I thought about soldering a bunch of stuff together to make a terminal block, but then I found a great Anderson splitter (PS6-AA2) that has 75 amp input and six 15-45 amp outputs:
They're about 35 bucks each, which is steep, but it's a total solution that will just work. I'll need 4 (I per pack) and will have one leftover plug on each block. This could be used to monitor voltage, charge the packs, etc, so it works out well. Each group of 8 cells will route directly to one of the smaller connectors on a block.
I almost bought the terminal blocks online, but as I was typing in my credit card info I saw that the phone number of the online store started with 512- Austin- so I looked the store up (Austin Amateur Radio Supply) and sure enough, I'll be there tomorrow :).
Here's a rough draft of how each pack will connect:
Key advantages with these connectors: I can remove half the packs and still achieve the 56 volts I need to run the motor. This means I can cut my battery weight down to just 14 pounds and still have at least a 35 mile range; I'm shooting for 100 miles, but I'm a realist, so for around town commuting I could drop half my weight. Or I could bring both packs but only connect 1 at a time on longer trips so that I know when I need to turn around. With half the packs removed, I can still drive 464 amps at 35C, or 132 amos at 10C. Since my system draws 47 amps max, (2500/52.5) I could theoretically install just a single pair of these guys, but my range would be less than 10 miles so I don't see any use in building such a pack.
Anyways, tomorrow I'm gonna head over and pick up these connectors.
