Alright, so I kept snooping on the stick and figured this out. I was going crazy, how it was possible that I was probing on both ends of one stick, and not getting any voltage reading..but then if I probed on the same ends of the 2 combined sticks, I'd get a little bit over 16 volts. It will become clear in the next set of photos. I also figured out how to remove the darn end cap, which is important if you are going to test, charge and discharge each stick individually. I cannot believe after extensive searching all over the internet, that I was unable to find any of this information online. It's sad, that there are a number of people who know this information, and for whatever reason, have chosen to not publicize it at all. Oh well...I hope all of these photos and such will help others.
This is what the end cap looks like
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and this is the end with the leads that connect to the rest of the pack
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Step one to remove the end cap....remove the 2 phillips screws
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Step two, the 2 tabs have to be straightened out, otherwise the cap will not come off.
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Step three, now that you have straightened the tabs, you need to unlock the latch that is holding the cap in place. Obviously, be careful when unlocking this latch. I doubt you can go buy a replacement cap if you damage the one you have. I used a small flathead screwdriver to push down, slide in between the latching mechanism and push/pull till I got it out.
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Push the latching tab away
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Gently pull the other part of the end cap restraint up
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Now, you can start to gently rock/pull/rock/pull on the cap. As you do, the metal tabs you straightened up should be slowly making their way through the slots in the end cap.
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Before the cap was removed, I was very confused why I was getting no voltage. The metal strip at the end, made it seem as if the connection to the battery ends was found there. Well, with the cap removed, now I see why I got zero voltage. Flip the cap and look inside of it, and you see why zero voltage readings were obtained.
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As you can see, the connection does not actually go through the end cap. I am guessing but I think the metal strip on the outside of the end cap, only serves to give continuity to what I think is the temperature strip found lengthwise along both battery sticks.
This is what the end of the module looks like without the white end cap.
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Without the end cap, I was now able to measure voltage on each individual stick. This particular set measured at 8.14 volts and 8.12 volts.
Now, a question for those more proficient with electricity than I am. Each individual cell is 1.2 volts. There are six cells in each stick. That comes out to 7.2 volts. Why is it that each stick here is measuring almost 8.5 volts instead of the 7.2 volts the individual cells measure up to?