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BFL13's avatar
BFL13
Explorer II
Feb 03, 2020

Charge Up Those "New" Batteries

Got a new pair of Flooded 6s from Canadian Tire today branded their way, but same as Deka GC 15s for specs and appearance. (230AH, 64 lbs)
Local store would rarely sell 6v batts, so they sit on the shelf. They do car batts.

I knew to charge them after their shelf-life before putting them into service. Might have been on this forum I learned that.

Got them home, and stickers said "M19" which turns out to be December, but another sticker said 11/19. Recharge by 6/20. Whatever.

Stuck in the hydrometer and got 1.260 on the border of white and green. Voltmeter said 6.23 each. That is 75% SOC . Yipes.

Been charging them up ever since and equalizing after that. Now on second equalize session with my VEC1093DBD, and the SG is coming up nicely into the green after 10 hours, but more to go.

So--the moral of the story is-- YES! Charge those suckers up-- any new battery. You don't know where it's been and what its state is on getting it home unless you check.

Do not ASSume it is as good as new just because you bought it brand new.

BTW I am not mad at Can Tire. I expected that sort of thing, but not 75% for a November battery on 2 Feb. So that is confirmation they do self discharge way more than 12s and AGMs.

No matter in my case, I have the charging equipment to get them back to as good as new. Watch out if you don't have an hydrometer and a voltmeter.
  • BFL13's avatar
    BFL13
    Explorer II
    Feb 03, 2020
    These 6s in the OP, which I believe are Deka GC15s, each have an English/French sticker on top which says in English, "Ship Code M19, Recharge by 06/20" Another sticker down low on the end says 11/19, which is usually the build date AFAIK. No code stamped in the post like a Trojan, eg.

    The markings on their cases say:
    93081G16 0877 and on the other
    93081C1E 0681 Hard to read G vs C, so not sure there.

    Mex said in a post some years ago, "The brand into the lid shows which facility and which line and date that battery came off of, very similar to a batch #. "

    Rolls has its own system for batch numbers
    https://www.rollsbattery.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Rolls-Battery-Date-Code.pdf

    Another sticker on them says, "Filled with acid UN 2794" That would be a UN regulation for Wets. Lithium has another number, eg.

    https://www.gwp.co.uk/guides/un3480-regulations/#labelling

    Interstate says here they have their own date code stamped on to start with, then the local dealer will recharge them after three months and put a sticker on them. Their U-batts have the US Battery system which is the letter number and a last letter for the plant location.

    https://bumpertobumperradio.com/latest-news/item/929-how-can-i-tell-the-age-of-my-car-battery-interstate-batteries
  • theoldwizard1's avatar
    theoldwizard1
    Explorer II
    Feb 03, 2020
    joebedford wrote:
    My GC batteries have the date code stamped on the negative lead posts. Mine says A9 which is January 2019.


    Put some grease on that battery terminal and wire. Even Vaseline would be fine. Be liberal, that stuff is not expensive.
  • theoldwizard1's avatar
    theoldwizard1
    Explorer II
    Feb 03, 2020
    BFL13 wrote:
    No matter in my case, I have the charging equipment to get them back to as good as new. Watch out if you don't have an hydrometer and a voltmeter.

    I would always fully charge "house" batteries before putting them into service.
  • joebedford's avatar
    joebedford
    Nomad II
    Feb 03, 2020
    My GC batteries have the date code stamped on the negative lead posts. Mine says A9 which is January 2019.

  • BFL13's avatar
    BFL13
    Explorer II
    Feb 03, 2020
    Besides getting them charged up when you first get them off the shelf, you want their "as new" SG when known to be truly full. I call that their "Baseline SG", which will be the target SG for future recharges to full.

    You need to know they are at true full for when to reset the AH counter on your battery monitor, eg. Also so you don't stop a recharge too soon. Or to tell that your automatic charger quits too soon. Also to notice when their fullest SG reading gets lower.

    I prefer having the SG reading than working with sealed batteries, where it is harder to tell what is going on. Lately it seems you can only get sealed batteries for your car/truck and they have gone back to that green light (which only indicates for one of its cells I am told). Oh well. So far we can still get flooded not- sealed for the house bank if desired.
  • dougrainer's avatar
    dougrainer
    Nomad
    Feb 03, 2020
    Interstate Battery goes by each retailer once a week or month depending on the drivers route. They PULL older batteries and replace with fresh batteries. They then sell those batteries as rebuilds at a reduced cost at the main warehouse or if a dealer has a customer that wants a cheaper battery with less warranty. There is a melted on code on almost all batteries that designate the born on date. This is because it is the most accurate way of determining the actual date. Some customers like to NOT punch out the month/year dots and then years later when they have a problem they then punch out the date that would give them the most warranty. BUT, Interstate goes by the melted on date since they DO pull batteries as stated at the beginning of this post. Doug
  • wa8yxm's avatar
    wa8yxm
    Explorer III
    Feb 03, 2020
    I have read many myths about batteries over the years.

    Now.. Charging ASAP when you buy a new battery.. Very good plan

    BUT... can you just put 'em in in parallel with others that are already charged and let the converter do it's job?

    The myth is the "Full" batteries will tell the converter they are full and the new one will never get fully charged.

    Another like myth is if you group say a Group 27,29,31 that the 27 will fill up and the 31 will never.

    This is based on the theory that all 3 of those (in the example) share amps EQUALLY during charging.. they do not.

    THe battery with the lowest voltage takes the lion's when you add a battery

    And once that is done they share both charge and load ACCORDING TO THEIR ABILITY. not equally. for example my GC-2's take over twice teh current and provide over twice the current of the G-29.
  • opnspaces's avatar
    opnspaces
    Navigator II
    Feb 03, 2020
    BFL13 wrote:


    Got them home, and stickers said "M19" which turns out to be December, but another sticker said 11/19. Recharge by 6/20. Whatever.


    So--the moral of the story is-- YES! Charge those suckers up-- any new battery. You don't know where it's been and what its state is on getting it home unless you check.

    BTW I am not mad at Can Tire. I expected that sort of thing, but not 50% for a November battery on 2 Feb. So that is confirmation they do self discharge way more than 12s and AGMs.


    Good that you checked and found them low. I'm not sure about Canadian Tire and the date stickers. But I was told at Costco that the date stickers on their batteries are when the battery was placed on the shelf, not when it was manufactured. So a battery could conceivably be much older than the sticker on it implies.
  • time2roll's avatar
    time2roll
    Nomad
    Feb 03, 2020
    Don't be too hard on them. Takes a few cycles to reach full rated capacity.

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