Worth Breaking In Old Eneloops?

[turnipfarmer]

I've got some aging Eneloops which have never been on the break in program on my c9000.

I've noticed a drop in capacity, around 1700-1800 on some, would you say that's still ok? Should I run them through break in cycle? What's best settings for break in cycle?

 

[WalkIntoTheLight]

Yes!

I'm running some Eneloop long-term storage tests right now, and the first thing I noticed is that unused Eneloops do lose capacity after several years. In my case I opened a pack of 4 year old Eneloops, and after charging I was surprised they were nowhere near 1900mAh. But after several cycles, I was able to bring the capacity up to almost as high as brand-new Eneloops.

So, yes, it definitely helps to cycle Eneloops if you haven't used them in awhile. That may not be the answer to the question you were asking, but it probably doesn't hurt to do that if you notice your older Eneloops aren't performing as well as they used to. Don't expect magic, though. Batteries will definitely lose capacity when they're getting worn-out. I find that Eneloops really only have about 300 "good" full-cycles in them, before they start to increase internal resistance and decrease in capacity.

 

[turnipfarmer]

Yes!

I'm running some Eneloop long-term storage tests right now, and the first thing I noticed is that unused Eneloops do lose capacity after several years. In my case I opened a pack of 4 year old Eneloops, and after charging I was surprised they were nowhere near 1900mAh. But after several cycles, I was able to bring the capacity up to almost as high as brand-new Eneloops.

So, yes, it definitely helps to cycle Eneloops if you haven't used them in awhile. That may not be the answer to the question you were asking, but it probably doesn't hurt to do that if you notice your older Eneloops aren't performing as well as they used to. Don't expect magic, though. Batteries will definitely lose capacity when they're getting worn-out. I find that Eneloops really only have about 300 "good" full-cycles in them, before they start to increase internal resistance and decrease in capacity.

Ive just done a refresh and analyse and two of the first Eneloops are reading 1603 and 1628, around about 84% if you take the 1900 minimum or 80% if you take the batteries at 2000.

Might just see if I can get the capacity up with a break in

 

[WalkIntoTheLight]

Ive just done a refresh and analyse and two of the first Eneloops are reading 1603 and 1628, around about 84% if you take the 1900 minimum or 80% if you take the batteries at 2000.

Might just see if I can get the capacity up with a break in

If they're worn out, they may still have higher capacity when used at low-drain. For example, I have some very-well-used worn out Eneloops, that will read only about 1200 mAh when analysed at 250ma, and close to 0 mAh when analyzed at 500mA. So, they obviously have very high internal resistance, and the voltage sag at anything more than about 250mA is too much for them.

However, those same Eneloops will power a 5mm LED at low-power for a couple of weeks, and do well at it. They're also great for remote controls, and other low-power devices. I suspect they probably still have 75% of their original capacity, but only in low-drain applications.

In my experience, Eneloops suffer from high internal resistance, long before they suffer from capacity loss (at low drain). That does mean you can't use them in flashlights, but you can use them in other stuff.

 

[ChrisGarrett]

8-9 year old Eneloops here and in February I just threw them all on the C9000 and did a 3 cycle charge/discharge at 1A up and 1A down and my OCD was assuaged.

Too much Kung-Flu to worry about, to fret over break-in.

Chris

 

[jayflash]

I just manually cycled about 30, 6-10+ year old Duraloops with the Maha C9000. I used a 200mA discharge & 1000mAh charge for about three cycles each. Depending on their age, after that routine they ended up at ~1600 to almost 1900 mAh, using a fourth 500mA discharge.

IIRC a 0.2C (or less) discharge, with a 1.0C charge rate will achieve the most capacity. I hope that's correct.

 

[turnipfarmer]

I've just looked at the manufacture date of these batteries and they are 10 years old, must be my first lot of Eneloops, so not sure how many cycles they have gone through. So not bad after 10 years, mainly used in my xbox controllers.

I've done 3 RA cycles, first 2 cycles I got improvement, only about 20mah each but 3rd no improvement so won't bother with the break-in cycle, I don't think there will be any improvement with that, unless you think there might be? Don't want to waste 40+hrs doing a break in for minimal gain, so probably won't bother.

 

[ChrisGarrett]

I've just looked at the manufacture date of these batteries and they are 10 years old, must be my first lot of Eneloops, so not sure how many cycles they have gone through. So not bad after 10 years, mainly used in my xbox controllers.

I've done 3 RA cycles, first 2 cycles I got improvement, only about 20mah each but 3rd no improvement so won't bother with the break-in cycle, I don't think there will be any improvement with that, unless you think there might be? Don't want to waste 40+hrs doing a break in for minimal gain, so probably won't bother.

At some point in time, even Eneloops are ready for the recycle bin.

Chris