San Diego hill climb

[yoyoman]

Near the UC San Diego campus is Black's Beach where the surfing is pretty good. Getting down to the beach from the street probably deters a lot of people because the walk up from the beach is so steep. Today was my second test of my 24V Currie USPD bike up the steep paved road, and here are some of my "measurements"

Street altitude - 398 feet
Beach altitude - 36 feet

Starting voltage at the bottom - 25.5V
Ending voltage at the top - 24.6V
Ending voltage back at my desk at work - 24.1V

Approximate time to climb the hill - 3:30 minutes

At the top, it wasn't really that steep, but I definitely wasn't able to make it on electric power alone. I was surprised by how weak the batteries were on the last stretch. It didn't seem as difficult last time, but I also did add an additional semi-steep stretch to the ride.

I read that batteries that have rested after charging should read from 12.6V to 13V. My batteries seem to be at the low end, but still in that window, so I assume the batteries are still fairly good. The total distance snaking around the hill doesn't seem like more than a mile ... a far from level mile. Is it unusual for them to have used up .9V?

I'm trying to figure out if I need new batteries, a more powerful motor, or both. Any ideas?

 

[gregben1]

I haven't been to Black's Beach in a while. Maybe I'll go take a look at your road this weekend.
I charge 12V batteries to 13.7 - 13.8V. I think your battery was less than fully charged when you started.
I consider 11V to be 100% discharged. This hill is a serious strain on the batteries, speed control, and motor.
I run up the hill from Sorrento Valley (Sorrento Valley Blvd.) to the mesa on my ebike and it is also a big
strain. About 300' climb in 0.7 mile. My bike (Wilderness Energy BL36, and 3 12V, 12AH SLA batteries) cannot
make it up alone. I pedal up at about 12 MPH but am probably adding nearly 200 Watts to the effort.

 

[yoyoman]

Hello gregben1 and any other fellow SD riders,
If you want to try the hill tomorrow, I'll go with you to compare things. PM me, if you'd like. If you have any area that would an interesting test, maybe something less stressful to the components, I would like to compare notes =)

 

[dogman dan]

Blacks Beach more accesible, I like that! Now If you can just get rid of all the 50+ guys with nothing on but a t shirt, and replace them with girls.
I can't think of a better hill to test a bike on, for several reasons.