Counterfeit batteries

[Skinner]

The battery that was installed by the PO on my 1982 Katana "is" a Yuasa AGM battery. It's not holding a charge which led me to look for the manufacturing date. According to the Yuasa website there should be an 8 digit code on the top of the battery, but it's not there. My wife's bike has a Yuasa battery and it does indeed have the 8 digit code on top. My battery has only an engraved code on the side which does not match any sort of date code I could find for Yuasa or any other battery for that matter. I compared my battery with a picture from the Yuasa site and it looks genuine, but I'm thinking it's a fake. I've since ordered a new battery from a reputable online source, so I'll be able to compare them side by side when it arrives.

Has anyone run across fake Yuasa's?

[gsrick]

The battery that was installed by the PO on my 1982 Katana "is" a Yuasa AGM battery. It's not holding a charge which led me to look for the manufacturing date. According to the Yuasa website there should be an 8 digit code on the top of the battery, but it's not there. My wife's bike has a Yuasa battery and it does indeed have the 8 digit code on top. My battery has only an engraved code on the side which does not match any sort of date code I could find for Yuasa or any other battery for that matter. I compared my battery with a picture from the Yuasa site and it looks genuine, but I'm thinking it's a fake. I've since ordered a new battery from a reputable online source, so I'll be able to compare them side by side when it arrives.

Has anyone run across fake Yuasa's?

I haven't but then I probably wouldn't have noticed. Recycled battery?

[82tiburon]

I did, but with a Deka ETX15L.

I saw it at a K-Mart, which struck me as really odd that they would carry it.
Upon closer inspection of the packaging, there was no mention whatsoever of East Penn Manufacturing. I know from having used Dekas for years that this is their parent company.
Instead, it said (of course) "Made in China".

The box colors were also a tad off, but the brand was clearly listed as being a Deka.
I notified the manager & he had the stock room guys pull all twenty-plus off of the shelves. He was very apologetic & seemed genuinely embarrassed.

[Skinner]

I did, but with a Deka ETX15L.

My Yuasa could be genuine, but the lack of any recognizable date code on the top makes me think otherwise. Especially when the Yuasa website states the following:

"All NP products have an 8-digit code engraved on each battery. This code can only be seenwhen looking down on the top of the battery. The code is not on the label on the front of thebattery and it is not on the rim around the cover. Each unique code tells when the batterywas manufactured."

The code on my battery is on the side and is a combination of 12 letters and numbers. I don't think it's a real Yuasa.

[bwringer]

Is it possible that it's just really really old and dates back to the days before the codes?

Either way, it definitely needed to be replaced.