How to tell who makes a private label battery?

Hello everybody,

How can I tell what name brand manufacturer(Energizer, Duracell, etc.) makes a private label battery? I was in a Meijer(similar to a Super Wal-Mart or Big K-Mart) store recently and compared Energizer, Duracell, Rayovac Maximum, and Meijer brand AA, C, D batteries. In every case, the shape and dimple pattern on the bottom of the Energizer and Meijer brands were the same and the Duracell and Rayovac were both different from the Energizer. Can I conclude that Meijer brand batteries are made by Energizer? I know that my methods aren't exactly thorough.

I did notice one interesting fact. A Meijer brand 6 volt lantern battery had a ruptured outer case. Upon closer inspection, I noticed that it contained 4 Rayovac Maximum D cells. These cells didn't have the top nipple but did have the Maximum label on them. Very odd. Of course, I only buy the lantern batteries that use F size cells.

Thanks.

Apparently, there are only a few battery manufacturers in the world. If a store wants to buy enough of a particular type, they can be made by the factory as "own label" examples.

But there are differences between them all. The outer casing may be the same, even if the label is different, but the contents can be altered.

In the case of 123's for instance, a company can specify the exact method of manufacture and materials for their own requirements. Although you can say that all 123's are exactly the same, the details can differ remarkably.
A small change to the specification can produce very different results. The actual ingredients may be the same, but the proportion of those ingredients can be altered for improved results.

Improvements to batteries tend to come as (over-hyped) incremental changes. There is more technology in that small package than you might expect.

lightlover