I deal with wheelchairs, electric wheelchairs, oxygen systems, CPAPs, spirometry, and more every day.
Electric wheelchairs are built to be very rugged and dirt simple.
There are 2 problems:
The first problem is insurance. People expect their insurance to cover everything. If they need a new set of 35 AH SLA batteries, they will throw their old chair away and ask for a new chair on insurance.
The second problem is that wheelchair users are disabled. As an able-bodied nerd with a socket set and a few wrenches, I can repair an electric wheelchair. A disabled person usually can not do that. They can not even follow the (good) advice to use an external charger instead of the (garbage) charger built into most wheelchairs; they physically can not get to the relevant parts.
Home oxygen companies send people out on short notice to debug, repair, or replace home oxygen equipment. If you want insurance to cover electric wheelchairs, then rent them instead of selling them and include service visits.
The problem with shipping an electric wheelchair back for service is that this thing weighs almost 100 pounds without batteries and is a very odd shape. Before anyone complains, you want it to be heavy so it will not tip over when the human (who is high up) leans over, takes a corner, or drives sideways on a slope.
If you want a less-insurance-intensive solution, pass a right-to-repair law that (1) requires all electric wheelchair parts to be marked with a manufacturer and part number, and (2) requires all electric wheelchair makers to sell parts for a decade or two after they stop selling the chairs. If they use industry-standard parts, and mark the parts as such, they should be relieved of the obligation to carry the parts for 20 years. Here's an example: Include a label on the chair saying that all bolts are either m6x60mm or m4x25mm and that all red and black electrical connectors are PP75 series Anderson Power Poles.
Here is a case that drove me nuts: I was dealing with an electric wheelchair that had some odd version of Anderson PowerPoles connecting the batteries and motors. These connectors had been knock-offs, and the reseller of these (Chinese-made) connectors lost a patent lawsuit to Anderson (before their patent expired.) One connector broke and was impossible to replace. I would gladly pay $100 for a single connector, but they do not exist. Before someone says to replace both ends of the connector, this is a connector mounted in a custom bracket with almost zero clearance as the chair's seat fits right on top of the bracket, connectors, and wires.
> If they need a new set of 35 AH SLA batteries, they will throw their old chair away and ask for a new chair on insurance.
> One connector broke and was impossible to replace. I would gladly pay $100 for a single connector, but they do not exist. Before someone says to replace both ends of the connector, this is a connector mounted in a custom bracket with almost zero clearance as the chair's seat fits right on top of the bracket, connectors, and wires.
So.. which is more prevalent.. users throw away their chairs because they expect to live high on the hog off insurance, or users throw away their chairs because any form of replacement is often met with these arbitrary and senseless complications?
> So.. which is more prevalent.. users throw away their chairs because they expect to live high on the hog off insurance, or users throw away their chairs because any form of replacement is often met with these arbitrary and senseless complications?
Those who can work on chairs themselves do so. Those who can not work on chairs do not.
If you have on idea what kind of connector a 12V 35AH battery would have, and have no way to disassemble your chair to replace the batteries, then you can not realistically replace those batteries. Add in living off $1,400 a month and you see why someone would ask for a free wheelchair instead of paying $250 for an uncertain chance at repairing their wheelchair.
> One connector broke and was impossible to replace.
This is not a solution that would help the wheelchair user, but if you have a set of inexpensive ($10 bought in the US, less from china) 3" digital calipers, you could likely measure the socket and get it 3D printed. I've done it for obsolete electrical connectors in cars and while it takes time and some effort, it's very doable.
These are high-current (30-50A range) connectors though (for the wheelchair traction batteries). Getting the positioning correct so that the spring tension in the metal terminals creates a reliable/low-resistance/non-sparking connection is a shared contribution from the geometry of the metal terminal and the plastic housing (as opposed to most low current (0-5 Amp) electrical connections, where the connection geometry is most commonly provided by the metal geometry alone and the plastic's contribution is just keeping them "organized and close enough to mate").
I’ve worked on cars and other mechanical things for most of 3 decades. I’ve never needed a sticker telling me what size standard bolts were.
On the broken, ruled as patent-infringing part, what do you want to happen that would comply with patent law? If it was compatible with Anderson, you’d just buy that. Since it wasn’t and the original company isn’t allowed to keep making them…
> I’ve worked on cars and other mechanical things for most of 3 decades. I’ve never needed a sticker telling me what size standard bolts were.
> On the broken, ruled as patent-infringing part, what do you want to happen that would comply with patent law? If it was compatible with Anderson, you’d just buy that. Since it wasn’t and the original company isn’t allowed to keep making them…
That is true of professional mechanics. A disabled guy with a screwdriver who never changed his own oil needs some help.
I did a poor job picking examples. Let's take about the complicated parts.
The joystick controller on most electric wheelchairs uses a very particular connector. If I do not know the brand and model number on that, I am probably screwed.
"Trim" pieces are often required to prevent a disabled person's limp limb from being sucked into a gap near a tire. Trying to order replacements for those is almost impossible.
Electric wheelchairs are built to be very rugged and dirt simple.
There are 2 problems:
The first problem is insurance. People expect their insurance to cover everything. If they need a new set of 35 AH SLA batteries, they will throw their old chair away and ask for a new chair on insurance.
The second problem is that wheelchair users are disabled. As an able-bodied nerd with a socket set and a few wrenches, I can repair an electric wheelchair. A disabled person usually can not do that. They can not even follow the (good) advice to use an external charger instead of the (garbage) charger built into most wheelchairs; they physically can not get to the relevant parts.
Home oxygen companies send people out on short notice to debug, repair, or replace home oxygen equipment. If you want insurance to cover electric wheelchairs, then rent them instead of selling them and include service visits.
The problem with shipping an electric wheelchair back for service is that this thing weighs almost 100 pounds without batteries and is a very odd shape. Before anyone complains, you want it to be heavy so it will not tip over when the human (who is high up) leans over, takes a corner, or drives sideways on a slope.
If you want a less-insurance-intensive solution, pass a right-to-repair law that (1) requires all electric wheelchair parts to be marked with a manufacturer and part number, and (2) requires all electric wheelchair makers to sell parts for a decade or two after they stop selling the chairs. If they use industry-standard parts, and mark the parts as such, they should be relieved of the obligation to carry the parts for 20 years. Here's an example: Include a label on the chair saying that all bolts are either m6x60mm or m4x25mm and that all red and black electrical connectors are PP75 series Anderson Power Poles.
Here is a case that drove me nuts: I was dealing with an electric wheelchair that had some odd version of Anderson PowerPoles connecting the batteries and motors. These connectors had been knock-offs, and the reseller of these (Chinese-made) connectors lost a patent lawsuit to Anderson (before their patent expired.) One connector broke and was impossible to replace. I would gladly pay $100 for a single connector, but they do not exist. Before someone says to replace both ends of the connector, this is a connector mounted in a custom bracket with almost zero clearance as the chair's seat fits right on top of the bracket, connectors, and wires.