New Toy:)

[swalker]

I had posted previously that I was considering adding another wheelchair to my collection. And...I could not resist!

Yesterday, we picked up a Permobil C350 manufactured in July of 2014. That is their rear-wheel drive model which is a bit more compact and nimble than the other front wheel drive and four wheel drive chairs I have.

I don't yet have a controller connected to it that will allow me to see how many miles are on it, but I suspect it was used very little.

I purchased it from a wonderful medical thrift store that I learned about a couple of months ago. The wheelchair had been languishing there for 6 months and they were as happy to unload it as I was to purchase it. The wheelchair needs a lot of work, adjustments, and a few parts to be useable for a typical wheelchair user.

It came with a head array and omni controller, which I don't currently need. It has a long seat pan (even too long for my long legs) but a very short seat back. The armrests were set very low and were very wide apart. There were numerous extraneous nuts and bolts, must of which were not tightened at all. It made a frightful rattling noise getting it out to the wheelchair van. The junction box where the wiring for the head array and omni controller come together was just dangling by wires!

The batteries are Duracell Pros rather than the MKs I prefer, but that should work for now.

The wheelchair was stuck in turtle (Permobil's slow) mode when I looked at it last week and when I picked it up yesterday. I thought this would likely be one or more bad limit switches or bad wiring. It turned out that the seat was "reclined" forward sufficiently for turtle mode to be activated. Once I got it in a more neutral position it left turtle mode and seems to behave as it should.

I think it will take a couple of months to acquire the necessary parts and for my friend to help me get them all installed. I am looking forward to getting to know it and put this wonderful wheelchair back in action.

Steve

 

[DaChief]

Steve,
Sounds like you should start a side business! Enjoy the new project. I have a hard enough time staying motivated to keep even my pool chemicals in line

Bruce

 

[Nikki J]

You are amazing Steve. Congratulations on your new acquisition. Will you be able to change out the seat and back?

 

[chally]

Steve, looks like a project this winter / fall !
As I pm you I am looking at F5 but you got me interested in the C500 . I'll keep ya posted!

 

[KimT]

Nice find, Steve. Best wishes for getting it on the road.

 

[affected]

oooooh there is just nothing like a new toy! well done :lol:

 

[swalker]

My new-to-me Permobil C350 has two controllers. It has a head array and a LED joystick (no LCD screen providing information about speed, range, etc.). Both of these coordinate through an Omni Controller.

Because of this setup, I was not able to see the diagnostics, odometer, tripmeter, speed, etc. That is all available with an LCD joystick controller, but not with the LED joystick controller the C350 has.

So, I threw caution to the wind and plugged the LCD joystick controller from my backup wheelchair into the new-to-me C350. This was a bit of a bold move, because my primary wheelchair is in the shop and not expected to be operational until the end of the year.

Things did not explode, but it did take a bit of time for the controller to register with the RNET brains of the C350. Once it did that there were lots of red lights flashing!

I had learned this is what happens when you change the controller on a Permobil wheelchair, so was not too alarmed. I simply cycled the power and everything worked great.

I was able to discover the C350 only had 35 miles on it and that there are no dire diagnostic codes.

It is currently programmed with different profiles than I need and the programming is locked, meaning I will have to take it to Permobil and have them alter the programming back to my desired tailoring of factory standard. But, everything else seems to work great.

I am adding an LED controller to the list of parts I need to acquire. It is quite a list:

LED Controller
Lateral thigh supports
Lateral thoracic supports
Top half of back rest shell, with associated parts
Swing away joystick controller mount
Back cushion
Probably an RNET extension cord

With all of those things in place, I think I will be able to make this into a very capable and comfortable wheelchair!

I will have to figure out something to do about lights. I like the Permobil light kit, but it is ruinously expensive. I have been using lights from my bicycling days on some of my other wheelchairs and they have worked well, but are getting hard to reach and turn on/off.

I also need to figure out a cost-effective way to add a power seat elevate capability. I think I have figured out what parts I need, but am unwilling to pay the price they go for new.

Wish me luck on this adventure. There are many things that can and probably will go wrong along the way.

Steve

 

[MToole]

On my Omni controller, if I press the plus and minus buttons together for a couple seconds, the screen goes to a new page where I can change the time, see the distance, has a diagnostic page and other items.
Matt

 

[swalker]

Thanks for the tip, Matt. I was not aware of that capability. When we get a chance, we will reconnect the Omni Controller to the wheelchair and give it a try.

Steve

 

[swalker]

Nikki, Changing out the seat back is really pretty easy on these chairs. This chair has the lower part of the seat back that I need. It is the proper width for me. The upper part is missing. That part is not installed for the shortest seat back configuration.

I need among the tallest seat back configurations (I am 6' 3"). The upper part of the seat back simply slides into the lower part and telescopes to the desired height.

So, I just need to find the upper part of the seat back shell in the correct width and I should be good to go. There are a few pieces that need to be attached to the upper part and I will need to make sure I get those as well.

Steve

 

[swalker]

Based on Matt's tip that pressing the + and - buttons on the Omni Controller simultaneously would display the menu with time, distance, etc., we reconnected it and tried it out.

It works great. We now have the LED controller mounted off the right arm rest with the Omni controller mounted directly forward of the LED controller. That combination is not as compact as an LCD controller would be, but allows me to have full function of the wheelchair as I continue to check it out.

Thanks for the tip Matt. I really appreciate it.

Steve

 

[MToole]

Awesome! I'm glad it worked out.
Matt