I was wondering... Why doesn't Panasonic have their name on their Li-ion cells?

As far as I know, they are the only manufacturer to not put their company name on their batteries. What possible reason could they have for this? Even the cardstock boxes that a case of cells come in, is not marked with the Panasonic name. This just doesn’t make any sense why a major company wouldn’t want to put their name on their products in any way. OH, and don’t get me wrong, the cells are amazing! Best cells I have ever used.

I didn’t notice that until seeing your post. Only other cell I can recall without a brand name is King Kong 26650, or at least some of them aren’t labeled and none are labeled in english afaik.

Are you going to post that on every single thread that mentions batteries? :expressionless:

Individual cell sales is a puny part of the market, Panasonic isn’t interested in.

They manufacture cells for the much larger PC market.

Also stops their name being used on counterfeits.

interesting idea

Other company even put less marking than Panasonic. For LG, their name is part of the model name LGABC11865 for example.

They don't make these cells for retail sales .

they are for battery packs . The batteries they sell retail have their name on them .

I think it's really that simple.

You can postulate that maybe they don't want people to use them apart from commercial use . Or that they don't care if someone puts a 3rd party device attached to their batteries if ... than they are indemnified from lawsuits ??

OR since they are the industry leader you would have to be really not paying attention not to know who makes the battery . They certainly have their own look .

I have never come across these cells, but this is the picture they use on their website.

That’s it. :bigsmile:
And from what I know from the past, all loose cells are rejected cells. The cell we are using, is a cell that did not pass QC for some reason or another. All QC passed cells go into packs or commercial buyers. Now this could have changed in the past couple of years, since keeppower has come along. They may have enough buying power, that they could possible be buying QC passed cells from Panasonic. They would need to confirm that though.
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Panasonic isn’t afraid to put their name on a battery, that’s for sure.

+1

Flashlights are a really small market and this is also the reason, why Samsung , LG, Panasonic/Sanyo and Sony do not produce cells with protection. We are insignificant for their sale strategy.
If you want to buy directly from Samsung you have to buy 10.000 cells or more.

They sell cells to companies which produce battery packs for laptops, e-bikes or Tesla with the E-car.

This is also the point, why the batteries have flattops - the companies don't need button-tops and Panasonic don't need to label their products with a logo or the name.

These AAA nimh were in my Panasonic cordless phones

Do you finally admit you really have 4 ears Boaz?

Do you believe that Panasonic sells rejected cells out the back door?

I believe it is more likely that the cells we uses are surplus inventory from battery pack makers (Especially when the battery is a year old according to the date marking on it) or even companies working together to buy a larger pile of batteries.

Panasonic, Sony, etc are not interested in selling batteries to someone who doesn't make battery packs. We know because we've tried to contact them. Flashlights and e-cigs were never the intended market for these batteries and the headache involved with worrying about people abusing them are the reason you will never find a direct source for loose cells. It's also the reason you may not be able to ask a battery supplier for official documentation that states they are sourcing the batteries directly from these manufacturers. Panasonic and Sony do NOT want anything to do with our market and are only interested in selling to battery pack makers for laptops, power tools, and other products. If you check the majority of battery suppliers like KeepPower, you'll find that they also supply all sorts of battery packs, that's the way they're able to get these batteries. On a tangent, the same actually goes for Nichia LEDs, we're not actually supposed to sell them and we were only able to acquire them because we place them in dropins, flashlights, and on boards.

I did not know that. Illuminating thread.

Thanks for the information!

Panasonic does not sell to RETAIL market ! ( that I know off ) 18650

They only sell to manufacturers of Laptops and other industrial / manufacturing requirements where large quantities are needed .. ( Battery packs )

They also sell to distributors ... Now , its these distributors that are passing on cells to resellers to sell to us .

So if you contacted a distributor , told them you wanted 1000 18650 to rebuild battery packs , and then turned around and sold them to the flashlight community , well , there you go .

That’s just what I was told quite a few years ago. I don’t think I could find the post it’s been so long ago, if its even still around. I figure the quality cell manufacturers had a good hold on who the sold batteries to and how they where used, liability issues. There was only one person selling quality batteries back then, AW. They only way to get these cells was either through AW or commercial battery packs (bare cells). I don’t recall back then, anyone reporting or posting about the great find in a salvaged pack though. Then something changed, Redilast released their protected NCR18650 2900mah cell. Shortly after that Panasonic released the 3100mah cell. Then a guy on ebay started selling bare 3100mah cells before anyone else had them. He had some source over sea’s that sold them to him. Probably out the back door of a pack manufacturer. I remember this specifically because it took a week or two to receive your order. That’s also how it was advertised on ebay with his shipping times. He also sold them at CPF.
Shortly after this ebay guy had a run at selling them, Callie’s Kustom”s released their protected version of the Panasonic 3100mah. AW still had not released his version of the 3100mah, which he finally did several months later. Then all of a sudden the flood gates opened, and it seemed everyone had the new cells. And as I stated in the above post things could have changed from back when the first cells came to market, this could have been the effect of the loop hole that CalvinIS mentioned.
To answer your question HKJ, I don’t know for sure where or how this source for quality batteries became available. That’s just what I was told back then, QC rejects. That did not mean the cell was bad, it just meant the cell did not meet some part of the QC standard, it could have had 50mah less capacity than what is standard.
As many sellers as they are now, No I don’t believe these are QC rejects now. More than likely, just as your belief you stated above or out the back door unaware or the loop hole.

Panasonic brands it’s 123As.
Off topic maybe, but true.
Carlos.