Electric wheelchair programs

Supporters claimed they were an effective solution for last-mile travel, while detractors said they made city sidewalks unsafe. The vote caught the scooter companies off guard. As the Miami Herald points out, there is a chance scooters could return to Miami. City staff are drafting rules that would allow rental companies to bid for a contract to operate in the city as part of a permanent program. Krot told the man.

Angela Simmons caught fans by surprise on Jan. In the Instagram post, the year-old […]. Republican Sen. Roger Marshall Kan. Din Tuan Anh has dreamed of developing an electric wheelchair since he was in high school.

Fulton Schools of Engineering at ASU through which university students identify an engineering-based community challenge and work as a team to create a working prototype for a solution.

Anh led the AutoMov project in which a student team designed a wheelchair-assist device to convert a manual wheelchair into an electric version that the user can control with a joystick. Because of that, this project is on the right track to solving the right problems to best help users, and it has made strides on the path to becoming a business.

Surveying stakeholders who are interested in electric wheelchairs steered the team away from creating a completely new wheelchair to developing supplemental components instead. By developing a solution that can be easily and affordably added to existing wheelchairs, the team is meeting the needs for most users without adding a financial burden.

The wheelchair modification device also has a solar panel that can collect and store energy while the user operates the wheelchair outdoors. The AutoMov team set out to design and build a working prototype in October Found the story interesting?

Like us on Facebook to see similar stories. I'm already a fan, don't show this again. Send MSN Feedback. Remember all systems are different. This one is Pilot Plus. Should already be set to leave it like this or some of the stick movement has no effect. Don't know what the point of that could really be unless you have very limited hand movement. Used to compensate for the chair tending to go left or right if both motors are not equal.

Personally I would rather fix the motor problem! Go on you know you want to! Mine reads hours on this chair - the other two read a bit less. Not sure what it actually times because it seems to go up slower than the actual time you use your chair.

Maybe it times only above say half power or something. Anyway its interesting to compare! There will be one or two.

These wont have made much real difference alone. You also need the following OEM turn delays etc removing:. You need to do the above as well as these:. Change the settings here incorrectly and you can make the chair dangerous and burn out motors, wiring and controllers.

And its obviously going to invalidate your warranty and scare certain other more "corporate" online so called "experts" to death! So don't do it then! Your choice. But this is the part that turns your gutless ill steering imprecise powerchair into something completely usable! This is important if you want to regain any semblance of proper control. This can limit the maximum current the controller supplies to your motors. If you have a 50, 80 or amp unit then it should already be set to the max.

I did find one chair that was set lower apparently because of a continual overheating problem by an "engineer" turns out that the "engineer" had set the temp fold back too low in a previous session Can be set low on purpose to limit maximum torque power for kids, mentally retarded etc. Otherwise set to maximum or curbs, thresholds and ramps become pretty difficult. Maximum isn't enough anyway!

Controls maximum current allowed. That appears to make no sense does it? That's because its the maximum current delivered with 1 SPEED Led lit on your controller or at its slowest speed setting. So less than maximum gives lower power torque when set to slow speeds. So set to max. As the controller has to control a large amount of energy it gets hot. Its not percent efficient. So climbing hills, especially on a hot day for example can cause the controller to get hot.

To protect itself it then drops to a reduced power level your chair feels gutless! The standard setting is a very conservative 55 degrees on most powerchairs. Depending on powerchair model and control system.

Well the manufacturers don't want to be replacing these controllers under warranty so its a good safe figure "for them". Its too low for me. Thing is it causes me grief because I am an animal! It cuts in and slows me down in summer if I am working the powerchair hard. The controller doesn't measure motor temperature just its own temperature. Motors don't get very hot anyway. So if you suffer power loss in sport, on hills, set it a little higher.

It will be fine. But if it DOES fail, don't blame me! Your call! Life's too short for a safety Nazi Manufacturer "safe" settings I accept the small risk and don't care if it fries! In 12 years of abuse none have done so yet. If you are careful and worry about these things leave it alone! Or raise it a little. Mines set to 15 seconds. This drops the maximum current to a chosen elsewhere lower level after 15 seconds if your motors are stalled.

It is supposed to protect the controller, but more so the motors and wiring from excessive current burning them up if say you reverse to a wall and try to push it down Nothing else uses that much current other than turning on a ramp, or thick carpets or grass.

Standard setting is 30 Secs on mine which is too long. Your choice! When the above stall condition happens or when overheat happens as set above this is the amount the current is limited by to allow cooling to happen.

Standard setting is 50 percent on many chairs. Its a sensible figure. Mines set to 80 because I have more sense than to overload stalled motors for more than a few seconds.

If I do I smell burning or hot wiring then I would stop murdering it! Most are set much lower so your chair goes very sluggish Unfortunately that isn't always the case as explained to me by an expert in control systems at Penny and Giles Controls who actually make these control systems.

Based basically on motor impedance. Its not critical really, but too much can cause a lack of control. Only change this in small amounts and start low if unsure! Many Powerchair Manufacturers only make frames and seats.

Everything else such as control systems they buy in. And this compensation figure is not set in stone either, unlike a certain other so called online "expert" would rather have you believe. My original 12 year old F55s powerchair was sent out to the public for years with a compensation setting that was way too low for the old 2 pole motors that it was fitted with. With this setting the chair would barely respond to the joystick at all. It was frankly almost unusable.

And the reason that I was talking to Penny and Giles controls www. They advised my to turn up the compensation to double that figure. At least. They advised 80 to At that setting it was much more responsive and controllable without being jumpy. If you have an F55 with 2 pole motors you can try this. If you have 4 pole motors 40 to 45 is correct! More makes it very dangerous.

So only try this if you know which motors you have. Most Wheelchair manufacturers know little about this stuff so it seems, they just buy it in. Or have it made and "branded" for them. They know how to make all the metalwork and braketry that they sell as wheelchairs. Changing these compensation setting will not make your chair "faster" because you can only get your 80 or amps maximum depending on your controller and no more.

But it will allow you to actually "access" the amps when you want it! To manoeuvre. If you have an early 2 pole motor F55 powerchair you can and sunrise advise you to retrofit the later 4 pole motors.