Help. How would you interpret installation date on this battery label?

You can pretty well guarantee they date from 2000 on.

But if they put out the current there's nothing wrong with them. Afaik they store fine when kept charged up. Charge and discharge cycles ''wear'' them out, the deeper the discharge cycle the less they like it.

 

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Well...it says on that battery " Remove proper month and year tabs to show date sold"

The tabs removed are :- September and 1.

So I would guess that's what it is. September 2001.

 

That would be my might bet too.

 

If it's just the cranking battery it could well be that old and still working fine.

 

Because the only digits available are 0-9.
I'd be assuming 'this decade' so September 2011.

 

For the same reason I assume the original decade. I think it would be marked 10 11 12... if from this decade. There's an idea. Find a new one and see if it says 17 or 7.

 

My guess too.
I doubt a car/boat battery, under any circumstances, is going to last 16 years.
I'm sure it's possible to build batteries that last decades but then the manufacturers
wouldn't get to sell you 4-5 batteries over a 16 year period.
The space probe, Voyager 1 left earth 36 years ago and it's batteries are still working and in extremely harsh conditions.

 

My thought is that the battery connectors look old and dirty, but the batteries don't look quite as old. I'd say 2011, but I wouldn't put money on it.

 

I think the batteries in question are deep cycle for powering lights, refrigerator and sound system at anchor. A big difference in lifestyle to auto starting do it all batteries.

 

How are those battery terminals so super clean? They are in a boat which is around water and there is zero corrosion on them?

 

Cranking diesels is heavy duty, glowing up the cylinders not light either but way better for batteries than cold cranking. I would get them load tested before chucking them out for new.

 

The "batteries" on board Voyager 1 run on Plutonium. The probe is nuclear powered and will theoretically continue to generate electricity as long as the Plutonium is still radioactive.

 

In fact, there are batteries commonly available in stores that are far superior in performance and longevity to the ones most people buy. I buy them, even though they cost more, because I consider it to be money well spent.

Yet almost everyone else buys batteries based on price alone. The superior battery is ignored while the cheap junk flies off the shelves. You can't blame manufacturers for that.

 

What usually kills lead-acid batteries is the build up of lead sulphate (that crusty, powdery white stuff) inside the battery. When it builds up enough to bridge across a pair of plates, they short out. When enough of them short out, the battery's dead. And what lets lead sulphate build up inside a battery, is low fluid level that exposes the plates. What causes low fluid levels is the battery drying up with heat and age. Which is why "sealed" batteries don't last very long. That battery has removable cell caps, so the fluid level can be checked and adjusted. And they look like they've been removed a time or two, as well. If the cells have been kept full, and it's never been left to sit completely discharged? It's perfectly likely that that battery is fine; and if you take care of it, it will stay that way. When I was a kid, and batteries all had removable cell caps, my father very, very seldom had to buy a new car battery, 'cause he did all his own car maintenance; and that included checking the battery once a month...

 

2011 Deep Cycle battery. There is also a burned in mark on the side of the battery that will corroborate the date of manufacture. At least that was the way of it when I delt with batteries on a daily basis.

Deep Cycle batteries have a shorter life span than regular batteries typically all things being equal.