Battery charger for power chairs

Billbo

For those users of a power wheelchair I have fitted a waterproof and silent battery charger to my wife's chair. This means she is able to charge her chair when in meetings or on the train. She doesn't have to hunt for her charger and she doesn't have to include her battery charger in her luggage when flying so can carry more luggage. Also she can control the battery charger on a mobile phone app as it is bluetooth enabled.

Pippa_Alumni

Great tip, thanks for sharing @Billbo!

exdvr

@Billbo    thanks for an interesting post.  Can you post more specific details please?  I've only ever seen the type that will run off the car battery but will drain the battery if left connected when the engine is turned off.

Best wishes.

Billbo

The wheelchair i fitted this to is a invacare storm 4. The battery charger i adapted is a Victron blue 24Volt 8Amp IP65. I made two changes to the charger connections. 1. i replaced the two pin mains plug with a UK rubberised weather proof three pin plug. 2. I replaced the battery leads with an XLR plug. Remember the XLR plug has a safety feature built in that tells the chair it is attached to the charger and disables the chair so you dont drive off plugged into the wall. This is a thin wire from the nuetral pin to the centre pin. I then shaped an aluminium plate onto the side panel of the control arm to which i attached the charger and a clip for the XLR plug to dock and a rubberised three pin socket (I sealed of the empty cable entry with silicon) as a dock for the 3 pin plug. I used M4 bolts and lock nuts to attached the charger, plate and XLR docking clip to the armrest and HD doublesided tape to attached the 3 pin socket.
Virgin trains have plug in points and most conference centres, hotels etc will let you plug in.
Hope this is useful.