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Welcome
1. POWERCHAIR
ONLY:
Detailed Full PowerChair Related ONLY Menu HERE
2. VEHICLE
ONLY:
Detailed Wheelchair Accessible Vehicles ONLY menu HERE
3. EVERYTHING
ELSE:
Detailed Menu of Everything else HERE!
MY OWN
VEHICLES:
Dodge
Grand Caravan
VW Caravelle VR6
MY HOME
BUILT ULTIMATE POWERCHAIRS:
My
SLIGHTLY Modified
Improved Powerchair
Part
1 |
2 | 3
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4 |
5 |
6
My VERY Modified Off Road & All terrain DO ALL
Powerchair!
Part 1
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3
MISCELLANEOUS
POWERCHAIR RELATED:
What
Goes Wrong Power Wheelchairs
Powerchair Tyres
Drive your Powerchair by Radio Control
Powerchairs & Range
Off Road DO ALL Indoor & Outdoor Powerchairs
Off Road ONLY Outdoor Powerchairs & 4x4
Page
1
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2
Manual or Electric Wheelchair?
Why ALL Powerchairs
NEED to be Off Road Capable!
Choosing a Suitable Powerchair
Wheelchair Width
BATTERY
AND ELECTRICAL (POWERCHAIRS & SCOOTERS + MOTOR VEHICLES):
Batteries for Both Vans & Power Wheelchairs
Inverters & Chargers
Very flexible charger!
Charging Batteries
Fast Charge Your Power
Wheelchair
Which batteries to buy
"DRIVE
FROM A WHEELCHAIR" VEHICLES:
Dodge
Grand Caravan 1
Dodge
Grand Caravan 2
Dodge Grand Caravan 3
Dodge Grand Caravan 4
Latest 2008 2009 2010
Disabled Converted Dodge Chrysler And Voyager Minivans
Chrysler Voyager
Entervan Diesel
Suzuki Wagon R
More Here
Mercedes Vito
-
soon!
Kia Sedona - soon!
INSURANCE:
Modified Disabled
Vehicle Insurance
Breakdown Cover
USED VEHICLES & OTHER
EQUIPMENT:
Disabled Adapted Cars
WHEELCHAIR TRANSPORT
& DRIVE BY TRANSFERRING:
VW Caravelle
Dodge
Grand Caravan can be used to transport up to 4 Wheelchair Seated Occupants
Fiat Doblo
Renault Kangoo
-
soon!
Citroen Berlingo - soon!
Citroen Dispatch
- soon!
Kia Sedona
-
soon!
Volkswagen Sharan
Mercedes Vaneos
Toyota Hiace
Fiat Multiplas (Wheelchair
passenger travels in the front)
Kangoo ASSIST (wheelchair
passenger transfers & drives)
ESSENTIAL DISABLED
EQUIPMENT STUFF:
Understanding
Grabbers
Puncture proof tyres
Run Flat tyres
Tyre Weld Aerosol
Fuses!
Spare Key
Wheelchair Ramps
Small Generator
Tools!
VEHICLE ADAPTATIONS:
Control
Systems etc
Hand Controls Manual
Hand Controls Electronic
Van / Car Door openers
Van / Car Wheelchair Tie Downs
OTHER STUFF:
Used Disabled Equipment for sale
How to lose weight FAST!
Email about modifying powerchairs
Keep it looking new 1
2
My Accident!
Climate Change
Electric
Cars are a Joke!
Disclaimer
& About Me
Site
Map
Contact
Links
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Backup or "Spare" Powerchairs
If you are a full time
Power Wheelchair user, as I am, you do really need to have a complete spare
backup Powerchair charged and ready to go. One day your daily Powerchair
WILL let you down!
It need not cost much either.
I have the peace of mind of
having three top end serious powerchairs here, ready to go and fully charged.
None of them cost me more than £500 or $750 if you live in the US.
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Full PowerChair Related ONLY Menu
When you get that failed motor, controller, bearing, connection or tyre. When
you have some unexpected damage or puncture, or when your chair just mysteriously wont turn
on and stops unexpectedly and wont get you home you are completely screwed! At least many people are.
Time to be rescued...
If you have a complete spare Powerchair waiting at home ready to go then
you just need a friend, wife, girlfriend, carer to go get you your own spare
powerchair!
Unlike a hired, borrowed or service industry "rescue" wheelchair,
it will be correctly configured and a known quantity which is always available.
There can be other benefits too.
Your spare powerchair can be "different" to your daily powerchair. For e.g. if
your normal powerchair is a relatively slow, small Powerchair intended mainly
for "indoor" use then maybe your cheap old used spare one can be a bigger
"off road" capable
full speed/range one, designed primarily outdoor use. That way you have some
choice in which chair you want to use depending on what your plans are.
Or for some (myself included) it makes more sense to use two (or
three in my case) Powerchairs that are the "same" or very similar for parts/spares
inter changeability of components and batteries and seating etc. That's all up
to you! Eg. The other day a control pod failed. So I just had a friend
fetch me another complete arm with the pod from home to the pub! That's the
advantage of interchange-ability.
Where do you get a "cheap"
spare Powerchair?
Again that's up to you. Craigslist, eBay, newspapers, friends and relatives,
the corner shops "for sale" lists, forums like my own
& mobility magazines
(there are many) and many other places.
Amazingly its quite possible to pick up some
very good "top end" Powerchairs very cheaply! Just don't be in a
hurry. Another good place is Online Wheelchair Shops or Dealers.
These
mostly push new Powerchairs, (because there's a 50% mark-up on most) but email or call because they generally have a
bricks and mortar business too. Meaning the take old wheelchairs in part
exchange. And don't know what to do with them...
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 I personally bought three Sunrise F55s
Power Wheelchairs (and plenty of other chairs) on eBay over a few
years. All were 500 UK Pounds (about 750 dollars) or much less. All were old. One was hardly used. One was completely usable but
tatty to look at. The third was a mess. Of these the first two were put into
immediate service with just a clean, a set of new tyres and a set of new
batteries.
When you
buy a used powerchair always budget for a set of tyres, and a set of batteries.
F55s from eBay
opposite (approx 500 for an old one) >>>
Batteries age fast. They also deteriorate fast due to lack of regular (bi-weekly)
charging if unused, and all deteriorate through ACTUAL use too with 300 to 400
cycles of use/charge available. The chances of them being good on any used chair
is slim. Even if only a year old the batteries may be bad, due to any of the
above. And if left discharged may be bad after only weeks. Tyres may need
replacing to make the thing "ready to go" so to speak. So what are you
waiting for?
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Having 3 powerchairs has an additional benefit.
Time. I personally have three. I use them in a three year cycle. I have a new
one to use every April. That way at any one time I have one "fresh" rebuilt powerchair in use.
And a second one sat in my living room covered by a
sheet "ready to go" as a "backup chair" also in freshly rebuilt (restored
as / better than new)
condition.
The third one is always under a slow yearly process of being rebuilt better
than new. So in this way I always have 2 chairs in action, and one in bits!
Every year the one I used as the "main" powerchair gets stripped and
rebuilt and I use the spare one as my man chair.
All
three powerchairs together, rebuilt to
this standard cost me less
than one single new powerchair. And they are much better than any new
powerchair! At £1500 to £1700 each.
After a redesign &
total rebuilt >>>
Powerchair Larger
Seems to me that its a no brainer! You MUST have a spare "just in case"
Powerchair if you actually NEED a chair to get about.
Its not just a good idea but an ESSENTIAL requirement.
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Its no use calling your local engineer at 12pm on a Sunday night because your chair has broken down. Or
the UK's Wheelchair Services (which are an absolute joke by the way) as they
will not be available. Or interested.
Even if it just fails at home on a weekday it means you cant go out until "parts
arrive" or someone takes it away to be repaired which can be days to months. Its simply not an option
for any full time user with a life!
You don't have to go mad like I did.
Any old but still serviceable powerchair can serve as a good backup.
Just a quick check over is all that's really needed. After all its just an "in
case" device for your peace of mind...
Go get yourself organised now, before its too late! You will be pleased
you did one day soon.
Burgerman
More Powerchair Related info here!
Full PowerChair Related ONLY Menu
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