Yesterday I had lunch with certified Invacare technician Calvin Craddock. I mentioned to him an interest in designing relocation of the charging ports, Calvin told me that if I were going to make it easier to charge, if that is my ultimate goal, then a charging dock of some sort would be far more effective than plug relocation. The reasoning behind this was that, a charging dock could be utilized by both para- and quadrapeligic users, wheres relocated plugs would only benefit the parapelegic. We talked a bit about the charging problems with Invacares power wheelchairs, Calvin specified 2 kinds of Invacare chair, a high end model and a low end model, the low end model was sold mainly to quadrapelegic users, users with little to no mobility, these units had their charging ports nearly a few inches from the floor and were located in the rear of the chair, this requires an attendant to charge the chair. The other type of invacare chair is the high end model, mainly sold to parapelegic users, these chairs charged through the joystick controller in the front of the chair which is more ergonomic, but the electronics in the joystick controller are said to be, "a bit fragile," in Calvin's words and are almost gauranteed to burnout.
We talked about more about possible solutions, Calvin like my concept sketches of a charging dock and told me that there are no powerchair docks ont he market, nor has he ever seen anything of that kind before. We continued to chat for a bit and finished up lunch. It was a great experience and I plan to consult Mr.Craddock again in the future.
My next plan of action is to meet with a power wheel chair repairman, Scott Bartholomew, and get his take on Invacare's charging options, Scott works with wheelchairs and their users every day so he would have a great insight as to what the user needs.
