Test/Review of Sanyo/Panasonic NCR18650BL 3350mAh (Red)

Sanyo/Panasonic NCR18650BL 3350mAh (Red)



Official specifications:

  • Cell Brand: Sanyo/Panasonic
  • Cell Model: NCR18650BL
  • Cell Size: 18650
  • Cell Typical capacity: 3350 mAh
  • Cell Minimum capacity: 3250 mAh
  • Rated voltage: 3.6V
  • Discharge end voltage: 2.5V
  • Standard charge: 1.62A to 4.2V
  • Continuous discharge current (max): 7A
  • Cycle life: 300
  • Operating temperature: 10 – 45°C (charge), -20 - 60°C (discharge)
  • Storage temperature: -20 - 50°C (1 month), -20 - 40°C (3 months), -20 - 20°C (1 year)




A high capacity cell from Sanyo or is it Panasonic (Panasonic owns Sanyo). The naming match the Panasonic naming (NCR18650B for 3400mAh), but the wrapper is Sanyo style with Sanyo name on it (If you can find it, the letters are small and not very visible).











Discharge curves looks good, they track nicely.
In this test I do overload the cell, it is only rated for 7A.















Conclusion

It looks like a very good cell.



Notes and links

How is the test done and how to read the charts
How is a protected LiIon battery constructed
More about button top and flat top batteries
Compare to 18650 and other batteries

Thank you for the very good review.

HKJ would you say this cell is better than the old NCR18650B? Your 18650 comparator makes it look that way.

Only showing the 5A trace is cheating a bit, the B has more capacity at low current.

Two question that I cannot answer at the current time:

1) Has the chemistry in the B been upgraded during the last couple of years to get better performance?

2) How many cycles are the B rated for, is it 300 or 500?

Alright, I guess that 5A is the only part I cared about, that is why I posted that.

I see, good points.

I would add this information: Not protected. I avoid them. Too afraid :slight_smile:

Does plays a role here and the internal resistance of the battery ?
I think the NCR B has a higher internal resistance .

Thanks for presentation HKJ.

You do not need go be afraid of unprotected cells. You do not know what you’re missing.

Thank you HKJ, for your testing and for providing us with invaluable information.

It’s very interesting to see how the NCR18650BL outperforms the NCR18650B. But why would they (Sanyo=Panasonic) improve their flagship and market it under their low budget brand? Beats me.
Word has it the NCR18650BL is of the same basic chemistry (LiNiCoAl) as the NCR18650B but they must have done some changes resulting in much less voltage sag. Even the protected version of Enerpower has a respectable discharge curve.

And the NCR18650BL seems to be a good replacement for a lot of cell types up to 5A, be it LiNiCoAl (NCR18650B), LiCo (UR18650FM) or LiNiCoMn (INR18650-25R). The cell certainly got my attention.

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The cell I look forward to is the LG MJ1. From some other tester’s data, it looks like it’ll beat the BL by a healthy margin in capacity and supposedly even lower resistance. I fully expect this cell to obsolete everything but the HE2/25R for hot rods above 5-7A and maybe the D1/E1, which then only would have a small teeny tiny niche in the 2-4A and 1-2A ranges (respectively) in efficient buck/boost circuits. The only other cells on the horizon that I feel could fit between the HE2/25R and the MJ1/BL/GA are the Samsung 30Q and LG HG2. I’ve not yet seen any test data on these yet to know though, and I’m waiting on my 30Q to come in from Illumn sometime this week.

It’s a bare cell… Protection circuits are added to bare cells.

I have yet to find the difference in the ncr18650bf and ncr18650bl. I read this about the BF
“The difference between the new BF and the older B model is that this battery includes the chemical ”SiO” or silicon monoxide. In August 2014, the Berkeley National Laboratory found that the addition of SiO can improve the performance of li-ion batteries by up to 20%.”

I assume the BL has the same chemistry because the graphs I’ve seen look very similar.

As far as cycles, I know the data sheet graph on the BF only goes to 300 cycles. The ncr18650b data sheet shows 500 on the cycle count but actual performance at 300 is about the same as the ncr18650bf. The BF is also a gram lighter than the B

When you say haven’t yet found any differences, do you mean in documentation or in test data?

Documentation. What’s the difference in the two Sanyo 3400 batteries?