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swalker

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Joined
Dec 11, 2014
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1,576
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DX MND
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07/2014
Country
US
State
CO
City
Vail
To my surprise, my PWC once again has a problem. When I tried to charge it Thursday night, the red "fault" led lit up on the charger. The chair will not take any charge at all with that charger.

Of course this happened at the start of our July 4 holiday, for which I had big wheelchair plans:(

The manual says it is most likely either failed battery(ies) or an internal fault in the charger.

I have about 20% charge left in the battery and am pretty constrained trying to make it through the weekend until I can get in touch with the wheelchair place.

I have some questions:

  1. Can anyone with a Permobil wheelchair provide any insight into what the red led on the charger really means? The manual has pretty limited information on this and googling has not turned up much
  2. What happens when you need new batteries? Is it a 6-week delay like I have been told a wheelchair repair will take?
  3. How long have your batteries lasted? Less than 6 months and 300 miles of use seems like a very short life for them.
  4. I just can't be without my wheelchair. In addition to a backup wheelchair, I am now considering having a backup set of batteries on hand.

I appreciate your insights and opinions on this.

To show what I am missing, here are a couple of shots taken about 2 weeks ago of me on singletrack. This is a short section of trail I used to ride my bike on. My wife scouted it for me and I have now done it a half dozen times on a short trek to a beaver pond at a park near our house.

Steve
 

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Oh no! Can't answer any questions but really sorry!
 
It's probably a long weekend too I'm guessing! Steve I really feel for you...it's like losing legs all over again!
All the best for a quick turn around.
God bless, Janelle x
 
Yes, it is a long weekend. Why don't these things happen on a Sunday night rather than the Thursday night before a long holiday weekend?

It is disappointing, but I am making the best of it. I went to a concert last night (The Dallas Symphony Orchestra played Mozat's 25th symphony and Requiem. I took the bus from the parking lot to the amphitheater to conserve my limited battery power. I got a bus driver that had never used the wheelchair lift before. It was entertaining:) Before we were done, 3 folks from the transportation service were involved. It all worked out fine and the concert was magnificent.

Steve
 
i have a permobil and your battery should last longer than that! ive had mine for a year and a half and it has over 400 miles with no battery or charger problems. but i have had a recurring problem with the joystick. i get an error message and my pwc just stops working. weve had luck with manually shutting it down, using the button on the back of the chair near the bottom. this seems to reset it. it gets rid of the error message and i can use it again. now this doesnt fix it 'for good' - i still have to take it in to be fixed, but this 'quick fix' will get me thru a weekend. i have a spare pwc - a pretty beat up working permobil. that way, we can swap parts back and forth between the 2 chairs and, hopefully, well always have one working chair. try manually shutting it off for about 5 seconds and see if it will then take a charge. cant hurt . . .
 
Wow, is there such a thing as a PWC lemon? I wish I had some advice for you! I think I'd be calling Permobile and leaving messages if the dealer is closed over the weekend (this was a new chair, wasn't it?).
 
I definitely think you need back up battery considering the hard miles you put on that chair. Hope you're back out exploring soon!
 
We found the PERMOBIL rep in our area would come within a day or two if there was a problem- and he gave us the number to reach the permobil rep when we were out of state. If you dont get a quick response from your rep,call the company. PERMOBIL does a lot of business with the VA- so certainly dont want to blemish their reputation. We we're told the battery should be good for 2 years.
 
A new battery should last ~12 months, irrespective of miles of use. And we never had a charger "fault" from a low battery, just that "charges" lasted shorter and shorter periods. This sounds silly but did you make sure that the outlet the charger is on is still live (circuit breaker not tripped) and that the little toggle switch on the charger, if any, that selects the battery type is in the correct place?

Occasionally we did have a joystick error, which turning the chair off and then on again fixed. I would check the cable connections for pinches.

New batteries should be covered under your insurance policy as "replacement parts," so you should be able to get new batteries within a day or two (whatever lead time is needed to schedule a service call), without any prior authorization or paperwork required. Make sure when the tech comes that s/he tests the battery and the charger itself before doing anything.
 
My pals Permobile M300 (9 months old) quit suddenly on the 4th. There is a switch on the lower back - in our case behind a rubber cover - with a "Main Fuse" label above it with an on/off switch. Our engineer neighbor friend found it and turned the switch on - it had been off but no idea why, I had no idea it was even there. Turning it on activated the whole chair & charger again.
In trouble shooting prior to that, the charger would only light the one, orange to me, light at the top of the charger but wouldn't charge chair or work at all.

Sherry
 
Thank you for all the suggestions and commiseration.

I have checked the wall outlet and it is fine. I have tried different outlets as well.
I have cycled the power on the chair several times.
I have checked the main switch on the chair and it is in the proper position.

The chair operates fine, though I am about out of battery power after the weekend. I plan to call the wheelchair place first thing in the morning and start the process of getting issue resolved.

We had a great weekend in spite of the chair not having much juice. I took the bus more, just wheeling the chair short distances to and from the bus stop or car. I did not get to go on any long treks, but we had a great time. I will let everyone know what I find out from the wheelchair place.

Steve
 
My wheelchair is working again!

We went to Denver yesterday to have it evaluated. The chair and batteries are fine. The charger had died.

I now have a loaner charger while they procure me a permanent replacement.

Steve
 
When you get the "new" charger, make sure it's really new. It's possible you got an older one last time. Though lemons are always possible, it should not have died so soon.
 
Steve you are just awesome...truly a Glass Half Full bloke!
I'm so glad your chair is all good...

God bless, Janelle x
 
hey steve, glad your back on the road! nice pics. i will send out some of my new Frontier V6 asap. from the look of that trail maybe the good chair fairy could git you a Frontier v6. this chair is great and goes any where and my land is rough. good luck and keep on trucking! chally
 
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