What is a Break-in? Do Eneloops need it?

No, this has nothing to do with burglars or with your breakfast. But a Break-In for batteries is referred to as maximizing the performance or capacity of a battery. (However, this is different from a Refresh or Analyze mode)
The Maha Powerex MH -C9000 for example has a Break-In option.

Warning: A break-in cycle should always start with an empty battery.

The charger will charge for 16 hours 0.1C charge rate, then rest for an hour, do a 0.2C discharge, rest again, and at the end again charge for 16 hours at 0.1C according.

(I don`t know to what Voltage the Powerex will discharge, but according to the IEC standards, section 7.1 it should be 1V.)

If you do an Analyze or Discharge, you should be able to know the capacity, do NOT look at the “charge capacity” during the Break-In!

When to use a break-in with Eneloops?

Only with an empty battery! When using rechargeable NiMH batteries people advise doing a Break-In right out of the package. I personally don`t think you need to do this with Eneloops. It`s a great feature for old rechargeable AA or AAA batteries that are almost useless or completely dead.

My advice would be to not use the Break-In mode (too often) with Eneloops, especially not with Eneloop Pro. Eneloops don`t really need it unless you want to have the extra 5+% capacity.

Ps. New Eneloop batteries need a few cycles to get to max capacity… (This is also written in each battery product specification.

eneloop pro battery specifications

Eneloop batteries are one of the best rechargeable batteries in the world.
You can buy them in the following countries:

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