Chinese toy chair - Guilty as charged

[rickystyx]

OK I bought a toy chair for a very specific purpose - I really need a chair more than ever now. I can manage a few steps but that is incredibly painful. I have my Ottobock which I take on holidays as it will go into restraunts, ferry lifts etc. This is one option I have when going away the other is to take the Meyra but that is no use at all in restricted space like shops and restraunts. So both options are available when I take my car with a set of very long ramps but they are not useable if I tow our Caravan at least not until it is unhitched. This is where the problem is - I need a chair when I get out of the car to travel around the ferry and also one that will go into my wifes tiny citroen to get into the doctors or hospital - hence the toy chair.
So for these very specific times I got hold of a Foicare FC-p1 which is rated for 200KG - it does what it is supposed to in its own way - litterally - it steers like a bloody wobble board when you are pissed.
Does anyone have any idea of which programer might be used for improving the settings on it?
The Q code on the joystick takes you to a porn site so that wasn't much help.
I'm about to take the controller etc off to try to find details as the lable isn't viewable without stripping the chair down but will update when I can but perhaps someone has had experience of these rather awful Chinese chairs?

[Burgerman]

Many ask the same question. One got some basic software after contacting the maker. But theres many variations.

ike a bloody wobble board when you are pissed.
Does anyone have any idea of which programer might be used for improving the settings on it?

No. But again the real question is WHY does every powerchair have "turn and stop turning" accelleration/delays all programmed in from new? Non of them are safe.

Before even considering any powerchair I have 1 rule. Get a OEM level or better programming tool FIRST. Or look elsewhere.

[rickystyx]

I went with what I could get at the right price - I will try the manufacturer as it really isn't acceptable that they are sent out like this.
What amazes me is that the guy I got it off has been using it like this for the last 5 years.
I suppose if you don't know what can be achieved then people accept whatever they are given.

[Burgerman]

That "steering" behavious is common to a greater or lesser degree across every brand, expensive or cheap on every last chair I ever looked at. They think that its good.

And the vast majority of end users either do not ever change it. Or when frustrated enough they TRY but you cannot really do anything much with an end user/dealer level programmer due to some settings you need being restricted in the amount that you can set (walls) or missing altogether. So even those that try end up with a chair thats only marginally better than unsteerable. Worse, the "techs" that program them generally dont have a clue. I was talking about this to the local wheelchair services "tech" guy recently. He also does beds! Came to swap an air cell.

He said that in 15 years he has only programmed one chair. The OT told him to "slow it down a bit as the user couldnt control it. And he admtted that he didnt know if they still had a programmer or what it was. These are your experts. Its all hopeless. Unless you help yourself.

[martin007]

That "steering" behavious is common to a greater or lesser degree across every brand, expensive or cheap on every last chair I ever looked at. They think that its good.

And the vast majority of end users either do not ever change it. Or when frustrated enough they TRY but you cannot really do anything much with an end user/dealer level programmer due to some settings you need being restricted in the amount that you can set (walls) or missing altogether. So even those that try end up with a chair thats only marginally better than unsteerable. Worse, the "techs" that program them generally dont have a clue. I was talking about this to the local wheelchair services "tech" guy recently. He also does beds! Came to swap an air cell.

He said that in 15 years he has only programmed one chair. The OT told him to "slow it down a bit as the user couldnt control it. And he admtted that he didnt know if they still had a programmer or what it was. These are your experts. Its all hopeless. Unless you help yourself.

In Spain the level of professionals is just as bad.
They only want your money...

[rickystyx]

The level of "expertise" doesn't really surprise me since almost everything is made as disposable these days so if a part doesn't work the "expert" only haas to replace it. There is a much lower skill level in doing things this way so the pay is kept low as well and of course you get what you pay for.
That really doesn't help us of course and as I said many people will just accept that things have to be just as they are because they don't know that things can actually be better.

A silly question but is there any danger to chair or computer if I connected a P&G lead into the chair and opened the vr2 programmer to see if anything comes up - I don't know enough about the electronics to just try it. The joystick does look like P&G but then it is just a plastic moulding that might have been copied

[Burgerman]

A silly question but is there any danger to chair or computer if I connected a P&G lead into the chair and opened the vr2 programmer to see if anything comes up - I don't know enough about the electronics to just try it. The joystick does look like P&G but then it is just a plastic moulding that might have been copied


I doubt it will work, but I also think it wont hurt anything if wired correctly.

[Marcelo]

That "steering" behavious is common to a greater or lesser degree across every brand, expensive or cheap on every last chair I ever looked at. They think that its good.

And the vast majority of end users either do not ever change it. Or when frustrated enough they TRY but you cannot really do anything much with an end user/dealer level programmer due to some settings you need being restricted in the amount that you can set (walls) or missing altogether. So even those that try end up with a chair thats only marginally better than unsteerable. Worse, the "techs" that program them generally dont have a clue. I was talking about this to the local wheelchair services "tech" guy recently. He also does beds! Came to swap an air cell.

He said that in 15 years he has only programmed one chair. The OT told him to "slow it down a bit as the user couldnt control it. And he admtted that he didnt know if they still had a programmer or what it was. These are your experts. Its all hopeless. Unless you help yourself.

In Spain the level of professionals is just as bad.
They only want your money...

Unfortunately, that's exactly what it is!

[rickystyx]

Well having taken things apart since the control box also only had a Qcode on it which also went to a porn site - interesting in its own way but unhelpfull in finding out the sort of joystick information I need.
Anyway dismantling the joystick provided a better bit of information as it had a moulding stamp for Yuan Lang and from their site I found the bits -
http://en.njyuanlang.com/product/29.html
Typically it has been a long keyboard journey as the place that sold the chair has closed down and the only other importer I could fine had been imprisoned for conning disabled people. I've tried emailing the chair manufacturer but of course they will just buy things in and put them together.
I've tried talking to Lithtech who obviously are selling the same chair with their own lable on but they don't let people who have bought from elsewhere rent their programmers.
So I have emailed the factory that make the units to see if I can get a programmer from them.
I'm fairly sure that the same set up is used on nearly all of these Chinese chairs but sadly those who import them are not exactly helpful unless you spend lots of money with them.
If I can't get a programmer then I guess I'll be stripping a doner chair for motors and adding my old VR2 system since it is only a shopping chair.
I'll keep looking for a programming option first but I suspect not being able to write in Chinese is going to make things somewhat harder

[martin007]

Well having taken things apart since the control box also only had a Qcode on it which also went to a porn site - interesting in its own way but unhelpfull in finding out the sort of joystick information I need.
Anyway dismantling the joystick provided a better bit of information as it had a moulding stamp for Yuan Lang and from their site I found the bits -
http://en.njyuanlang.com/product/29.html
Typically it has been a long keyboard journey as the place that sold the chair has closed down and the only other importer I could fine had been imprisoned for conning disabled people. I've tried emailing the chair manufacturer but of course they will just buy things in and put them together.
I've tried talking to Lithtech who obviously are selling the same chair with their own lable on but they don't let people who have bought from elsewhere rent their programmers.
So I have emailed the factory that make the units to see if I can get a programmer from them.
I'm fairly sure that the same set up is used on nearly all of these Chinese chairs but sadly those who import them are not exactly helpful unless you spend lots of money with them.
If I can't get a programmer then I guess I'll be stripping a doner chair for motors and adding my old VR2 system since it is only a shopping chair.
I'll keep looking for a programming option first but I suspect not being able to write in Chinese is going to make things somewhat harder

You are welcome to the present.
Such is society and the world.


P.S. Everything is going to get worse.