How old is this Mega?

Using Arduino IDE 1.x
1

I just bought a (brand that cannot be mentioned because the company sells a counterfeit) Mega2560 R3 online.

I noticed a hairline crack on one of the capacitors.

It started me wondering just how old this unit is...?

The capacitor has 3 markings :

  • line 1 : 8a
  • line 2 : 47
  • line 3 : 16V
    Which I assume are date, capacitance and voltage.
    Can anyone interpret the date code of "8a".
    I am speculating - 2008 Jan.

Also the pcb has a code of 09-011-939.
I am speculating 2009 week 39.
Could someone confirm or advise otherwise please.

2

We need a photo, a link to the seller, and so on. Counterfeit or not. If it has printed "Arduino" on it and it is a clone, then it is counterfeit. If it is called anything else, like "crapduino" then it might be a legal compatible board.

I would like to see the hairline crack in the capacitor. In a small smd capacitor ? then it is broken.

A 'R3' version is not old.

In the 1980s the manufacturers printed the week and the year on the components, but today those codes can be anything.