T-Pain Is On A Boat: [Electric Boats] Do new batteries need to be broken in?

Friday, July 17, 2009

[Electric Boats] Do new batteries need to be broken in?

Hi all !

According to Ample Power, breaking a battery in properly will not only
permit faster charging and discharging, but it will also provide a 15 to
30% gain in Amp-hour capacity.

http://www.amplepower.com/primer/testbat/index.html
<http://www.amplepower.com/primer/testbat/index.html>

The logic behind this is:

When a battery is new, the plates are smooth from the active material
being pressed into the grids. During discharge, the smooth plate
surfaces increase in area due to etching of the active material. In
effect, valleys and mountains are carved into the plates. With this
increase in surface area, higher currents can be conducted, and an
increase in capacity results. As a result, the battery will accept
higher charge rates, and also support rapid discharges better.

It's the first time I hear about this. Is this another myth?

I'm also a bit concerned about the breaking procedure (1 to 5 complete
discharges, where the battery voltage falls to 10.5 Volts). It's
commonly known that we should avoid discharging a lead-acid battery
below 50%. Their "good initial workout" looks like a "beat to death and
repeat" to me...

Are you breaking in your new batteries this way?

Pierre

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