We are getting some new flooring installed today - at least the 1st steps, what a mess, haven't been around a PC much today.

Those are the 2 links I read to get started - read everything that they link to and you'll find there's been testing that shows the stock DeWalt cell connectors seem to do fine as far as high amp loads are concerned. They're are being run that way and thats the way I'm planning on running mine - I did not bridge the thinned stock connector thats supposed to fucntion as a fusible link at ~100a with a short piece of 12ga - again, these are being run that way (without the 12ga) and I've not seen any mention of any prob. Less soldering the better!

I couldn't wait for harbor freight order to show up (if you haven't bought, buy the Northern set instead (linked later in the how to on removal) - little more $$, way better quality and they're longer - will reach those 2 end screws with no drilling), but if you have a t10 torx bit, the pegs that are supposed to stop the regular bit from being used - on my pac, they broke right off when I tried to engage the bit, didn't provide much in teh way of security! I did have to drill the bigger holes to get to the two end screws as LBMiller5 showed - the entire removal process took maybe 5min and I was being careful! The de-soldering is straight forward - a soldering gun worked really well here, but an iron would work as well.

The stock pac splits logically into 2 5S1P units, you have to break stock conns in two places - you get a 5 cell connected pac and a 2 and a 3 cell connected pac. The 2 and 3 are separate since DeWalt used them as the original + and - taps and they're on the same side. Simple matter to connect the 2 and 3 to get the 2nd 5 cell pack. I did the dremel cutoff wheel like shown and broke them by wiggling - as cautioned, think about this before you start so you don't let anything touch thats not supposed to! They are a little fragile - soon as I had the 5 cell separated, I used 2" wide Scotch strapping tape - two wraps and that provides the strength needed for handling. I wrapped the 2 and the 3 cells together and then soldered the bar to connect them, way easier to hold on to!

Stock DeWalt connectors take solder easy - I use Deans solder - no problems. I used a single Novak c sized bar to connect the 2 and 3 cell pacs. This is really the only major soldering - handle it just like building a c sized pac - tin the terminals, tin the bar and heat them together. I'm using a 80watt Weller and it takes only a few sec to get it done. When I trimmed the tabs to solder the main output wires to - I trimmed them so they are square and let the soldered end of the wire rest parallel to the length of the pac - provides more area to solder the wire to and a stronger connection.

I soldered the main power out wires last night - deans 12ga wire. Tinned wire, then the tabs. Put heat on both, hold it till solder cools - nothing unusual. I'm going to put the dean conns on one end rather than in the middle of the pac, so one wire is longer by the length of the pac - I made that the negative wire, but could be done either way. Soon as my hyperion 7 wire balance taps show up and I solder them on, I'll add one more wrap of scotch strapping tape and then shrink. Ready to charge and try them out!

If you can solder deans, this will not be a prob, it was pretty easy and straight forward. I can take some pics if anyone wants.