How to extend the life of a Lithium-Ion battery in 3 steps

This is a concise guide to help you understand what you can do to extend the life of your battery. Advice for LFP (Lithium Iron Phosphate) is slightly different, this guidance applies to Li-Ion and Li-Po packs.

1) Operate within manufacturer specs (temperature, amp rating, etc). Check the cells you use for temperature and amp charge and discharge limits. Pushing cells to their max in any of these values will be hard on the pack.

2) Limit your depth of discharge. If you can charge and cycle between 20% and 80% you can 4x your battery life (that is a 60% depth of discharge).

3) Every 10-20 cycles do an extended full charge, leave the charger on for 1-2 days (smaller packs) or even longer for larger Ah packs. Most BMS units only balance when the charger is present (even though the FETs open and charge isn't applied, charger lights are green).