New battery break in advice ?

[B-Master]

Hi guys sorry if this is a common question but i have just spent out a fair wack on some new batterys (un-matched) couldent warrent the extra cost on matched for the time being.

ok the question is once built whats the best break in methord if there is such a thing would you recomed i equalize them after build or charge first then equalize. or simply cycle them 3-4 times ect

i am at a loss as to which way would get me the best form my new cells and what the best charge settings are (info on my charger below)

the cells are EP 4600

gear i have is ...

Eagle cdc charger (7amp charge 20amp discharge 10 x cycle 3-20 mv/c setting but not cut off temp setting)
novak smart tray


many thanks for the help

PS. if i ever have to solder again for ages i wont be happy tinning 48 batterys and 30 battery bars (4 packs for me 4 for my mate).. oh what fun lol i still have to build them yet :(

[sosidge]

Batteries don't need to be broken in, they deteriorate with every cycle, although if they have been in storage for a while you might find that they perform a bit better after a couple of cycles.

I would definitely equalise before first charge, in fact even better (as someone else already mentioned in a similar thread) is to give the cells a small amount of charge (say 500-1000mAh) to get them off zero before equalising.

[sosidge]

Charge settings 4.6A and the lowest peak delta.

I'm not a fan of the CDC because it gets the cells hot so I would monitor the temperature manually, they should not get more than hand warm (45C) on charge.

[B-Master]

thanks for the feed back guys :) much help

[super__dan]

I almost agree. I defo agree when i used that charger it got my cells hotter than on any other charger I've ever used evern on the lowest setting.

Personally I do the little charge, equalised but then I do indeed 'waste' a cycle and equalise before storing part charged. It's just so I know they take a full charge and full discharge and no cells cutoff stupidly early on the smart tray after 1 cycle incase a cell has died during storage/selling.

Dan