Don't make these 3 tablet charging mistakes

Everyday habits can quietly wear down a tablet's battery, and while most devices offer six to eight hours of use on a charge, capacity falls with age. A few simple changes can slow that decline and keep your tablet usable longer. Leaving a tablet plugged in overnight can cause trickle-charging that keeps the battery full and stresses it over time.

Unplug when it reaches 100% and, as a rule of thumb, try to keep the battery between about 20% and 80%—occasional overnight charging won’t ruin it, but making it a habit will shorten lifespan. Repeatedly letting the battery drop to 0% accelerates aging and can lead to permanent damage; the author recounts leaving a discharged device in a drawer until its battery was irreparably harmed.

Lithium-ion cells aren’t meant to stay empty, so avoid letting them fall below 20% and, if you won’t use a tablet for a while, charge it to about 50% and shut it down for storage.

tablet, battery, charging, overnight charging, trickle charging, battery lifespan, lithium-ion, deep discharge, storage charge, 50% charge