CA Gold Hunter

no live stream?  stayed up late for it too..

No problem.  Not sure if I'm allowed to post links to other forums on here so just search "Building a Li Ion battery pack for a Whites TDI SL?" and the first link on google is a post from when I was trying to figure out how to do it.  My second post on that thread has links to the pcb board that looks discontinued but you should be able to find it elsewhere or something similar.  

I basically copied riedmans battery, theres pictures on the 3rd page of the thread I linked.  I was able to find that pcb board and put it all together.  You have to get some extra thin abs sheeting to close it all up on both sides because the batteries and pcb board wont all fit in there without doing that.  If I did it again too I would probably try to get some kind of tac welder, it was a little difficult soldering the batteries, I was worried about overheating them but I eventually got it all together.

I use the enelope rechargeables from costco in my tdi sl as a backup.  My main battery is a modified AA battery pack that I crammed 4 of the 3400mah panasonic 18650's into.  Took some dremel work to make it all fit but it works like a champ.  Get around 6 hours on it compared to the stock battery that came with the sl that only lasts 4 hours.  The added voltage maybe gave the machine about 1/2" more depth if that but I wanted it more to keep it at a higher voltage than the 12v that the other batteries are at so it can run at peak performance for longer.  If you search online there are a few that you can buy already made if you don't want to go through the hassle of making your own.  My battery came out to be a little cheaper than the ones you can buy and I had left overs to make a few more.