How do you tell if thy are new AGM batteries?

[Vic_Bc]

I did a little side deal I'm still not sure about. Went into a yacht store, a legit buisness and they had a couple lifeline L16Ts left over from a bulk order or so they say.
$435 each, most places are selling them at $900 a piece.

Cash deal, invoice and no receipt. They said I had a one year warranty as long as it's not user error, overcharging, fully discharging, etc.

Told me they were brand new. Bar coded, labeled.

I guess it's a wait and see thing eh?

[Vic_Bc]

TechWriter wrote:


If you want to be sure, contact Lifeline and ask them to check your serial #s to see if someone made a warranty claim.

I had to return a set of Lifelines once and they made sure to get my serial #s so someone couldn't make a 2nd warranty claim.

Lifeline got back to me today and said no claims have been made as of yet.

[TechWriter]

Vic.Bc wrote:

randallb wrote:
I am guessing that these batteries had been installed and then returned for not performing as described, they may also be warranty returns that checked out good after recharging or were replaced for inventory by the manufacturer after a warranty claim was filed. The primary question is, What are you going to do if you have a failure under warranty while on the road? If you are not close to the seller you will be buying one or more new batteries and then hoping he will do something for you. A receipt may be necessary for a warranty issue.

Yeah I won't have a warranty without a receipt, It's more or less counting on their good word. Which who knows, it was a big gamble

All I can hope is seeing they deal with people that have million dollar yachts, that some guy did in fact buy a bunch and two never it made it on his boat.

If you want to be sure, contact Lifeline and ask them to check your serial #s to see if someone made a warranty claim.

I had to return a set of Lifelines once and they made sure to get my serial #s so someone couldn't make a 2nd warranty claim.

[Vic_Bc]

randallb wrote:
I am guessing that these batteries had been installed and then returned for not performing as described, they may also be warranty returns that checked out good after recharging or were replaced for inventory by the manufacturer after a warranty claim was filed. The primary question is, What are you going to do if you have a failure under warranty while on the road? If you are not close to the seller you will be buying one or more new batteries and then hoping he will do something for you. A receipt may be necessary for a warranty issue.

Yeah I won't have a warranty without a receipt, It's more or less counting on their good word. Which who knows, it was a big gamble

All I can hope is seeing they deal with people that have million dollar yachts, that some guy did in fact buy a bunch and two never it made it on his boat.

[Vic_Bc]

dons2346 wrote:
Where is this place in BC? I might be interested in driving across the border for a deal like that.

The place is in Vancouver, they only had two going for this price as it was a "street deal" out of the companies back door kinda thing.

I'm wiring them in next Friday so we will see what happens.

[randallb]

I am guessing that these batteries had been installed and then returned for not performing as described, they may also be warranty returns that checked out good after recharging or were replaced for inventory by the manufacturer after a warranty claim was filed. The primary question is, What are you going to do if you have a failure under warranty while on the road? If you are not close to the seller you will be buying one or more new batteries and then hoping he will do something for you. A receipt may be necessary for a warranty issue.

[dons2346]

Guess I'll wait until I get south. I can get the Lifeline 8Ds, which I have now, for 550 at the factory and no tax

[Almot]

myredracer wrote:
Sounds like a smokin' deal, but there's places like this on the internet selling for $445.92 with free shipping which I found in just a couple of minutes. http://www.powerstridebattery.com/solar-storage-batteries/ub63800-agm-l16-battery You could buy these and get them shipped to Blaine, Wa. and time pickup with a trip across the border with your RV.

That was what I did. Ordered to one of those numerous shipping outlets in WA, and picked up on the way South. No provincial tax, and no state tax because it was shipped from another state. Though UB aka UPG are made in China and aren't exactly Lifeline. They are always cheaper than Lifeline or Deka.

[myredracer]

Sounds like a smokin' deal, but there's places like this on the internet selling for $445.92 with free shipping which I found in just a couple of minutes. http://www.powerstridebattery.com/solar-storage-batteries/ub63800-agm-l16-battery You could buy these and get them shipped to Blaine, Wa. and time pickup with a trip across the border with your RV. With enough googling, you may be able to find better pricing.

If it were me, I'd be worried about putting out this amount of $$ without a receipt and especially for an electrical product. The circumstances sound a bit odd. Do you know for sure what would happen if you had to return them say 11 months later? No receipt = no proof = no warranty replacement?? They may seem legit, but how honest are they really? Also, the standard manufacturer's warranty is a free 1 year replacement plus a 5 year pro-rated warranty.

There's lots of places that sell AGM batteries for a lot less like Amazon and ebay, but then you find out they don't provide the manufacturer's full warranty and only a 30 day one. Personally, I'd rather buy batteries from a reputable & established local or online vendor that provides a full warranty.

[Vic_Bc]

Bill.Satellite wrote:
Using tire codes as a guide, they only stamp week and year of production. 0114 would be first week of 2014 and 5213 would be the last week of 2013.

Thanks guys,

That's good to hear. I was a little thrown off by the fact they didn't want to give a receipt but there's obviously something going on which worked out in my favour. Hopefully

[Bill_Satellite]

Using tire codes as a guide, they only stamp week and year of production. 0114 would be first week of 2014 and 5213 would be the last week of 2013.

[Almot]

Not sure about "week", I would think they stamp it in day/month. So in the 1st battery it can be 4th of May or 5th of April. Though I would expect to see zeroes in front of single-digit day or month. Just guessing.

[Bill_Satellite]

013 year
45 week
787 batch number
Just a guess but very similar to the tire codes.

[Vic_Bc]

So the codes of the batteries are as follows

01345787
01321124

[RoyB]

Found this link on GOOGLE SEARCH

AGM BATTERY DATE CODE

NOTE: After reading the link I see there is two different answers on what the DATE CODE means.

Pass along the burned-in DATE CODE you find and let the experts on here tell what it means...

Roy Ken