Riding up a big hill on my RR6+

[Traildad]

There is a trail near me that is around 1.5 miles gaining 750 feet in elevation. I?d like to try it now that I have the area 13 controller upgrade. The guy at the bike shop that installed it warned me about putting too much strain on the motor. How well does the RR6+ handle hill climbs. I like the view from the top but I dont want to burn up my motor. Anyone have experience doing hills?

[John Rose]

i dunno . . . gear down and use PAS level 1? I have trouble picturing the slope just by reading the numbers, so I'm not a good source of advice.

If you watch the motor power meter and don't max it out continuously maybe you're okay.

Wait, is it this kit? - https://area13ebikes.com/products/radkit
They say "Rover 6 + STEPOVER & STEP THROUGH- Does not work", so what did you do?

[mrgold35]

I live in the high desert and ride 5000 feet near the Rio Grande or +7200ft in the Sandia foothills.  I try to keep my pedaling +/- 60 rpms on level ground or up hills.  I usually downshift gears in PAS 3 and try and keep my rpms around 60 at a slower mph.  Maintaining a certain rpm with any gear works better for me than maintaining a certain mph on level ground or up hills.

[inoxa]

There is a trail near me that is around 1.5 miles gaining 750 feet in elevation. I?d like to try it now that I have the area 13 controller upgrade. The guy at the bike shop that installed it warned me about putting too much strain on the motor. How well does the RR6+ handle hill climbs. I like the view from the top but I dont want to burn up my motor. Anyone have experience doing hills?

I think that is a doable hill on my bike. I have a Rover 5 with the upgraded controller and upgraded motor and would climb that hill just fine.  I have had an issue prior with too much current running too long through the wiring and I had to replace that wiring.  But no problems for my motor or controller. 

[handlebar]

It sounds like an average of about 10%. To me, 1.5 miles up a 10% grade sounds like a lot. I've read that it's overheating that kills an ebike motor, and because it's fairly massive, the temperature rises slowly. You might stop periodically and see if the motor is painfully hot. After I put on a 35 amp controller, I would spot check the motor with my hand and an IR thermometer. I never found it more than 2 F above ambient, but my highest hills are about 50 feet.

[Traildad]

I?m 65 and not very strong on the pedaling so most of the work will be done by the motor. I have an IR thermometer so I?ll give that a try along with taking some cool down breaks. Thanks for the replies.

[JimInPT]

I?m 65 and not very strong on the pedaling so most of the work will be done by the motor. I have an IR thermometer so I?ll give that a try along with taking some cool down breaks. Thanks for the replies.

If you find yourself wanting/needing to keep an eye on the motor temp with an IR thermometer, may I suggest this:  https://www.thermoworks.com/ir-pocket-20/ - I assume you have a larger dogleg handheld like the ones I use in my kitchen and pizza oven?  This little thing would carry easily in any bike bag or even pocket.

I don't own one of these, but if I needed it I wouldn't hesitate - I have about a dozen other Thermoworks products and they're just outstanding, as is their service.  If you get on their email list, you can watch for one of their frequent discounts on either products or the entire line, if you're not in a hurry.  If you're nice to them, you just might find a tiny little bag of Jelly Bellys in the box too.  Now you've got me thinking this might not be a bad idea to have available on my 1600w MiniST2 during the summer.....

Good luck!

[Traildad]

Well I made an attempt to ride up the hill today but I didn?t go all the way up. The highest temperature I recorded was 118. I read online that the internal temperature will be much higher than what I?m reading with my thermometer gun. The controller seemed to be resetting the pedal assist when it timed out and turned off. When I made my last attempt it was very steep so I didn?t get far at all. As I turned back downhill I noticed the pedal assist was very low or off, I can?t remember which. I?m wondering if it is lowering pedal assist to protect the motor. I got much farther up the hill than I did with the original controller, so I?m happy.

[John Rose]

... I'm wondering if it is lowering pedal assist to protect the motor. ...

That sounds reasonable.
As near as I can guess, the PAS setting chooses some maximum current (or voltage?) to send through/to the motor, more or less depending on the selected PAS level.
I suppose that over-riding the user's setting and reducing the PAS after some duration of sustained high current would be the simplest way to protect the motor.

As far as measuring the temperature goes, you can buy thermometer stickers like this one, from industrial equipment suppliers:



You would have to stop to read it.
The trick would be to choose one with a useful range of temperatures.

Beware of the non-reversible variety though. They are meant to record only the maximum temperature it was subjected to, for applications like on shipping crates containing heat-sensitive items or cargo that must be kept refrigerated.
I vaguely remember using the non-reversible type at my former workplace on capacitors installed in high-power radio transmitters.

[Traildad]

... I'm wondering if it is lowering pedal assist to protect the motor. ...

That sounds reasonable.
As near as I can guess, the PAS setting chooses some maximum current (or voltage?) to send through/to the motor, more or less depending on the selected PAS level.
I suppose that over-riding the user's setting and reducing the PAS after some duration of sustained high current would be the simplest way to protect the motor.

As far as measuring the temperature goes, you can buy thermometer stickers like this one, from industrial equipment suppliers:



You would have to stop to read it.
The trick would be to choose one with a useful range of temperatures.

Beware of the non-reversible variety though. They are meant to record only the maximum temperature it was subjected to, for applications like on shipping crates containing heat-sensitive items or cargo that must be kept refrigerated.
I vaguely remember using the non-reversible type at my former workplace on capacitors installed in high-power radio transmitters.

I was using a temperature gun. I read that the external temperature doesn?t accurately reflect how hot the wires are so I was wasting my time reading the temps.

[Ddaybc]

Traildad, that's correct. The internal temperature is a lot higher than the external temperature of the motor case. I don't know what the difference would be but I would guess it would be at least 10 degrees different.

[John Rose]

... I've read that it's overheating that kills an ebike motor, and because it's fairly massive, the temperature rises slowly. You might stop periodically and see if the motor is painfully hot. ...

For the same reason (mass), it would go down slowly too. 

[Traildad]

I saw this on e-bikes.org.

?As we said, it doesn?t take long for most hub drives to warm on steep hills, but they cool down quickly. A two- to five-minute break is a fair amount of time to let it get back to proper operating temperature. But if you start to get errors on flat ground with minimal load, you may have a separate problem which you should consult a bike shop about.?