All right folks. The attached is my first attempt at writing a tutorial, so go easy. It goes over how I turned Li-Ion packs from obsolete equipment into usable packs for my SAGAR robot. For about $10 per pack, I built my own 14.4V 2.2Ah Li-ion pack, and in the attached pdf, I show you how I did it, so you can do it too.

Quick note for the Hack-a-day crowd. The PCB does in fact handle charge leveling across the individual cells. All you need is a smart charger like this, and you are good to go. For a more in-depth look on soldering directly to cells (not recommended, but if there’s no other option), I recommend this tutorial, although I’m still not brave enough to do it myself. I’ll stick with my tabbed cells.

Download:   DIY Li-Ion Tutorial

Here is a pack in my SAGAR robot I’m building.(click to enlarge)