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Permalink Reply by Mary Guild on June 26, 2015 at 9:12

First question if you have a scooter/power chair then where do you charge it at the moment if you can't get it into your flat???

If you do need either in flat with you then buy one that's small enough to charge by your bed or within walking distance if you have some mobility.

I live in a flat and I have two power chairs - one for outdoor use and the other for indoor use. I bring in my outdoor one from the car into the hall to charge it and then I transfer into the indoor chair. I transfer from my indoor chair to my bed and charge it there.

If you can't bring scooter or chair into flat but have some mobility then you could always buy one of those little sheds but would need to have an external safe power supply.

Hope this helps.

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Permalink Reply by Ailsa June MacLean on June 27, 2015 at 14:24

I have an electric in-door/out-door wheelchair but not a power scooter so don't really have this problem. If I were to buy a power scooter I would have to purchase a small shed to store it in but the great thing is that there is a charging socket right outside my door but then I live in a ground floor flat. I think it would be fair to all scooter owners if the housing associations supplied garage type buildings to house and recharge scooters. Some associations have garages for car owners so why not for scooter owners. They would need to be big enough to allow a person to transfer into their normal in-door wheelchair if they use one. Using a scooter garage would deal with the fire hazzard problem too. The scooter can be safely locked away while charging.  The housing association could put a key meter in the scooter garages and issue everyone who wishes to use the facility an electric key card which they can top up at local shops the same as they would if their electric meter inside their home is a card meter. They could also charge an extra service charge if you wish to rent one of the 'garages' I can't honestly see any other way around the problem especially if you live in anything but the ground floor flat.

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Permalink Reply by Jamie Long on June 28, 2015 at 13:21

I had to leave my mobility scooter outside, as my flat was up a steep flight of stairs (that ultimately proved too  much for me). As I could obviously not leave the front door open, I fed the cable from the charger to the scooter through the letterbox! It demanded some very accurate parking, but after 3 years, I had it down to a fine art.

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Permalink Reply by Ailsa June MacLean on June 29, 2015 at 12:50

Hello Jamie, I'm so sorry to hear of the problems you've had with keeping and recharging your mobility scooter. Have you tried talking to your housing association  to see if they could come up with a better way of charging and storing your scooter? I know it's like asking for the moon to get any help these days but you never know they might be able and willing to help. I am in awe that you have managed to keep this up for 3 years. I am sure it must have been even harder during the winter months too. I really feel that you shouldn't have had to resort to such extreem measures in the first place. As if having a disability problem is not enough. This is exactly what I mean when I say that if housing associations are capable of providing secure parking for tennant's cars then why not for mobility scooters along with a recharging station? It makes me wonder if, when recharging stations become a common thing for electric cars across Britain, surely providing recharging stations for mobility scooters would not be that hard to supply. Maybe the council could have them put in around the pavements close to accomodation. Sort of like parking meters only the difference is you are hooking it up to the meter and paying for electricity. For security it could be chained or padlocked in some way to the meter and a tarpaulin could be used to keep the scooter clean and dry.

I honestly wonder if a scheme like this or something similar could work. The council would be assured of getting their money back for instilation of the chargers. I hope you get some help soon for your problem. Best of luck, June.

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Permalink Reply by Bob Howie on June 30, 2015 at 13:59

They could have a simple electronic key that when removed, locked all the wheels and steering

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Permalink Reply by Bob Howie on June 30, 2015 at 13:57

I have never understood why there is no solar charging systems for scooters etc. It would be simple, a carbon fibre canopy possibly a back as well with a solar panel on each that could be removed and stowed on the chair somewhere. It would mean anyone could go out for the day knowing it was charging all day and it would ultimately extend their range too. There could be an additional weather guard that clipped onto the frame to protect the person and the chair from bad weather when they are outside.

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Permalink Reply by Ailsa June MacLean on July 1, 2015 at 21:25

I think your ideas are really great, Bob, especially the solar battery charging so that the scooter remains charged all the time. I only have an electric wheelchair so I can't go very far before the indicators start to go down. They try to tell you that you can go for 8 miles but I doubt mine goes 3 miles before warning me to plug it in. It really spoils days out constantly worrying that I'm going to run out of power.

I'm surprised someone didn't think of this for the innovation awards. Maybe you could find someone or a company who would be interested in trying to take this further and because it's your idea you might be able to make some money from it. You never know!

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Permalink Reply by Bob Howie on July 2, 2015 at 20:01

Although I served my time as an electrician I am not up to date with solar technology. I am good with ideas and some designs but when it come to the technical stuff I have a limited knowledge. In fact a lot of things I come up with I always seem to wonder why no-one has thought about it before as it seems so obvious.

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Permalink Reply by Ailsa June MacLean on July 4, 2015 at 14:23

Maybe a letter explaining your ideas to a company who makes solar panels and/or to an electric scooter company would set the ball rolling. They might even be able to point you in the right direction if they can't help.

I had an idea many years ago when I was doing my community nurse training. We had visited an elderly lady who had just returned home from hospital after a mild stroke. She offered us a cup of tea and as we were keen to see how she managed, we agreed. She was on her way back from the kitchen with the tea etc on a trolley and seemed to be managing fine. Unfortunately there was a ramp between the kitchen and the sitting room and as she started down it we could see the trolley gathering momentum so we had to rush in and rescue her. At that moment I had an idea that if the trolley could be adapted to move like the trollies in the airport, i.e. only moving when you pull the haandle up and the brake coming on when you released the handle, or the other way round, then this lady together with many like her could enjoy more independance in the home. My colleague thought it a great idea and when we got back to the hospital we had a word with the Occupational Health department. We all wondered why no one had thought of it before and one of the therapists jokingly said, "You want to patton that idea before someone else makes a mint on it!" I laughed it off but several months later I read in the nursing magazine that a hospital employee had put forward the idea and had made a mint because of it! I have to say I was somewhat upset at the time although I was glad to hear that it was helping people with mobility problems to retain their independance within the home.

The reason I am telling you this is because I think your ideas are really good and I honestly think that you could earn yourself some money while making disabled people's lives better. Inventions are usually not a one person thing anyway. I'm sure many inventions have started as just an idea and then someone else with the technical know-how has run with it. Inventions cost money so it's a case of selling your idea to a company that can make it happen, although you'd have to be prepared for several turn downs before finally finding someone who's willing to invest in it. With your knowledge of electricity you at least know that the idea should work so if I were you I'd get emailing to see if anyone is interested. Oh! and don't forget to write out your idea as technically as you can, date it, sign it and seal it in an envelope. Take the letter to the post office and send it to yourself via registered mail. What ever you do don't open it when it arrives. This is the poor man's copyright because sadly people never seem to give credit to the original inventor or person whose idea it was in the first place. Good luck Bob and if you do go ahead and you ever need someone to step up and say "Yes, Bob Howie was the man who had the original idea for the solar scooter" then I'm your person!

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