How best to break in batteries w/ C9000

[itguy07]

I picked up 12 AA Tenergy 2600's from BatteryJunction (great service as always!) and have been running the break-in cycle on my C9000 and all is going well.

The first batch of 4 has shown something interesting - All of them came out of the break in cycle at ~ 1800mAH, give or take a few. I figured they were overrated, but OUCH.

The second batch of 4 tested all at over 2000mAH, so that's good - IIRC (not in front of the spreadsheet) they all were over 80% of 2600.

I've got the 3rd batch of 4 on the break in cycle and we'll know in a day or so how these work.

However, I'm trying to figure what to do with the first batch as that's quite low. I ran them through a refresh/analyze at a 1A discharge/ 2A charge and the capacity of almost all of them went DOWN. Should I hold out any hope for reviving these or would it be good to RMA them for replacements? Would a couple cycles help or are they doomed?

Thanks for any help!

 

[SilverFox]

Hello Itguy,

The Break-In mode will give you the highest capacity ratings.

I would suggest getting them replaced.

Tom

 

[coppertrail]

I agree, those rates simply aren't acceptable in my books. The 2 sets of Powerex 2700 mAh cells I own showed 2700 - 2800 mAh after a break in mode and one set was 1 year old when I ran them through.

 

[itguy07]

Thanks - that's what I was afraid of - it's just the time sending the first batch back, waiting for replacements, and the break-in that has me bummed.

I looked at the SS today and it was worse than I thought for that first batch:

1. 1,649 63.42%
2. 1,748 67.23%
3. 1,843 70.88%
4. 1,932 74.31%

The second batch was a bit better and I'm thinking it will go up as the cells are used:

1. 2,306 88.69%
2. 2,071 79.65%
3. 2,294 88.23%
4. 2,279 87.65%

Thanks for all the help and helping validating what I feared.

 

[vredstein]

the value of refresh

This points to the value of the break-in and refresh functions. Consistent quality is tough to find especially when we're shopping for deals. If we're willing to take companies up on exchange offers and guarantees, a reliable collection of batteries can be built without blowing money or feeling ripped off.