FAST FLAWED ELECTRIC WHEELCHAIR
Sunday, October 11, 2009 at 3:24PM 
In my early days of quadriplegia I had this electric wheelchair, gosh it must've been 30 years ago, and it was really fast, but it did have some safety issues. The chair was made by a company called 21st-Century, and I believe it was one of the first chair they ever made. It had two huge 24 V belt drive electric motors, and I'm guessing here, but I figure it went about 11 or 12 mph. That's very fast for electric wheelchair, I don't think you can get one that fast anymore, especially now, because the government regulates the top speed for electric wheelchairs (Big brother doesn't want us gimps hurting ourselves). It was the fastest chair I ever owned, and I had a lot of fun in that chair.
Back then wheelchairs didn't have automatic braking, or the fine direct control they have now, so if you let go of the joystick the chair would coast uncontrollably, and the only thing slowing you down was the friction within the motor and gearbox. There wasn't enough friction to slow you very much, so in order to go downhill safely you had to gently hold the chair in reverse and slowly descend. This technique had a relatively high pucker factor, because if your hand slipped you could run into some real problems, so when you came to a steep ascent or descent there was no other choice, but to guts up and go for it.
Nowadays it's a whole new ballgame. Electric Wheelchairs are directly controlled by the joystick no matter the incline. You don't have to use reverse to stop, and If you push all the way forward on the joystick going down hill you can't get going much faster than on flat ground. When you relax the pressure on the joystick you slow down, and when you release it the chair stops within a few seconds. One is no longer required hold a wheelchair gently in reverse to descend in a controlled survivable fashion. Computers, direct drive, and automatic braking, make wheelchairs not only much more reliable, but also much easier and safer to drive.
The lack of today's advancements made those old electric wheelchairs dangerous. If the chair's electronics failed, you lost power, or for some reason you lost your grip on the joystick, the chair rolled uncontrollably. Some chairs failed more than others, and some chairs rolled faster than others. That old 21st-century had very little friction in its motors, so going down hill was always a little dangerous. I was very conscious of the fact that If my hand lost the joystick, even for a few seconds, I had better regain control quickly, or things would get dicey very fast. Thankfully I never got badly hurt, but I had my scares.
Even with all its problems I still loved that speedy chair. So long as power was getting to the motors I felt relatively safe. But herein lies the chair's great flaw. Because the motors were so big and powerful they pulled a lot of current, going up a hill they pulled even more, sometimes those big ass motors needed too much power, and that's when things could get very bad.
The manufacturer used a heavy duty fuse to protect the electronic control module from excessive current. Sadly, the fuse's purpose was all too often utilized. On a number of occasions when cruising up a steep hill, and pulling a fair amount of current, the fuse would melt and the chair would die. There is no worse place for one of those old electric wheelchairs to die than right before it reaches the top of a steep hill, because it quickly turns and begins accelerating down the hill, and your only choice is to ride it out, hold on tight, and pray (if you believe in divine intervention).
I used a variety of techniques in an attempt to avoid the dreaded fuse fry. Stopping numerous times while going up a hill so that the innards of the chair could cool. Zigzagging up a steep hill in order to decrease the intensity of the power draw on the batteries. But the very best technique was to avoid steep hills altogether, sadly that wasn't always possible. In the end I was occasionally forced to endure some very hairy rudderless wheelchair rides.
The with worst part of the whole deal was the fact that I never knew when the chair would fail. The damn thing would ascend numerous hills with no problem, my confidence in the chair would grow, and then one day I would be at the top of a hill, thinking everything was cool, and the chair would fail.
I remember clearly the first time I lost power in my 21st-century wheelchair. It wasn't long after I had begun attending Cabrillo College in Aptos California just south of Santa Cruz. The school is chiseled into a steep hill on the edge of forested Nicene Marks State Park, and barely fit for Mountain goats let alone wheelchairs. They had small electric carts that the wheelchair students could roll onto, and used to get around the steep campus. I didn't like using these carts, they were too much of a hassle, so I would often roll to the southernmost parking lot that abutted one side of the campus, and because the parking lot wasn't quite as steep as most of the paths on campus, I used it to navigate between campus levels.
One day I was relaxing in the campus's small quad late for physics class. I was geographically very close to class, but to get there I had to go up 40 yards of a steep asphalt path. I didn't feel like taking the safe route, and rolling all the way to the parking lot, up the hill, and all the way back to class (a good five minute roll). So I figured I'd give the direct route a try. I was never sure why I attempted this foolish maneuver, but I did, and at the time it seemed a rational choice. After all I had made it up the path before, albeit never alone. My previous ascents had been supplemented with human muscle power.
I had it in my head to make a solo ascent, so I went for it, but just meters before the classroom door, and nearly at the top of the incline, all wheelchair power ceased. The chair whipped around, and quickly began accelerating towards a sunlit Quad full of people. Somehow, despite being unable to steer, and traveling at higher and higher rates of speed, I remained on the pathway.
I reached the Quad moving at record breaking speed ( I've never gone so fast in a wheelchair before or since), and heading straight for a circular mound of ivy about 30 feet in diameter. Surprisingly I didn't hit a single person as it charged through the quad like a driverless chariot drawn by a crazed stallion. When the chair finally hit the ivy it stopped, I, on the other hand, was catapulted into the air, and landed a few yards from my chair face down in the soft, deep, mysteriously infested ivy. Vulnerable.
The first thoughts that came to mind lying prone and blinded in the thick ivy were; I can't believe I'm not injured, and this is so very embarrassing. It all happened so quickly that I never had a chance to be frightened. Within seconds my fellow students were assisting me, helping me up and into my chair, brushing detritus from my clothing, and assuring themselves that I was all right. There was great concern, and everyone was very kind. I uttered many thank you's through my sheepish embarrassment, and was very conscious of all the eyes upon me. I wanted to get away.
Once I was in my chair, and feeling secure, I realized I would require further assistance. so I asked a few Of my larger rescuers if they would push me over to the disabled services office, so I could see about repairing my chair and getting home. It was then I learned a great trick for replacing fuses. One of the guys working in the office cut a piece of coat hanger, and used it to replace the old melted fuse. Within minutes I was rolling again. It turned out to be a great temporary fix, and I would use it again many times during the years I owned that freewheeling 21st-Century electric wheelchair.
After that incident I never attempted a steep hill in that chair without the presence of a strong able-bodied human who could give the motors an assist, and, if worse came to worse, stop the chair and me from careening down hill. I was saved numerous times by people walking with me on hills. But even after I became more wary and careful I still ran into problems. Now and then while out rolling alone the chair would fail, usually on a slight incline, and I would be left stranded with screwed up foot pedals.
Finally I was forced to say goodbye to that old chair and move on. But I still have one great frustration with today's electric wheelchairs, they're too slow. And sometimes when I'm driving my new beautiful electric wheelchair downhill at 7 miles an hour, I pine away for the breakneck speed of that old scary 21st Century wheelchair.
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