Unprotected 18650 button source

Just purchased a Astrolux MF02

Requires 4 unprotected 18650 batteries. Button top preferred.

Panasonic NCR18650B 3400mAh Unprotected Button Top seems to be highly regarded. But I can’t find a reliable source (not buying fake E-Bay knock offs) that will sell in small quantities (4 or 8).

There used to be a group buy for these on this site, but no more.

I have seen posts that suggest soldering a button on to flat tops, or removing the plastic ring around the contact in the flashlight. Also some have stated they will never buy a flat top again.

Any suggestions?

Have you tried it with flat tops? Sometimes they work and make contact.

You could use the small round magnets, i always use a little bit of glue to hold them in place.
That said, i much prefer to put a blob of solder on with a large soldering iron.
Plenty of helpful post on here if you need advice on doing it

Solder blobbing is easy to do and only takes a few seconds. I usually cut a bit of 14 gauge of wire and make a loop about the same circumference of a button top that I solder to the flat top.

Where are you located??

First of all, industrial cylindrical cells like 18650s were designed mainly towards battery pack assemblies where spot welding and/or special soldering is the norm. This is the reason behind flat tops.

When a manufacturer of a device designed to use this sort of cylindrical li-ion cells starts messing with this fact, it speaks no good things of them as it is obviously done on purpose to mask some sort of product deficiency (like lack of reverse polarity protection), to try to force the consumer to buy some proprietarily labeled/rewrapped cells (which they don't manufacture) or any other kind of annoyance.

As a power user, I oficially give the finger to all of this stuff unless I can find it at a fair price. This means I, by default, buy unbastardized flat tops.

Your locale is not on display lightning56, so check out if free shipping is available to you:

Cheers ^:)

Thanks!
Exactly what I wanted from a reputable seller in the US.
No tax either…screw Amazon.
They even had a code for a free wire cutter.

Well, next time please provide more related information, like location, the markets you are willing to spend your money on and the time you're willing to wait for delivery.

Cheers

It helps to add your location in your account profile