Obviously the Powerchair manufacturers need some serious help as they don't seem to know what we need!

And if you are buying a chair for general inside and outdoor use it helps you decide what compromises to look for.   The "problem" is that a chair that's good outdoors may be useless indoors... 

So for any manufacturer or designer or buyer, this page is for YOU to read. (And as usual the manufacturers will  ignore it!)   Seriously if you are a manufacturer I suggest you print this out and give it to your "design" department, so they they can ignore it instead...

Requirements for a typical paraplegic active user (myself for example!) are as follows:

SIZE & WEIGHT

• First and foremost LESS is more!   All the manufacturers seem to forget this.  This means both weight and physical height, length, width.  EVERY single Pound or Gram or Millimetre is important here and matters MASSIVELY!   Just because it's "powered" is NOT a reason to build a wheelchair like a locomotive!  And they ALL are.
   

• Every single inch means less manoeuvrability, less access to rooms off corridors, less ability to turn in tight spaces / loos.  Every pound in weight means more wasted battery power, which in turn means bigger batteries are needed to keep the range, which is a vicious circle!  Smaller lighter "tighter" construction means less power requirement, so smaller batteries can be used!   This mean a smaller more manoeuvrable chair can be built around them.
   

• Why make powerchairs so big and heavy?  This is the major cause of the BIG batteries they they then require to manoeuvre and turn all day long!   Chassis and all the multitude of brackets / bolts / footplates / seat frames etc  are almost ALWAYS massively overweight, ill thought out and made from steel that is heavy enough to sink a battleship.

• With some sensible lightweight alloy construction, lighter better thought out components. weight and subsequent battery size, and therefore total chair size can be reduced massively.  Simple things such as lights and indicators that are required here by law are just an afterthought.  The ones on the F55s that I use for example weighed pounds and looked big, ugly, and bashed into everything.  They could easily be replaced (cheaper!) with some tiny aftermarket carbon fibre motorcycle ones, with a weight saving of 700% on these small components alone!  Follow this approach with the whole chair and we get a tighter smaller lighter neater chair altogether.
   

• Total length should be NO MORE than the distance between the back of your head and the tips of your toes when seated.  If it is greater, the chair is a bad design. There can be no argument here its important!  It means turning around in corridors / loos etc would be extremely limited for no good reason!   This effectively rules out mid drive or front drive powerchairs too.  They cannot be made to be this short and need a bunch of extra wheels to prevent them falling over stuck out either behind, in front, or both! 
   

• Total Width should be the distance between your closely tucked in armrests, at the chairs widest point!   All the rest NEEDS to be narrower than this since turning from a corridor say, into a doorway means the "corners" are now the limitation.   More about "corners" to follow...
   

• Footplates / size - Powerchairs typically come with "swing away" (ancient looking tubular things like this) footplates.  Now SOME people actually need these.  But for the vast majority they are just a pain in the butt!  Firstly if you cannot stand (the primary purpose of using the wheelchair?)  you have to "transfer" to bed or van seat etc.  Well this means you have to park alongside your bed/seat and use a slider board or just lift with your hands to get from one place to the other!  Now the damned things are in the way, so you have to move forwards somehow first.  This is both difficult, and dangerous (I finished up on the floor several times). You CANNOT "swing them away", as the bed is in the way.  You cannot remove them because They are needed to support the weight of my legs as I transfer.  So as usual I remove them, and CUT THE MOUNTING BRACKET OFF so that I can:  a) save about 10lb in weight, b) Transfer safely  c) fit a MUCH NARROWER, LIGHTER alloy one. (here)   
  
  The narrowness is extremely important because this forms the "corner" of the powerchair when trying to turn in a tight space like into a doorway from a corridor improving manoeuvrability enormously.

BATTERIES

• The problem with powerchair and wheelchair manufacturers is that they are V E R Y  S L O W to change, move on, advance!   They seem to think that painting the 8 year old iron framed monster a different colour makes it "better" or more appealing.  They get funky names, numbers, fancy stickers and brochures and underneath they are exactly the same as they were 10 years ago.    Batteries are a good example.  The commonly used GEL (Gelled acid) powerchair batteries we all use are by FAR the heaviest part of a powerchair.  You just cannot fit "smaller" ones because then even if they survived each day "just" and got you home you would be discharging them far too deeply.  The problem is that all deep cycle lead acid batteries hate to be discharged really low!  It KILLS them...  Typically you will get 300 "cycles" (days to us) from a deep cycle battery that is discharged to 80 percent used up.  This means that my batteries last 10 months before renewal time...  So why don't the manufacturers use AGM batteries like the OPTIMA ones I use?  They are not MASSIVELY better but they give me both greater range, and weigh less, and are physically smaller than the stock GEL ones?  They last about 500 cycles too...      REMEMBER that the battery is the heaviest part of your powerchair, and it has to supply the power to drag itself all over the town!  Small weight savings here and efficiency improvements pay off enormously in either range, performance, or size and manoeuvrability.

• They COULD (if price was not an issue but it is) also use Nickel Metal Hydride.  These are better still, and they give more cycles, and CAN be discharged to 90 percent or so without problems, and could be much smaller and lighter still.  They could also use Lithium Ion batteries - massively better again, but massively priced!

MOTORS ETC

• As far as motors are concerned, WHY are we still using inefficient old motors with brushes, on ANY wheelchairs???  Its ridiculous. Its as if we are living in the Victorian age.  Brushless motors are far simpler, have no brushes to wear out every 18 months, and far, far more efficient.  They have been around for many years, and again mean less power wastage, so smaller and lighter batteries and chair would be possible.  A combination of AGM OPTIMA batteries, and brushless motors would be a really good compromise, with greater range, less weight than current powerchairs for example.

PROGRAMMING AND POWER CONTROLLERS

• Don't get me started here!  My god, what a minefield.   ALL chairs that I have tried are programmed absolutely abysmally.  Part of the reason is that the manufacturers are scared of people suing them!   So they make sure your chair cannot have any power or manoeuvrability, is massively over damped on its controls and has so little torque that its often hard to steer where you want to go.  And that's the good ones!  This CAN be reprogrammed, but not by the end user or any service personnel.  They only allow a pathetic "user" programmer that allows a small selection of things that make little difference to be adjusted. Partly legislation, partly inability???  I really don't know.  I do know that my own chair (and about 40 others that I have played with for other desperate individuals) now steer and turn properly!  But you need an "engineering" control programmer to do this (at least with the Penny and Giles system) called a PP1b  (NOT the end user PP1b because that is just an ornament!)  My own powerchair settings that I use now are here at the bottom of the page.  These settings do away with ALL the delay, and give more torque at all speeds so proper accurate control can be had!  Finally...  It is MORE DANGEROUS like this because it has full power instantly when you decide to turn, move etc.  Catch it with your jacket sleeve by mistake and break yours or someone else's legs. Your own responsibility.  But the point is that the USER should decide NOT the manufacturer.  As it was I would have had to sell the chair as "unusable" at least by me
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• On a 6 to 8mph chair a controller NEEDS to be 80 amp bare minimum, and preferably bigger.  Anything less relegates it to "indoor use only as far as I am concerned!   If not you will be fighting a losing battle trying to steer accurately on heavy ground, or steep ramps etc.  Less is not a good option!  You will not have enough "torque" for kerbs/uneven surfaces/steep ramps etc whilst having full control.   I replaced my 80 amp one with a direct replacement 100 amp unit and the difference (once correctly programmed) is massive. It has the torque to drive up a kerb for example where it just stalled before.

RANGE

• Range depends on 5 things.  Ignore any "claims" made!  The things that the big manufacturers claim make no sense.  For example on one manufacturers powerchair site they claim 15 miles for the same identical chair in both 4mph and 6mph versions... The only change is the gear ratio.  Taller gears draw more current, and go faster!  But have LESS range.  So the "claim" can only be a guess.  Ignore them.

• Weight! (so the real effect of bigger batteries is very debatable!)

• Gear ratio (speed)

• Battery capacity (and its internal resistance - go OPTIMA!)

• Type of use (hills, indoor)

• Motor efficiency (Go brushless!!!)
  So when looking at powerchairs consider the above five points only! 

CENTRE OF GRAVITY POSITION (we are talking only rear drive powerchairs here as I don't take the rest seriously, they are for indoor/town centre use only I think)

• Why exactly do powerchair manufacturer make them all so stupidly nose heavy???  Manual chairs are made so that they are very "tippy" with most of the weight over the rear wheels.  They do this because that is what allows the thing to steer straight on a non level surface, lift the front small wheels over obstacles etc.  It makes it "easier" to use on a daily basis.   Well I have some news for you wheelchair manufacturers!  THE SAME THING APPLIES JUST AS MUCH to powerchairs!   You build them all like those old "Clive and Jennings" manual wheelchair bombs used by old people!   A boring lesson or three follows... 
   

• When a stock front heavy powerchair comes across a tree root, or uneven pavement, the FRONT heavy wheels stop on the ground!  This is bad!  Because the other two cannot still be in control of your steering if one of them leaves the ground!   I have run into walls, off the kerb onto the road in traffic numerous times because of this ridiculous setup!  When it happens your chair spins around one way or another out of control!   The BLAST powerchair tries to get over this with a swinging front beam so that all four wheels stay on the ground where it isn't level.  But the real problem is the C of G because if it was more rearward, it wouldn't need that fancy beam at the front!  Who cares when just a castor leaves the floor?   The castor does not steer!  It only holds the chair off the ground.  If its in the air its simply redundant!   The fancy front beam swinging arrangement on the Blast chair just adds weight and width.  Ever hear of KISS?  (Keep It Simple Stupid)
   

• On grass, wet surfaces also, NO REAR GRIP!  So you slide into people / obstacles and break your legs!
   

• On a slope, say when travelling along a cambered road edge (as most people do daily) it heads for the low side, the gutter.  This is because most of the weight is on the free to go where they want front castors!!!   Apart from murdering the batteries as you try to force it to go straight (it can take 30 extra amps to travel along a road like this) its dangerous!  On occasions the motors/tyres lose the battle and slip.  You crash into the gutter...  Only a lunatic would see this as the correct C of G!!!
   

• When you turn (or try too) on carpet especially, the chair has to try to turn you with most of its weight over the castors!  It wears out carpets, motors, batteries, and feels awful!
   

• Kerbs, or even small branches, uneven damaged pavements etc all have a couple of inches or more height.  A manual chair can easily wheelie over the obstacle.  A nose heavy powerchair cannot. It crashes into it and either stops dead, or bounces upwards...  On my modified chair with its centre of gravity moved back about 5 inches and its reprogramming, I can easily just "lift"  the front over curbs, tree roots etc.  Also it can wheelie like a manual chair.  And why shouldn't it be able too?  Its useful dozens of times every day.  And the more rearward C of G helps stop all the other problems above too.

SEATING

• Whatever works for you.  I would avoid Recaro's though.  are usually an afterthought, and shift you even further forwards on a usually nose heavy chair causing more control issues.  And they are no good for long term seating unless you have a very special bum!  And...  What do you do with it if it gets "wet" or worse...  Wheelchairs at least Powerchairs NEED to have a large range of adjustment to move the seating back and forwards.  Far enough to get accidental wheelies, because if you don't its NOSE HEAVY! 
   

TYRES

• What is with the fixation for GREY tyres?   GREY tyres  have a few problems for serious users! 

• 1st, the GREY looks crap, and rapidly goes a nasty shade of grey/brown/yellow and looks more crap still!   Black looks less "disabled" or "hospital, and they stay black!

• 2nd, grey tyres are made from a different compound from normal black tyres, that both costs a fortune, (because they can charge more!) and is kind of "crumbly" after a bit of use, instead or sticky!  It doesn't mark shiny hospital floors but it literally crumbles away before your eyes!  The grey front tyres wore out on my chair in 4 weeks.  The black ones that I replaced them with that are both cheaper, better looking, and exactly the same tread pattern, last about 3 to 4 months!  (they come from those tiny mini-moto bikes if you are interested)

• Rear ones are also available in black.  I used to use these.  But I got sick of punctures which leads me to the next bullet point!

• Tubeless Tyres!  Since I used to get dozens of punctures - (normally in the back tyres as objects get flung upright by the front ones) - I looked at the alternatives...  Green (foam) tyres are truly awful! They develop flat spots at the bottom and don't stay round, are heavy, and "soft" while at the same time being hard to push so waste battery power!    They somehow also manage to give an uncomfortable ride at the same!  Well I can see why they are not popular on cars!  And on the front castors they are so heavy that the castor starts to oscillate! Great on fast downhill bits!  Chair tries to spit you out...  So I fitted some different rear wheels, that were cheap, (trailer wheels) fitted with some slightly bigger (faster!) TUBELESS tyres.  Why tubeless?  Because you are approximately 15 to 20 times less likely to suffer a flat tyre according to different tyre companies.  A tube is like a balloon Stick a pin in one and see what happens? Bang!  No tube = no bang.  Small objects cannot deflate it at all because once removed the hole just closes up.  Now since they are much better, cheaper, and more modern, easier to buy from any car/trailer place WITH a wheel why don't the manufacturers fit these!  This does not fix the front tyre puncture problem, but that was mainly glass.  Once the C of G was moved back to where it was supposed to be there is very little weight on them now!  So the glass seems not to hurt them any more.  But it wouldn't matter anyway since I can remove either one of the front wheels now and drive about quite happily!  ANOTHER reason not to have a noise heavy powerchair.

BITS

• Digital clocks come free with a gallon of petrol nowadays, so why cant I have one built into my pod!  I  am always in this thing so it saves me wearing a watch...   This ones easy.

• Charging socket SHOULD NOT be a small XLR socket on the end of 6 feet of cable.  Resistance is too high for the charger to properly sense the batteries voltage while charging, causing the charge rate to fall off too fast from the "bulk" phase.

• Bolts - all shitty zinc plated steel.  These things get used in winter salt you know!

• Paint, Gloss colour paint OK on main frame, all other parts extremely poor, thin, dull..  Corrosion sets in fast.  These things are expensive so get your act together!

• Reliability.  Motors and gearboxes.  I have had 4 sets of motors and gearboxes in 4 years...  Says it all really.  And parts are not available other than brushes, which wear out at about the same time as the cush drives, the gearbox clunking (backlash design prob, they all do it sir).  And ON MY SPECIFIC CHAIR the wheels... These corrode on if fitted dry.  If copper grease is used they fret on the keyway causing yet more backlash...   So they are advised to be changed at the same time as the motors!  All because they incorrectly use a keyway to transfer power both inside and outside the gearbox! (Hello Sunrise???)  These motors are made by EMD so if I were you I would avoid any powerchair where these are used.   For details on this go here

All information on this site is © of the respective writers & contributors, & John C Williamson
Email burgerman@ntlworld.com   -  20 Westlands Ave, Grimsby, N. E. Lincs, DN34 4SP, UK.