When I get a large amount of new batteries in a lot of people ask me if the batteries need to be “broken in” or not. I point them to this guide I found on multirotorsuperstore.com‘s website.

Break-In Procedure:

• First Charge of 0.5c up to 100%
• First Discharge at 0.5c to 3.7 volts / cell
• Second Charge of 0.5c up to 100%
• Second Discharge at 0.5c to 3.6 volts / cell
• Third Charge of 1c up to 100%
• Third Discharge at 1c to 3.6 volts / cell
• Fourth Charge of 1c up to 100%
• First flight with moderate current (gentle flying) to about 50-60% of discharge limit
• Fifth Charge of 1c up to 100%
• Second Flight with moderate current (gentle flying) to about 70-80% of discharge limit.

So lets get some terms out of the way for those that don’t know. C means capacity. So if you have a 1300mah battery 1c is 1.3amps, 0.5c is .65amps. How do you know where the discharge limit is? Get a current meter and fly based on current used (mah used).

 

So I do not follow this guide exactly. I actually do a lot more cycle before I fly the batteries. I typically have them doing charge / discharge cycles for about 48-72 hours. Is this overkill? Probably. I do 1-2 times at 0.5c/3.7v, 1-2 @ 0.5c / 3.6v, then about 5 times at 1c / 3.6v, and then another 2-3 times at 1c charge / 5c discharge (or the highest your charger allows). Following all that I do about 4-5 flights gentle around 50-75% discharge then I start to hammer on them.

Now does all this even matter? I don’t know… I am not a battery chemist. I just know that the batteries I have seem to last a bit longer than most. I also know they don’t get too puffy until I start abusing them where as the batteries I had when I first got into the hobby they were destroyed within 20-30 flights.