stairlift

[slim]

anybody know owt about stair lifts????

got 1 at my house for when mother stops but it has not been working for some time. me thinks it could be the batterys but a bit unsure how they work as it as a 240 volt input. think that the batterys are for standby use if there is a power cut. saftey feature i think but thats what i make of it any way. any 1 got any info they would like to share with me that would be great.........or should i find a stairlift forum.... or just try and charge the batterys and hope they dont melt......can ya charge a 12 volt 7ah battery with a normal car charger???

[Vagrant No2]

No Stana man here , but I think they work with out batteries as batteries are for power cut use and to release the lift down stairs when faulty .

I know they go wrong a lot as my neighbour has/had one (she passed away this year) . There are several microswitches to control the lift and descent . I was asked to take a look at it once but did not get involved as I would have stripped it down and then gone for a beer and never gone back , check my history of rebuilds with Jotto (Lotus in bits for 18 years ).

They may just tear my neighbours out and skip it when the builder buys it . I will keep an eye out for it as I am getting lazy and fancy a lift up stairs instead of walking up .

Good luck , you could always put a bed down stairs for her over Christmas ?

[jjon]

anybody know owt about stair lifts????

.....can ya charge a 12 volt 7ah battery with a normal car charger???

Dont know how old yours is but
I have worked on a few over the years. Most of them run only on the batteries when in operation. This makes them independant of the mains (and any fluctuations) while in use. These types usualy "plug" themselves into a charging circuit when they dock at top or bottom. Some if not most will even return to the charging point, (if this is only at one end) after some time of inactivity. The batteries do fail after a time. Nicads good for 500 charges supposedly. Trouble is by the time they have had that many charges they have usualy lost most of their capacity. Also keeping them "topped up" all the time does not realy help. A few full charge and discharge cycles sometimes works wonders. I think you would be better trying to charge them with a nicad charger rather than lead acid type. I have successfully charged nicads of this size with the 12v output from an old intruder alarm panel. Things to check, any micro switches or position sensors. check that the motor carriage is docking correctly at top or bottom. Charger output. Wiring between micro switches/position sensors. some models even have a switch to detect if there is any weight on the seat,
Hope that helps.

John

[slim]

thanks for the reply guys


found a bit more info..(spoke to a lift man)

the batterys are a sealed lead-acid type,and they have to be in good charge or the unit will not work. unit runs off 240 volts all the time and tops up the batterys as doing so. if there is a power cut then there is enough power in the batterys to get the unit out of a compromising position.apparently if the batterys are dead then this does not allow the unit to work other wise there would be no way of the user to get to a safe position.. good for mother-inlaws though keep them out the way for a couple of days...... ..


was told that the price for new batterys would be £80 plus fitting if they did it.. did a search found the battery on tinternet price .............wait for it............................ .£12...me thinks that £80 is a stripe-up, why ya seem to get ripped off every where ya go now days. dont it just pee ya off.......

cheers all.....john...