Maintaining your power chair
Maintaining your power chair
Power wheelchairs are an investment for most people. Frequent maintenance of your power chair is very important in keeping your wheelchair in good shape. While a power chair is designed to have a long life span, this can only be fulfilled if the user takes care of their wheelchair on a consistent basis.
Power wheelchairs come standard with a battery to power the chair and a battery charger. While the chair itself needs to be maintained, it is also important for the battery to receive the proper maintenance.
The power wheelchair user must learn how to maintain their wheelchair when it is received, or before receiving the equipment. This will allow the user to start a maintenance routine that can make your power chair last longer then if there is no maintenance.
Maintaining the battery
An important factor in keeping your power chair healthy is to charge it frequently. The most recommended time to charge your wheelchair is when you are sleeping during the night, this is a perfect time to charge your wheelchair battery.
Even if you are not using the chair for prolonged periods of time or if the chair is not used for a while, you should always charge your battery to prevent damage or deterioration of the equipment.
Knowing your power chair is an important step towards prolonging the life of your power wheelchair. You should read every piece of literature available for your chair or the chair you are thinking of buying. The product manual is the most important literature available for your chair. It should explain to you how to properly maintain and use the chair.
Maintaining through a schedule
Sometimes wheelchair manufacturers provide a timetable or maintenance schedule of when it is important to maintain your chair. Although this may be the case with some products, it is better to preemptively draw out a schedule to follow on a weekly or daily basis.
It is also important to learn what function each component of your wheelchair has, this will allow you to troubleshoot problems that may arise during use. Most manufacturers post user guides on their websites that can provide insight into technical issues.