WheelchairDriver

Hello All

I'm here to try to take control of my wheelchair(s). Rehab sent me home with a Permobile F3 that has failed at least 3 times. Before the last repair adventure I bought a Quickie Pulse 6 as a backup while the F3 was in the shop. I use tilt,recline, leg extension to keep edema in check 2-3 hrs per day. My injury is C6 with decent arm movement and shoulder pain. My cushion is a roho hybrid elite due to a girdlestone procedure.

Am living in an apartment independently finally. However I have chair anxiety...getting stuck is a fact...not being able to fix a chair failure and depending on a repair tech is due to my lack of knowledge. This site is the most incredible resource for chairs I've ever seen. I'm guzzling the LiFePO4 koolaid lol. Thxs for activating me Mr Burgerman!

Prior to my illness in late 2014 I worked as a billing programmer for the phone company for 28yrs in Seattle/Bellevue. Before that I spent a few young years working in a rock quarry as a grease monkey, driller, truck driver, equipment operator. My favorite hobby was salmon fishing in a Arima 19 SeaRanger hardtop. It's gone...but I know where in oregon.

My current residence is in Lacey, Wa. I don't want to live in the city anymore...but I am dying to ride the train from Olympia to King Street station and see my city again!

Well you already fixed the first issue, you must have 2 or more chairs...


Permobil though, isnt a great choice if you want reliability and the ability to fix it yourself. They use a lot of one off, custom stuff like seating controllers, and gyros instead of using off the shelf bits like other companies. The only reason they seem to do so appears to be what we call the job creation scheme. For them... It also means that programming chairs may or may not be possible depending on what you want to do and what their custom firmware etc will allow.

Sadly I do not have a rwd chair...which is what most seem to favor. Also have an old TDX (which I think is mwd) sitting under a few feet of cobwebs in storage.

Am overwhelmed with the amount of knowledge here..and how to extract what I must know. Lets assume we don't want to deal with any techs or DME suppliers. I WANT to be able to order parts online and manage without fabrication. Am willing to drill a hole or make a cut, but I do not weld or turn anything on a lathe. Is it possible to maintain either the Permobile or the Pulse 6 myself...albeit with a little help lifting the heavy parts?

The Permobile ICS+R-net appear to be major obstacles not easily overcome without the correct programmers? The programmers are not available to the public if I understand correctly. Is there any point to keeping this F3? It currently shows an occasional leg tilt error, which disables everything. I can't get down and can't move next to the bed or anywhere. As time goes on I won't be able to clear the error by rebooting or disconnecting the joystick module correct? It makes a great coat rack!

The Pulse 6 does everything I need it to do today...but I'd like to understand it better and be able to get decent black drive tires!!! Maybe a new thread on Pulse 6 would be a good idea. Only found 1 thread with "Pulse" in the title. Believe I have the older Pulse 6 split wheels. The Primo brand Duratrap tire has a spec of 2.50-8, NHS standard rim 1.5

Found these: https://www.monsterscooterparts.com/frchti.html

They will work with an inner tube?

Am overwhelmed with the amount of knowledge here..and how to extract what I must know. Lets assume we don't want to deal with any techs or DME suppliers. I WANT to be able to order parts online and manage without fabrication. Am willing to drill a hole or make a cut, but I do not weld or turn anything on a lathe. Is it possible to maintain either the Permobile or the Pulse 6 myself...albeit with a little help lifting the heavy parts?

The answer is that theres always a way. But they dont make it easy. Used or new parts appear on eBay. Almost new chairs go cheap on eBay too.
R-Net parts for e.g, the best and high end parts, also go on eBay 10 or 20x cheaper than the same bits that you will struggle to buy from your DME.
This for e.g.
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=8857 read slowly! You could for e.g. dump the permobil stuff, and fit generic r-net to both your chairs if anything fails from end to end. A chair is just 2 motors, the electrics in the link, and a frame. Alternate parts can be fitted. NEW pats can be used, but you might need to buy from a dealer. In a non inflated price EU country. Or whatever it takes. Thats why you need several chairs. It may take time to fix.

The Permobile ICS+R-net appear to be major obstacles not easily overcome without the correct programmers? The programmers are not available to the public if I understand correctly.

There are ways...

Is there any point to keeping this F3? It currently shows an occasional leg tilt error, which disables everything. I can't get down and can't move next to the bed or anywhere. As time goes on I won't be able to clear the error by rebooting or disconnecting the joystick module correct? It makes a great coat rack!

If it were mine, I would junk the permobil seating module and disable many of the inhibits in programming. And fit R-Net generic parts. It requires a little knowledge. And this viewtopic.php?f=2&t=8857 then theres no permobil firmware, or permobil seating stuff left.
Or I would use eBay or wherever and buy a different chair.

The Pulse 6 does everything I need it to do today...but I'd like to understand it better and be able to get decent black drive tires!!! Maybe a new thread on Pulse 6 would be a good idea. Only found 1 thread with "Pulse" in the title. Believe I have the older Pulse 6 split wheels. The Primo brand Duratrap tire has a spec of 2.50-8, NHS standard rim 1.5

I live in the UK and have not heard of a pulse 6.
I recently bought a brand new rear drive chair, (read the first post IN DETAIL and carefully before scrolling down to take a look). viewtopic.php?f=2&t=7455&start=600#p122818
This is the only chair in the UK that ticks all the essential boxes, and than I did a bunch of equally essential SMALL CHANGES to make it work properly. Resulting in a decent chair. One that I can buy parts for at sensible prices. And that I can program. And that performs properly.
Feel free to start a new thread on a pulse 6!

Found these: https://www.monsterscooterparts.com/frchti.html
They will work with an inner tube?

They will but they are pretty crappy tyres.
There are better, and tubes are better than solids for ride, longevity, and for range.
But tubes are terrible for punctures. Or rather the cheap tyres that many use allow the flimsy tyres to puncture and the tube fails beutifully...
So I tend to swap all my tyres to tubeless, and so way more puncture resistant, stronger road going construction, etc; but that means swapping wheels... Hence the wheels fitted to my chair here viewtopic.php?f=2&t=7455&start=600#p122818 but you dont want to make anything so cannot do this.
So its all a compromise.

I looked up a pulse 6.

In the UK thats called a quickie (sunrise medical) chair, the same as the rear drive one I just bought. Its available as front drive, mid drive, and rear drive.
Called the:
Salsa M
Salsa R
Salsa F

Available with countless seating, power, controller, and motor options on every one.
Rear drive https://www.sunrisemedical.co.uk/powere ... s/salsa-r2
Mid drive https://www.sunrisemedical.co.uk/powere ... e-salsa-m2
MANY other chairs https://www.sunrisemedical.co.uk/powere ... heelchairs

You can find almost new salsa and new Q500, 400, 700 chairs and others on ebay cheaply... And parts are available.
E.G. THE salsa, like yours basically, take your pick! Many different specs and prices. https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from ... r&_sacat=0

Chopped up the parts I wanted to reply to...

This for e.g.
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=8857 read slowly! You could for e.g. dump the permobil stuff, and fit generic r-net to both your chairs if anything fails from end to end.

I did several times...and will again I'm sure.

A chair is just 2 motors, the electrics in the link, and a frame.

Thats what I told the roving DME repair guy!

If it were mine, I would junk the permobil seating module and disable many of the inhibits in programming. And fit R-Net generic parts. It requires a little knowledge. And this viewtopic.php?f=2&t=8857 then theres no permobil firmware, or permobil seating stuff left.

It's sittin here so I might as well throw some money at it and see if I can get it working.

I live in the UK and have not heard of a pulse 6.
I recently bought a brand new rear drive chair, (read the first post IN DETAIL and carefully before scrolling down to take a look). viewtopic.php?f=2&t=7455&start=600#p122818

You have now. I'm encouraged about mine after reading your post.

They will but they are pretty crappy tyres.

Sometimes I'm a pretty crap guy

So I tend to swap all my tyres to tubeless, and so way more puncture resistant, stronger road going construction, etc; but that means swapping wheels... Hence the wheels fitted to my chair here viewtopic.php?f=2&t=7455&start=600#p122818 but you dont want to make anything so cannot do this.

I don't have access to a lathe or a welder. Let me do more searching old tire threads and I'll have more thoughts on this topic.