Date Code on Factory Universal Power Batteries

[scross]

The C-28 we recently purchased had three older batteries and one battery that had been replaced by the selling broker.
I suspected that the older batteries might be the original factory installed batteries which would make them 6-7 years old. But how to tell?
After talking with two Universal Power Group battery distributors, I believe I now know how to read the date code info on those batteries.
The older UB121100 AGM batteries have two sets of characters engraved in sequence on the top. One of the older batteries read “A202123125 1627JH”. It’s the second set of characters that’s the date code. The 16 means 2016 and the 27 means the 27th week of 2016 or about July. That’s the date the batteries left the Universal Power manufacturing plant. Since our boat was built in January 2017, that date on the battery makes sense. It’s the original battery. Time to change it out!
Newer batteries have just the six character date code engraved in a stand alone area. The newer batteries in my boat says “214417”. The first four characters are still the date code. In this case it translates to the 44th week of 2021.
Hope this info is helpful to those buying a CW or RT with the Universal Power UB121100 batteries installed.

 

[dbsea]

Those batteries are just plain bad IMO, new or old. I had allegedly two-year-old versions in my boat when I bought it, that barely provided 55ah of use before severe voltage drop. I should have been able to get 210ah out of 4 of them. I now have 4 new Lifeline Group 31 AGMs, and the difference is HUGE!

 

[Severum88]

I've had great luck with the UPG batteries, the OG and the replacements from two years ago.

 

[scross]

Dave,
I was both surprised and impressed that the 3 of the 4 original UB121100 batteries were still charging and load testing just fine after 6-7 years of usage. At $206 each (at Home Depot shipped free to your door) that seems like a pretty good value for the UB121100.
You never know how’s used battery has been treated and I wouldn’t draw any conclusions on reliability on one when it comes with a new-to-you used boat. But even though the 3 really old batteries load testing fine I don’t trust them at that age.
If you get 3 years out of a $206 battery is that a better value than getting 5 years of life out of a $500 battery? I guess that’s a judgement call.

 

[dbsea]

Dave,
I was both surprised and impressed that the 3 of the 4 original UB121100 batteries were still charging and load testing just fine after 6-7 years of usage. At $206 each (at Home Depot shipped free to your door) that seems like a pretty good value for the UB121100.
You never know how’s used battery has been treated and I wouldn’t draw any conclusions on reliability on one when it comes with a new-to-you used boat. But even though the 3 really old batteries load testing fine I don’t trust them at that age.
If you get 3 years out of a $206 battery is that a better value than getting 5 years of life out of a $500 battery? I guess that’s a judgement call.

You're 100% right that I shouldn't draw any conclusions - probably just sour grapes that I had to replace all 4 house batteries as well as the engine/thruster (they were mis-sized deep cycle, not start) within the first year of having the boat. Unfortunately, all 4 of my house batteries were failing the load test, though the engine and thruster were passing the load test and I sold those at a steep discount to an acquaintance. I read a lot of mixed reviews on the UBGs and saw some not-so-great experiences on here as well - hence my choice of the lifeline AGMs. I hope I can get 5 years out of these Lifelines, and they were $383 on sale at Fisheries during a sale late this summer. So far, they seem infinitely better, but when I am spending significant time on the hook in desolation this coming summer, that will be the real test.