Battery Date Codes

[L.C.Gray]

I have an old 6 volt battery off an old tractor I drug home and the thought occurred to me if I could find a date code on the battery and decipher it, it would give me an idea of how long the machine sat since it had last run.

The battery case is plastic and very heavily weathered, but I found two codes on it.

Branded in the top: D19FU2
Molded in the side edge of the top: H2

There is just a part of the label left that wasn't weathered and all that you can read is "24 month".

Do any of y'all know if the battery codes are kind of universal or how to read them?

 

[onefarmer]

Using the H2 code, it might be August 1992

 

[Brian in MO]

I think "one farmer" is right at least if it was a interstate battery that would be right I worked for them at one time. The H would be the month a=jan b=feb etc the 2 would be the last digit of the year assumming the tractor must have set more than since 02 that would mean 92 or 82 just my 2 cents.
Brian

 

[L.C.Gray]

Or 72? From the deplorable condition of this machine I'm guessing it was parked for 30 years or more. I got to thinking the battery might be the best way to date it's hibernation. It had not run in so long the exhaust manifold had rotted out and mostly fallen away and the oil pan bottom was rusted through.

 

[jose bagge]

august of 92