Non-specialists repairing an electric wheelchair?

[fayanora]

For a detail in a story I'm writing, does anyone know how likely it is for someone with general electronics engineering skills to be able to fix a shorted-out electric wheelchair? I need to know if the dad of one of the protag's friends could repair it or if they'd need to get it repaired/replaced by their medical insurance or whatever

Comments

[curiouswombat]

Shouldn't have any problem - it is simply a small electric motor like any other. If the motor unit itself is beyond repair it could easily be replaced by one for something like a small electric lawn-mower or an electric bicycle. The biggest part of what you see is the batteries.

[reapermum]

Given the number of robots in Robot Wars that are run by ex-wheelchair motors there shouldn't be any problem for a competent mechanic.

[elenbarathi]

Depends what's causing it to short out. A frayed wire or bad connection may be fixable at home - if you can get to it - but a bad computer chip is not. Most electronics have chips these days, and DIY repair attempts generally void the warranty: the companies don't want customers prying around in there on their own, so they deliberately make it difficult.

(I was Senior Assembly Tech at Rainshadow Robotics for six years. During that time I saw an amazing variety of totally-botched DIY 'fixes' for problems I could have repaired correctly in five minutes, if only the customer had sent it back before trying to prove his competent mechanic-ness on my innocent little 'bot. Dunning-Kruger Effect in action, for sure.)

EDIT: here's the Owner's Manual for one of the cheapest, simplest power chairs on the market. It's not even programmable, but it does still have an electronic controller, which means it probably does have a chip