solar brand battery tester which uses a conductance test to evaluate how many CCA is left in your battery. That way you can decide when it is time to let go of the battery.
protected by Community♦Feb 11 '18 at 20:55
Ac Delco Battery Serial Number Lookup By State
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