The Blog of Daniel

Just my place to write without any delusions of self-importance.

Wheelchair parts

This month's fun project is a lighting system for Laura's new wheelchair.  She had one on her old chair, but I wasn't very impressed with the workmanship of it all, that is if you can count miles of black tape holding stuff together as workmanship.

The one I am working on will consist of 6 bright orange running lights on the sides and back of the chair.  The can stay solid lit or can flash on/off.  The flashing will be controlled by a simple homebrew 555 timer based relay circuit.  For more "fun" lighting, much of the trim will be outlined in the new cold-cathode neon tubing used to trick out cars and trucks.  It makes for excellent visibility.

The hardest part was figuring out how to mount a usable headlight.  The previous techs, and I use that word loosely, black tapes a really awful kid's bicycle light underneath.  The problem was that it was very weak, very low, and very obstructed.  My solution is to mount a 30,000 candle power MagLite to the right arm rest.  With holes drilled right through the casing to allow the arm rest to slide through, it will be very durable and will have no obstructions.

To control it all, there will be a small switch box located on the steering joystick.  Three switches will control the lights, plus 2 push buttons to open the property gate and the front door.

The whole system will be wired with small quick disconnect cables so if something breaks, it will be simple to unplug and replace it.  All cables will lead to a bag in the back of the chair which will contain a 12 volt 15 amp gell cell plus charging system.

I wanted to add a laser but that plan was axed because we don't want to shoot someones eye out.

This is fun!

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