Living Life In A Wheelchair

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Added A Second Electric Odometer Magnet To My Power Wheelchair
[ Thursday August 31st 2017 at 9:44 am ]

About a week ago one of the items I mail ordered arrived. Before I began using my new power wheelchair I added a digital bike odometer to it. My plan was to use this to track my usage each week. In turn I'd be able to predict when preventative maintenance would need to be performed on my wheelchair bearings, wheels and batteries.

Initially this didn't work. I was unable to figure out how I'd mount the digital receiver and magnet in order to track each rotation of the tire. I defaulted to keeping track in a spreadsheet.

A few weeks later I removed one of the big wheels on my wheelchair. I was able to work out a possible location to epoxy the digital receiver. Using masking tape I temporarily placed these pieces where I thought would work. Then I disengaged the motor. Spinning the tire brought the odometer to life!

The final step in this process is allowing for tire rotations. This is to promote even wear and tear. I often drive my wheelchair on the side of the road. Roads are slanted so rain water enters underground storm drains. To rotate the 2 large tires I would need to have a second magnet epoxied onto the other wheel. In last week's mail I received a digital bike odometer magnet. This morning I installed this on my wheelchair. This weekend I hope to perform a tire rotation. I am hopeful of this being successful. Thankfully this is one item off of my "to do" list.