Question: How do I take care of a Lithium Ion battery to prolong its life? Should I charge it frequently or drain it fully before charging it?
Lithium ion batteries are particular about their operating conditions, and there are a lot of small things that can contribute to better quality of life. Li-ion batteries have a reasonably finite lifespan and can hold only a fraction of their original capacity after a few years, but things like operating temperature, how long the battery spends plugged in, how the battery is used, and the charge cycling you asked about can contribute to how long the battery lasts. If Michael Pollan had to sum up ideal Li-ion battery usage, he might say something like, "Use your battery. Not too much. Mostly for small apps."
One of the worst things you can do to a Li-ion battery is to run it out completely all the time. Full discharges put a lot of strain on the battery, and it's much better practice to do shallow discharges to no lower than 20 percent. In a way, this is like people running for exercise— running a few miles a day is fine, but running a marathon every day is generally not sustainable. If your Li-ion powered device is running out of juice on a daily basis, you're decreasing its overall useful lifespan, and should probably work some charging stations into your day or change your devices' settings so that it's not churning through its battery so quickly.
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