A Break-In Period With My Battery?

[Douglas Wever]

I'm getting great range already. After posting that I scored a rare 14 ah battery instead of the standard 11.6 ah for my Pedego Ridge Rider (a 17ah will be released by Pedego this Fall), someone said to me that the battery will do even better after it is broken in at around ten charge cycles. What?

The last thing I want to do is resurrect an ageless debate over lithium ion 'conditioning' or priming. But if there is some conventional wisdom on this topic with ebikes I'd like to know it. Thanks.

[Lithium-ion is a very clean system that does not need additional priming once it leaves the factory, nor does it require the level of maintenance that nickel-based batteries do. Additional formatting makes little difference because the maximum capacity is available right from the beginning, (the exception may be a small capacity gain after a long storage). A full discharge does not improve the capacity once the battery has faded — a low capacity signals the end of life. A discharge/charge may calibrate a “smart” battery but this does little to improve the chemical battery. Instructions recommending charging a new Li-ion for 8 hours are written off as “old school,” a left-over from the old nickel battery days ((Link Removed - No Longer Exists)

 

[Donny]

Quite frankly, do what the manufacturer says to do with it and call it a day. I get tired of all the endless debate and what not on batteries - they're going to wear out and fail eventually anyway. Sure, maybe you can do something in between to mitigate that a bit, but I'm not going to take my battery pack to bed with me at night, keep it stored in an underground temperature controlled bunker, or sing to it softly at night in an attempt at getting that extra charge or two out of it. I wonder how many people do the same things with their laptops, cell phones, tablet computers, and anything else they own that run on batteries? I doubt it - but if it's on a bicycle? Oh boy, look out And I know this is a heated topic and the hyper miler battery heads are going to flame me for this, but I simply don't care. I ride my bike and charge the battery like the manufacturer says. The only thing I go out of my way to do is keep it inside so that it's not baking in my hot garage in the Texas July heat.

 

[harryS]

Well, here is your chance to take the measurements and determine for yourself if it is true.

In digital camera circles, the same thing is said about new batteries. I tend to think it's true there.