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14. Once fitted correctly to the wheelchair the Powerpack will make life a lot easier and take all the effort out of
pushing a wheelchair. Not only will it make pushing uphill easier, but along the flat as well. Use it all of the
time to power the chair or just when the going gets tough. The Powerpack is very capable of powering up
gentle hills without assistance and steeper hills can be climbed with assistance from the pusher. However,
depending on the weight of the occupant and gradient of the hill, some hills may be too much for the
Powerpack to cope with. This point cannot be defined as all hills have different gradients and all users'
different weights. The Powerpack has various built in protection circuits to stop serious damage to the motor
and the electronics if for whatever reason an overload occurs. At this point the motor will shut down and you
will have to switch the key off, wait a few seconds and switch back on to clear. However in order to carry on
climbing the gradient, a lot more effort will have to be put into pushing in order to assist the Powerpack and
stop it shutting down again. If the Powerpack does shut down more than once, we would strongly
recommend that you find an alternative route as the Powerpack will be trying to work outside its design
limitations and continual use may cause damage.
15. The Powerpack is not designed to climb steep gradients, nor to take you anywhere under power assistance
that you would not normally be able to push the chair without using any power assistance. It must be
remembered that even if the chair can be powered uphill, you still have to get down the other side which can
sometimes be even more difficult. We strongly recommend the fitting of attendant controlled brakes to your
wheelchair if moderately steep or long slopes are likely to be negotiated.
16. Your batteries will need to be cycled (charged and discharged) between 10 and 15 times before they will give
their maximum performance and range (See battery charging). Range is also dependant on various other
factors, such as weight of occupant, number of hills and steepness of gradients encountered on your journey.
In addition, how much assistance the pusher gives the Powerpack will affect the range. We strongly
recommend that initially, journey distances are relatively short and are gradually increased. This will allow
the opportunity to become used to the controls and take account of the improving performance of the
battery.
Fitting Instructions
1.
Remove the Powerpack and all associated components from the packaging (Fig 1).
2.
Both time and care must be taken to ensure the Powerpack is set up in accordance with these instructions
and fitted in the position that best suits the particular chair it is being fitted to, both for ease of use and
safety.
3.
Ideally the Powerpack should be positioned so that the centre of the drive wheel runs approximately in line
with the centres of the wheelchair rear wheels, Fig 2A (Single and twin wheel models). This is not possible
on some chairs, so it may have to be positioned more towards the rear but be aware that the further
towards the rear it is fitted, the greater chance of it causing discomfort to the attendant whilst walking. Fit
it as far forward as possible, but never fit forward of the wheelchair rear wheels. The drive wheel should
always be set to run in the centre of the wheelchair (Fig 2B). Twin wheel models should have a wheel
running equal distance either side of the centre line of the wheelchair (Fig 2B).
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