Battery Date Codes

Some batteries have a date code printed or stamped into their labels. Do not use codes stamped onto the packaging for the batteries, but the code stamped directly on the battery.

Sanyo and Eneloops

6 character code: yy-mmxx where yy is the year (09 for 2009) and mm is the month (01 for January, 02 for February). xx is alphanumeric (not sure what it means).

Duracell Precharged

6 character code: ym dd-xx where y is the year (9 for 2009) and m is for the month (A is January, B is for February), dd is two numbers for the date and xx are letters (not sure what they mean).

Rayovac

4 characters code: myd-x where m and y are the month and year (see below) and d is a letter representing the date (A=1, B=2, ... Z=26, 2=27, 3=28, etc.). x represents the origin with O being USA, J, S, and Y being China, and R being Malaysia (9V alkaline).

1st character is the month, 2nd is the year:

R  Jan        Y 2007 
A  Feb        P 2008
Y  Mar        B 2009
O  Apr        G 2010
L  May        W 2011
I  Jun
T  Jul
E  Aug
S  Sep
H  Oct
U  Nov
M  Dec