Another Battery Question. Help confirming my suspicions

[Mooncarter]

Originally Posted by Thereallolo

It doesn't really make sense then. The newish battery stamped with B2, literally looks and acts brand new. And there's no way these other ones are 10+ years old because the cart is only 9 years old.

I hope this did not happen, but it is if they put 10 year old batteries in it. Are they bulging/swollen?

[Mooncarter]

Originally Posted by rockfordpi

I sell Crown Batteries. If you will clean the top of the battery, especially the negative post, and post a pic of the top of each battery, I will see if I can tell anything, if not, I can check with my distributor.

You Don't have to post all 6 if 5 have the same code on the negative post, just post one of that one.

My Guess is the G0 is July 2020. It also possible some stamped new letters in the negative post.

[Thereallolo]

Originally Posted by rockfordpi

I sell Crown Batteries. If you will clean the top of the battery, especially the negative post, and post a pic of the top of each battery, I will see if I can tell anything, if not, I can check with my distributor.

You Don't have to post all 6 if 5 have the same code on the negative post, just post one of that one.

My Guess is the G0 is July 2020. It also possible some stamped new letters in the negative post.

Here is a picture. Sorry, I don't know how to resize yet, so its big.
I also assumed July 2020, but the previous owner said they were changed in Dec 19.

Its raining right now, but when it stops ill run out and check the neg posts. I don't recall seeing anything etched on there though.

[Thereallolo]

Originally Posted by Mooncarter

I hope this did not happen, but it is if they put 10 year old batteries in it. Are they bulging/swollen?

I don't think so. They don't really look old, just dirty.
Here is a picture of the whole pack.

[Thereallolo]

So, from Crown, and Kernal above


"We presently inscribe a date code on the cover near the positive terminal. It includes several areas of interest to us, date of manufacture, line it was built on, shift, etc.

It reads across from left to right as follows,

1st digit = Month ( This is distinguished using Letters that refer to month, A = January, B = February, C = March, etc )

2nd & 3Rd digits = Day (01 – 09 = Days 1 – 9, 10 – 31 = Days 10 – 31 )

4th digit = Year

5th Digit = Assembly Line ( 1 – 5, we presently have 5 production lines )

6th Digit = Warranty

7th Digit = Shift"



So 5 batteries are from

July 07, 17

and the new one is from

Feb 26, 2020

Is it safe to assume with the voltage #'s posted above, that these batteries are done for?

Lesson learned.... take a multimeter and thoroughly inspect batteries before buying a used cart. There are very few honest people left out there.

[kernal]

Don't give up just yet. With the water at the correct level (keep checking), try charging them back to back like everyday whether you use it or not for a couple of weeks or more. Might bring some of the capacity back. Maybe you'll get lucky and you have nothing to loose. 3 years isn't really that old in the grand scheme of things. Maybe they were just ignored a lot. Not used or charged. The new battery will degrade quickly to the same state of the others so it will essentially be sacrificed. Or, you might consider replacing the other five now to go with the new one. You should get exactly the same battery as the new one so they are matched. This would save the price of one new battery if the other procedure failed and you had to buy all six.

[Andy4639]

You need to get rid of the car battery cable also on that one battery.
The battery company's all have their own way of marking them. Good info on the crown batteries.

[kernal]

Agree. Also, don't trust that single point watering system. Verify the water level in each cell with your Mark one eyeball.

[Thereallolo]

Originally Posted by kernal

Agree. Also, don't trust that single point watering system. Verify the water level in each cell with your Mark one eyeball.

I already plan on taking it off, but I don't have any caps. I feel like one grain of sand would clog it, and I wouldn't even know. I have no problem checking the water level, so its really just a bigger pain to have it on there.

[Thereallolo]

Originally Posted by kernal

Don't give up just yet. With the water at the correct level (keep checking), try charging them back to back like everyday whether you use it or not for a couple of weeks or more. Might bring some of the capacity back. Maybe you'll get lucky and you have nothing to loose. 3 years isn't really that old in the grand scheme of things. Maybe they were just ignored a lot. Not used or charged. The new battery will degrade quickly to the same state of the others so it will essentially be sacrificed. Or, you might consider replacing the other five now to go with the new one. You should get exactly the same battery as the new one so they are matched. This would save the price of one new battery if the other procedure failed and you had to buy all six.

I wish I had that time, but we're headed to Fort Wilderness this weekend for 10 days. My kids will kill me if we can't go "looping" because the cart is charging. I think I'll just bite the bullet and replace them. And chalk it up to a lesson learned. Thank you for the info on the battery dates. It got rid of my head scratching thinking these really were 2020 batteries.