Kraton Do brushless motors “break in”

[jerseydrew]

Been running my new car for about 2 weeks. Probably the 10th run tonight. And same batteries same stock car and all of a sudden the car seems faster and wheelies more. Not complaining but it almost seems like it “broke in”. And i’m only runnin 4s.

 

[The Bean]

I'm not aware of any of my friends breaking in their BL motors. Is it mentioned in the manual?

 

[jerseydrew]

No no no. I am not asking if you have to. I am saying that after a few runs it seems like my motor is running faster than when new.

 

[Edough13]

I've never broken in a brushless motor on my bashing or speed run rigs and haven't noticed any change. Could possibly be the lipos as they do have a "break in" and tend to perform the best after being cycled several times.

 

[jerseydrew]

I've never broken in a brushless motor on my bashing or speed run rigs and haven't noticed any change. Could possibly be the lipos as they do have a "break in" and tend to perform the best after being cycled several times.

That could be it! I have two pairs so this would be the 5th or 6th cycle on this pair

 

[Edough13]

That could be it! I have two pairs so this would be the 5th or 6th cycle on this pair

Yep I'd bet that's exactly what it is then as now they've been cycled enough and broken in they are performing how they should be.

 

[jnyc10306]

It takes 5-10 charge cycles for a new lipo to break in and give full potential.

 

[Diem Turner]

It takes 5-10 charge cycles for a new lipo to break in and give full potential.

I'm no expert, but I don't think this is true. To be more specific, I've never seen any data to support the assertion that a "break-in" is required for a LiPo to perform better. It also seems counterintuitive to me that a process that degrades the internals of a battery would somehow improve its performance. I'm more than willing to have my mind changed however so If you, or anyone else, has any objective tests with validated data to the contrary, I'd be more than happy to be proven wrong so I can get more performance out of my LiPos.

 

[jnyc10306]

I'm no expert, but I don't think this is true. To be more specific, I've never seen any data to support the assertion that a "break-in" is required for a LiPo to perform better. It also seems counterintuitive to me that a process that degrades the internals of a battery would somehow improve its performance. I'm more than willing to have my mind changed however so If you, or anyone else, has any objective tests with validated data to the contrary, I'd be more than happy to be proven wrong so I can get more performance out of my LiPos.

I can only speak from experience. I've used SMC, gens-ace-r-spam, Powerhobby, Eflight and lots of Zeee. All of them got stronger after a few charge cycles. It took my powerhobby lipo 4 charge cycles to balance out correctly which in turn gave best power output.

I'm no expert, but I don't think this is true. To be more specific, I've never seen any data to support the assertion that a "break-in" is required for a LiPo to perform better. It also seems counterintuitive to me that a process that degrades the internals of a battery would somehow improve its performance. I'm more than willing to have my mind changed however so If you, or anyone else, has any objective tests with validated data to the contrary, I'd be more than happy to be proven wrong so I can get more performance out of my LiPos.

Maybe it's not break in yet I feel it takes a few charges to get the lipo propery balanced.

 

[Diem Turner]

I can only speak from experience. I've used SMC, gens-ace-r-spam, Powerhobby, Eflight and lots of Zeee. All of them got stronger after a few charge cycles. It took my powerhobby lipo 4 charge cycles to balance out correctly which in turn gave best power output.

Likewise. My SRDs performed right out of the box and I didn't notice any increase in power with use. I've never used Powerhobby batteries as I've only heard so-so reviews of them. I'd be more than a little skeptical about a LiPo that doesn't balance out correctly on its first charge. It makes perfect sense that a LiPo where the cells aren't balanced won't perform as well as one where they are. I still have some new, as yet, unused CNHL packs. I'll give it another try and see if there's anything to it.

Edit: "Maybe it's not break in yet I feel it takes a few charges to get the lipo propery balanced."

I've never had the problem of a LiPo not balancing properly fresh picked from the farm. If that is indeed the case with your batteries, that would certainly explain the rise in performance over time. Just a shot in the dark, but have you considered the possibility that it might be your charger and not the batteries? I find it a bit peculiar that you've seen this on multiple packs and I've never experienced this phenomenon once.

 

[jerseydrew]

To be fair this charge was the first charge on a new charger that I got. I was borrowing my buddies protek 612 before until i got a charger of my own. This was the first charge i did on my new hota s6

 

[jnyc10306]

Likewise. My SRDs performed right out of the box and I didn't notice any increase in power with use. I've never used Powerhobby batteries as I've only heard so-so reviews of them. I'd be more than a little skeptical about a LiPo that doesn't balance out correctly on its first charge. It makes perfect sense that a LiPo where the cells aren't balanced won't perform as well as one where they are. I still have some new, as yet, unused CNHL packs. I'll give it another try and see if there's anything to it.

Edit: "Maybe it's not break in yet I feel it takes a few charges to get the lipo propery balanced."

I've never had the problem of a LiPo not balancing properly fresh picked from the farm. If that is indeed the case with your batteries, that would certainly explain the rise in performance over time. Just a shot in the dark, but have you considered the possibility that it might be your charger and not the batteries? I find it a bit peculiar that you've seen this on multiple packs and I've never experienced this

Likewise. My SRDs performed right out of the box and I didn't notice any increase in power with use. I've never used Powerhobby batteries as I've only heard so-so reviews of them. I'd be more than a little skeptical about a LiPo that doesn't balance out correctly on its first charge. It makes perfect sense that a LiPo where the cells aren't balanced won't perform as well as one where they are. I still have some new, as yet, unused CNHL packs. I'll give it another try and see if there's anything to it.

Edit: "Maybe it's not break in yet I feel it takes a few charges to get the lipo propery balanced."

I've never had the problem of a LiPo not balancing properly fresh picked from the farm. If that is indeed the case with your batteries, that would certainly explain the rise in performance over time. Just a shot in the dark, but have you considered the possibility that it might be your charger and not the batteries? I find it a bit peculiar that you've seen this on multiple packs and I've never experienced this phenomenon once.

SMC performed the same from day one and has the most punch I have seen so far. Powerhobby had a cell that was off by .5 which is not good at all. The charger only got it to 4.19 a cell. It still performed great. I decided to give it a few charges before returning it and after 4 charges all cells hit 4.2 and I can fell a performance boost. I'm on about 20 charges or more now and it's a beast. 4 charge cycles broke it in and its awesome now. Same for two other zeee battery's. In the past maybe not as dramatic but yea it felt like they were working better after a few charges. But yes there is no paperwork on this.

 

[carckton driver]

I'm no expert, but I don't think this is true. To be more specific, I've never seen any data to support the assertion that a "break-in" is required for a LiPo to perform better. It also seems counterintuitive to me that a process that degrades the internals of a battery would somehow improve its performance. I'm more than willing to have my mind changed however so If you, or anyone else, has any objective tests with validated data to the contrary, I'd be more than happy to be proven wrong so I can get more performance out of my LiPos.

while i tend to agree with a lot of what you said think about an engine, or really anything that requires break in. running an engine degrades the internals as is the case with most things you need to break in, which is more than you would think.

Likewise. My SRDs performed right out of the box and I didn't notice any increase in power with use. I've never used Powerhobby batteries as I've only heard so-so reviews of them. I'd be more than a little skeptical about a LiPo that doesn't balance out correctly on its first charge. It makes perfect sense that a LiPo where the cells aren't balanced won't perform as well as one where they are. I still have some new, as yet, unused CNHL packs. I'll give it another try and see if there's anything to it.

Edit: "Maybe it's not break in yet I feel it takes a few charges to get the lipo propery balanced."

I've never had the problem of a LiPo not balancing properly fresh picked from the farm. If that is indeed the case with your batteries, that would certainly explain the rise in performance over time. Just a shot in the dark, but have you considered the possibility that it might be your charger and not the batteries? I find it a bit peculiar that you've seen this on multiple packs and I've never experienced this phenomenon once.

i have seen this, in 2 of the last 4 batteries i bought. as it turns out the 2 were powerhobby batteries, don't buy them.

 

[Diem Turner]

while i tend to agree with a lot of what you said think about an engine, or really anything that requires break in. running an engine degrades the internals as is the case with most things you need to break in, which is more than you would think.

i have seen this, in 2 of the last 4 batteries i bought. as it turns out the 2 were powerhobby batteries, don't buy them.

I take you point when it comes to mechanical engines as rings and seals need to seat, the fit of machined, high tolerance components may need a few hundred miles of back and forth movement before they're properly mated to one another, etc. I don't, however, see this being needed with electrical components and, as I said, I've never seen any data to the contrary. There are also audiophiles who talk about the need for speakers and headphones to be broken in...which I also think is nonsense (I'm sure some will disagree with this assessment but to this day no one has been able to provide any measurable, empirical evidence that would support this claim; I've read numerous tests of double blind studies of audiophiles who claimed would be able to notice changes in cables and various other components and they never faired any better than some random person just guessing; what I believe is happening is that the listener's ears are acclimatizing to the speakers/headphones and there is far more evidence to support how easily the ears are tricked by our eyes, placebo effects and wish casting - if anyone wants specific examples, I'll be more than happy to oblige). I've been active in the field of sound reinforcement, studio gear and audio engineering for over 25 years and it just isn't a thing. I'll give one caveat, though it's not really the same thing. Old analog synthesizers do require a bit of warm up time before the oscillators have stabilized. This, however, is a matter of warming up and not any sort of "breaking-in" process.

Your experience with Powerhobby LiPos seems to confirm what I've heard/read from others. I shall steer clear of them

 

[carckton driver]

I take you point when it comes to mechanical engines as rings and seals need to seat, the fit of machined, high tolerance components may need a few hundred miles of back and forth movement before they're properly mated to one another, etc. I don't, however, see this being needed with electrical components and, as I said, I've never seen any data to the contrary. There are also audiophiles who talk about the need for speakers and headphones to be broken in...which I also think is nonsense (I'm sure some will disagree with this assessment but to this day no one has been able to provide any measurable, empirical evidence that would support this claim; I've read numerous tests of double blind studies of audiophiles who claimed would be able to notice changes in cables and various other components and they never faired any better than some random person just guessing; what I believe is happening is that the listener's ears are acclimatizing to the speakers/headphones and there is far more evidence to support how easily the ears are tricked by our eyes, placebo effects and wish casting - if anyone wants specific examples, I'll be more than happy to oblige). I've been active in the field of sound reinforcement, studio gear and audio engineering for over 25 years and it just isn't a thing. I'll give one caveat, though it's not really the same thing. Old analog synthesizers do require a bit of warm up time before the oscillators have stabilized. This, however, is a matter of warming up and not any sort of "breaking-in" process.

Your experience with Powerhobby LiPos seems to confirm what I've heard/read from others. I shall steer clear of them

like i said i agree with most of what you said. i was just opposing the concept that "It also seems counterintuitive to me that a process that degrades the internals of a battery would somehow improve its performance". most break in time or procedures degrade the internals or parts of what your breaking in.

also, i should have added that with my powerhobby experience, one of the batteries never balanced out after about 20-25 hours on chargers, yes multiple ones and yes that long.

 

[Diem Turner]

like i said i agree with most of what you said. i was just opposing the concept that "It also seems counterintuitive to me that a process that degrades the internals of a battery would somehow improve its performance". most break in time or procedures degrade the internals or parts of what your breaking in.

also, i should have added that with my powerhobby experience, one of the batteries never balanced out after about 20-25 hours on chargers, yes multiple ones and yes that long.

Fair enough

 

[hobo]

I take you point when it comes to mechanical engines as rings and seals need to seat, the fit of machined, high tolerance components may need a few hundred miles of back and forth movement before they're properly mated to one another, etc. I don't, however, see this being needed with electrical components and, as I said, I've never seen any data to the contrary. There are also audiophiles who talk about the need for speakers and headphones to be broken in...which I also think is nonsense (I'm sure some will disagree with this assessment but to this day no one has been able to provide any measurable, empirical evidence that would support this claim; I've read numerous tests of double blind studies of audiophiles who claimed would be able to notice changes in cables and various other components and they never faired any better than some random person just guessing; what I believe is happening is that the listener's ears are acclimatizing to the speakers/headphones and there is far more evidence to support how easily the ears are tricked by our eyes, placebo effects and wish casting - if anyone wants specific examples, I'll be more than happy to oblige). I've been active in the field of sound reinforcement, studio gear and audio engineering for over 25 years and it just isn't a thing. I'll give one caveat, though it's not really the same thing. Old analog synthesizers do require a bit of warm up time before the oscillators have stabilized. This, however, is a matter of warming up and not any sort of "breaking-in" process.

Your experience with Powerhobby LiPos seems to confirm what I've heard/read from others. I shall steer clear of them

are you sure you play with rc cars you sound like a professor to me with an answer like that

 

[N.Mango]

Been running my new car for about 2 weeks. Probably the 10th run tonight. And same batteries same stock car and all of a sudden the car seems faster and wheelies more. Not complaining but it almost seems like it “broke in”. And i’m only runnin 4s.

Maybe it's you that got broken in and now driving better
Just messin with you...idk

 

[Diem Turner]

are you sure you play with rc cars you sound like a professor to me with an answer like that

lol, pretty sure

 

[Moonstonemike]

Been running my new car for about 2 weeks. Probably the 10th run tonight. And same batteries same stock car and all of a sudden the car seems faster and wheelies more. Not complaining but it almost seems like it “broke in”. And i’m only runnin 4s.

It could be more likely the drivetrain has broken in then the motor. If any of the gears in your diffs or your spur/pinion, heck even the bearings were a bit tight it would feel more responsive once they all wore in a bit.