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Electric Wheel Chair

4440

Member
Location
South Suffolk
Looking at a semi off wheel chair.
Looked at conventional wheel chair and adding a power unit to drive the chair.
The proper conversion is over 4k
Looked at a electric bike conversion for under under £700.
Has anyone done anything similar?
Thanks
 

Robt

Member
Location
Suffolk
Neat idea, can i ask how much mobility the user has? I have looked at getting an old quad bike then making it electric with parts from a mobilty scooter. Speed isnt necessary but range of say 5 miles is.
Will follow your build (If you do one) with interest.!
 

4440

Member
Location
South Suffolk
The build is very much in its infancy, lots more research todo.
I like the idea of using a wheelchair, it can be broken down for transport.
The back wheels can be a assisted by the driver in off road conditions.
As we know, big wheels travel better than small wheels off road.
The driver has used of their legs but finds walk any distance painful and tiring.
So unable to keep up with his young family
Good luck with your project, it will be very interesting.
 

Robt

Member
Location
Suffolk
The build is very much in its infancy, lots more research todo.
I like the idea of using a wheelchair, it can be broken down for transport.
The back wheels can be a assisted by the driver in off road conditions.
As we know, big wheels travel better than small wheels off road.
The driver has used of their legs but finds walk any distance painful and tiring.
So unable to keep up with his young family
Good luck with your project, it will be very interesting.
thanks!
Sounds similar to my mate (Severe ME) . Looking at also possible extending wheelbase of his mobility scooter and fitting quad type wheels . Poss look for cheap chinese scrap quad as doner vehicle .
 
The cheap in cheerful kit the OP has linked too is so cheap there's almost no harm in taking a punt. At least you can be semi-confident that the pieces will fit together and it will more or less work out of the box. If not, you're £170 down but you've had a bit of fun.

The thing to watch is that most of these kits do not include the battery. For a 48V system, you'll need 4 lead-acid batteries in series, which will either have to be quite large or paralleled up to give you the endurance. They should also be "leisure" batteries to ensure they're happy being cycled deeply. A lot of people run into trouble in projects like this because they use old car batteries which are half-knackered to begin with then totally knackered after being allowed to go flat a couple of times. You'd most likely need four separate 12V chargers.

Lithium Ion offers a pretty drastic improvement in terms of energy to weight ratio but with a price tag to match. Companies like Tracer Power will do Lithium Ion cells built into 12V drop-in replacements for lead-acid golf buggy batteries. That might be a good place to look but be warned, their stuff isn't cheap.
 

4440

Member
Location
South Suffolk
The cheap in cheerful kit the OP has linked too is so cheap there's almost no harm in taking a punt. At least you can be semi-confident that the pieces will fit together and it will more or less work out of the box. If not, you're £170 down but you've had a bit of fun.

The thing to watch is that most of these kits do not include the battery. For a 48V system, you'll need 4 lead-acid batteries in series, which will either have to be quite large or paralleled up to give you the endurance. They should also be "leisure" batteries to ensure they're happy being cycled deeply. A lot of people run into trouble in projects like this because they use old car batteries which are half-knackered to begin with then totally knackered after being allowed to go flat a couple of times. You'd most likely need four separate 12V chargers.

Lithium Ion offers a pretty drastic improvement in terms of energy to weight ratio but with a price tag to match. Companies like Tracer Power will do Lithium Ion cells built into 12V drop-in replacements for lead-acid golf buggy batteries. That might be a good place to look but be warned, their stuff isn't cheap.

Thanks for that, I will have to think about more about the battery's, looking to be the most expensive part of the project.
 

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Webinar: Expanded Sustainable Farming Incentive offer 2024 -26th Sept

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On Thursday 26th September, we’re holding a webinar for farmers to go through the guidance, actions and detail for the expanded Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) offer. This was planned for end of May, but had to be delayed due to the general election. We apologise about that.

Farming and Countryside Programme Director, Janet Hughes will be joined by policy leads working on SFI, and colleagues from the Rural Payment Agency and Catchment Sensitive Farming.

This webinar will be...
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