Building A123 Packs

[legobrains]

Can any body recommend what balancer style I should get.
I all ready have the adapters for Thunder power, and polyquest/hyperion for the LBA10 balancer and a 1210 hyperion charger.

I'm going to add balancer taps to my A123 cells. Is one better/easier then the other.

Is there a cheaper alternative like something from digikey?

Should I use the Thunder power leads:
http://www.cheapbatterypacks.com/mai...ectors&scat=TP

or the polyquest/hyperion leads (scroll to bottom)
http://www.cheapbatterypacks.com/mai...ctors&scat=HYP

I have been reading here:
http://www.slkelectronics.com/DeWalt/hints.htm

[othello]

Those A123 cells in dewalt config do fit perfectly in your savage (i'm not as lucky as you could be. I do have to brake them apart in 2 5s1p packs). At your place i would solder some cables+connectors and shrink wrap them without braking them apart. And then aim for a 10s1p A123 setup -> MGM 9032 and Neu 1515/1Y (1100kv). Crazy power (up to 2.5KW) and cool running components. Running time and weight could be optimised with 8s lipo in the future. That's what instantly popped up my mind when i saw your dewalt style pack config fitting so nicely inside your savage.

Sorry can not help you with your balancing questions as i do not balance my A123 cells at all. I connect 2 packs in series and charge them with a hyperion 1210i as 10s1p with 5A (35min charging time). My oldest pack is at 70 cycles and still takes 2250mah after a run.

I bought a hyperion 0610i charger for my a123s and used this connector -

http://www.allerc.com/product_info.p...oducts_id=3169

The charger has a built in balancer and I routinely balance and charge every time.