Hi, I just bought a new Victron NG battery (12/300) and it has a serial number that begins with HQ2433. I think this means it was made in August of 2024 (33rd week)? If so that means it is 1 year and 8 months old already (and AFAIK has not been charged or maintained in all that time).
Is this normal? I realize every battery isn’t going to be 1 month old, but going on 2 years old seems excessive. (I have bought three Victron LFP 12.8 Smart batteries in the past and none of them were anywhere near this old upon purchase.). I know I would not put any of my other batteries “on the shelf” for anywhere near this long.
Sounds like poor inventory managment by the dealer.
Victron states three years of warranty to the end user on LFP batteris by the date of purchase by the end user, or up to 42 months by the date of the victron invoice. This means to me, that they are expecting an LFP to be sitting a max of 6months on a dealers shelf.
Now granted, manufacturing date and invoice date to the dealer are again two different things, but i doubt that it was sitting a year in victrons own warehouse.
Id reach out to the dealer to ask for the victron invoice date, so you at least know what this means in terms of warranty
This is not unusual at all, but since invoice date to the dealer will determine warranty period remaining on the battery, definitely worth double-checking with your dealer.
Justin: So wait, you are saying that if this battery was invoiced to the dealer, say in March of 2025, then I have already lost a year of warranty? That seems unacceptable. I just bought a new computer and the warranty begins when I purchase it. Same with a car. Maybe I am misunderstanding you though (hope so).
Have to say, I am not pleased with this, regardless of warranty. Age is a factor in LFP longevity. And right in Victron’s manual they say to charge the battery at least once per month. Ironic that I now buy a “New Generation” battery and it’s practically older than my old “Classic” 12.8 Smart batteries. I would expect a new battery to be maybe up to six months old, not going on two YEARS – during which time it has had zero attention.
To future potential Victron battery buyers: I would say ask what the serial number of the battery will be before you purchase it (as with tire date codes). I wrongly figured that a good Victron dealer would already be managing this.
The Victron dealer doesn’t necessarily have any say in the matter. The distributor I work for has been shipped HQ22 Smart LFP batteries straight from the Victron warehouse in 2025… so technically 2.5 to 3 years old, but direct from the warehouse. It’s functionally irrelevant, since the warranty period starts at time of initial sale. There is a 3-year warranty on LFP batteries once you’ve purchased, but not to exceed 42 months from date of sale to the dealer, so if the dealer sat on the batteries for, say, 8 months, then yes your remaining warranty is depleted - again, best to discuss that with your dealer.
The warranty policy: https://www.victronenergy.com/upload/documents/Victron-Energy-Limited-Warranty-Policy-2025-(P).pdf
LFP “calendar aging” is functionally a myth, so not too much to worry about there. I have LFP batteries that are 8 years old and still give more than their rated capacity, and one LFP battery that is 14 years old this year that also (just barely) yields more than its rated capacity. Editing - that is, I have owned these batteries for 8 and 14 years respectively. How old they actually are I have no idea, could easily tack another year or so onto that since neither of the two different brands I have put date codes into their serial numbers.
Supply chains aren’t simple, and none of the LFP batteries come from a place near you (unless you happen to live in China) so this sort of thing happens quite frequently, across all brands. In many cases, as in mine, you just wouldn’t know since most brands don’t put easily-decipherable date codes into their serial numbers.