How to charge batteries so they last longer

Comment on this storyCommentYour charging habits may be killing your gadgets.After a recent column about the hidden death dates built into our devices, many Washington Post readers asked me what we can do to prolong the lives of products with rechargeable batteries.“I have an Apple phone which I usually charge once a day, when it reaches 50 percent battery or less,” emailed Marian Levine of Silver Spring, Md. “Will it extend the life of the battery if I wait until the battery is lower?”It’s a murky aspect of gadget ownership: Lithium batteries are finicky. They all gradually lose capacity, meaning it’s only a matter of time before your device just doesn’t carry enough juice to be useful. But how much time? Some of this is baked into the design — but the ways we charge and use batteries can also make a difference.For example, leaving your device plugged most of the time…

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