If you aren't sure or sold on the value of a discharge followed by break-in mode, you could always try an experiment and try both approaches so far recommended to you. I'm not suggesting this is the best experiment going, just throwing out here an example of how you can use your device to learn a little bit more about the cells you've invested in and will continue to buy.
- Number your eneloops with a permanent marker, #'s 1 through 8.
- Grab a notebook/piece of paper or open a computer file and keep track.
- Insert #1 into slot 1 of your charger, run a 500ma discharge. Note capacity when done. Remove cell, re-insert, and then run the break-in program. Note capacity at the end.
- Insert #2 into slot 2 of your charger, run a 500ma discharge. Note capacity when done. Remove cell, re-insert, and then run the break-in program. Note capacity at the end.
- Insert #3 into slot 3 of your charger, run a Refresh/Analyse course. Note available capacity at the end.
- Insert #4 into slot 4 of your charger, run a Refresh/Analyse course. Note available capacity at the end.
- Use cell #5 and #6 in a device, maybe you have a flashlight since you are hanging out here. Have fun with them, and when done, consider a break-in cycle, or perhaps break-in one, and refresh/analyse the other.
- Assuming for a moment that cells 1 & 2, and 3 & 4, are all reporting available capacity relatively similar to their twin, take one of each set and run it through a Cycle program, 3 cycles long. If possible note the discharge capacity at each step.
- Leave cell #7 and #8 alone until you've done all of the above and perhaps the experiment guides to you making a choice for going-forward.
Maybe one or the other approach will turn out sufficiently different that you'll want to adopt one or the other approach for all new cells going forward. Or maybe the experiment will prove inconclusive and leave you scratching your head still. Either way, you'll gain some thing from it, and you'll get to enjoy the glow from your C9000 for several days while all the above runs.
To be honest, I'm not certain you'll see much of a difference between the two approaches when comparing the initial reports of available capacity to that reported at the end of all this, but who knows.
Or you could just use them and recharge them. Eneloops seem to be awfully forgiving.
Whatever route you choose, I do think it is
a) worth numbering them and keeping track of what you've done with them at least until you establish that what you are doing is working well, and as part of that
b) worth running a *discharge* on all new cells first, just to see if you have any bad cells or real outliers in the bunch - as another once said, it gives you a "baseline". By numbering them before you ever put them in a device or the C9000 you can keep track of these potential bad boys and see if break-in or r&a brings them back in line with the others.
Should I run the new Eneloop AA batteries Break-In mode?
