Hill Incline; How to determine

mikec557

Hi guys. I'm wondering if there's an easy way to determine the angle/degrees of the various hills in our community. I think my GPS can give me the elevation at the bottom and top of the hill (height), and I should be able to measure the total distance from the bottom to the top of the hill (slope). Using the old 3-4-5 triangle formula I can figure out the length of the base, height, and slope... but how do I figure out what the slope is in degrees?

Maybe I should mention, I want to order an Alltrax setup from ScottyB and want to be able to tell him my torque goals given these 4 hills.

Any input would be appreciated.

Thanks
Mike

BGW

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Gregorio

There are a lot of phone apps for that. I think I've used Clinometer.

Gregorio

BTW, order the XCT 500, 2AWG cables, Admiral MOT-A4 and call it good! Like someone once told me, you can get paralysis from over analysis!

mikec557

Thanks Gregorio, I'll look for that and similar apps.

Unfortunately, the cost of a motor is not in the equation at this time. For now, the stock motor will have to do.

But I do plan to buy the Alltrax 500 and 2ga cables now so that later I can get a better motor later and have what it takes to spin it.

At this point I'm just trying to figure out how best to describe my torque needs so Scotty can set the Alltrax up for me.

Mike

Gregorio

I just did the exact same thing as you except I made a mistake and only got the XCT400.

If the baseline he programs for you is not right, you can easily change it. I've been tuning mine for 2 weeks and love the direction it is going.

yurtle

When I measured my steepest hill, I just took a 2' level and a tape measure. Rise and run is all you need.

Mooncarter

If side A (rise), and side B(run) are equal it is 45 degrees. Figure it from there.

In other words, get your distance and height, scale it from there and get your answer. Seems like a lot of work to me and would take pages to explain in detail. Can't you just estimate it?

yurtle

Simple High School trigonometry. Not complicated at all. This will give you the angle, which can be converted to grade.

Where did 45° come from?

It took me AT MOST 30 seconds to measure, and less than that to do the math.

Mooncarter

Are you asking me where 45 degrees came from?

Conradconrad

Google law of cosines and some triganometry should help. Remember the inside of a triangles three sides(angles) equals 180 degrees. One can say to use a right angle triangle. You will have the elevation be one side and the approximate distance from start to finish of the hill as another side. Use the law of cosines that can give you an approx average angle/degrees