Sunrise Medical Quickie F55 Powerchair Modifications!

I needed something (as a complete T4 paraplegic) that would fill the gap between my excellent manual chair, and my van as the manual chair is all but impossible to get into town, or just to nip to the shops, but the van is a bit of a struggle to get in and out of so is used only for real journeys.

This is possibly the best designed and built electric wheelchair currently available. Designed by I think a by a Mr Donald Brooks of Sunrise Medical UK. (Subject to the comments on the EMD motors company at the bottom) This chair is UK specific, and there is two versions, F55 which has no lights and does 4mph, and the F55s which has lights, and does 6 mph.

At least it is after my alterations to the programming, which was quite extensive, and the footplate/hanger arrangement.

The standard footplate is supposed to extend down from the seat frame and form brackets for the swing away "hangers". They are too wide for indoor use, making it hard to turn around in small areas or corridors, and they also make transferring difficult (from chair to chair / van or bed) at least for me, so I just cut them off! I'm a bit like that! (The guy who just delivered the chair from Grimsby Wheelchair Services had a nervous breakdown and stuttered a lot, but when I get a plan it always comes together!)

I then used a footplate from a "Viva" chair, and a home made alloy bracket - sprayed black to match of course, bolted on where the curb climber was. That looked ugly, and I can get up kerbs better without it anyway... So it went in the bin.

That left the chair so much easier to get in and out of for me that it was a revelation. Looks better and fits into tighter places and can turn in smaller areas like corridors and loos much easier too. We are now getting somewhere. Controllability or rather getting rid of the complete lack of it came next.

Oh, just made new footplate! Sick of corrosion, and this one is lighter and prettier! Below...

Pic 1 shows me going bald....
Pic 2 shows the controller or programmer.
Pic 3 shows me pointing at the point that I cut off the original footrest hanger mountings, and have plugged the holes with plastic bungs to make it look neat.
Pics 4, 5 Just show the home built mounting bracket made from welded alloy, sprayed black. and bolted to the place that the curb climber used to be. This allows a standard 'Viva' chair footplate to be neatly fitted to the F55 chairs. Allows better manoeuvring room, and easier transfers. The alloy bar is an extra support, using a rod end or rose joint, at each end to make it super strong.
Pic 6 is the same as the one at the top of the page so as to remind you just how ugly I look! More below...

You may be interested to know that since these pictures were taken I have lost around 60lb in weight, and gone from a 20 inch wide cushion, to an 18 inch wide one, so far.. This took 7 months, drinking as much as I can (beer) every night - seriously! And bugger all food at all. You get used to it. It's a willpower thing! And I am going to keep going until I loose another 28lb's. Anyone who tells you they cannot lose weight eats too much. Simple physics.

The programming that these chairs come with directly as delivered is nothing short of dangerous.

The thing cannot be manoeuvred safely, and you are lucky if you can hit a doorway accurately without losing a finger or two. And it's slow. But if you call up the company that make the control system, or Sunrise Medical you can purchase a programmer from them called a PP1a. This is a "users" version. This can only change a few basic options. This is the same one that your wheelchair supplier or engineer has, and it simply will NOT cure the problems. I know, since I tried every possible combination of "settings" that this box offers and when you have finished you still have a dangerous hard to control and reluctant to start turning chair.

The solution comes in the form of a PP1b Programmer! Which very few people have or can get hold of. I happen to have one of these PP1b engineering based programmers. Both look externally identical but they are actually vastly different. You will not be able to buy one of these though unless you are doing serious development work, or are a manufacturer such as Sunrise Medical.

After lots of experimenting and testing I arrived at the following settings at the very bottom of this page.

Wheelies! (Requires reprogramming and the seat position modifications)

My (Subject to status see above) PP1b programmer came directly from Penny & Giles in Christchurch in the UK. Tel +44 (0)1425 272655 or www.pgdt.com Be warned that they will not normally supply this device even to wheelchair engineers for product liability reasons. It's entirely possible to set things up in such a way as to make the chair unreliable, dangerous for the user and the public in general, and damage motors and controllers or even cause a fire!

Modifications to come (or now done) are:

Gearbox modifications. Gearbox overall gear ratio is the thing that effectively limits top speed. Now the motor and gearbox manufacturers (EMD) tell me that taller gearing is available and in lots of different ratios. If I Increase ratio by say 50 percent which is possible then instead of 6 mph it will do 9mph. (The electronics look at the motor rpm and not wheel rpm or speed.) The motor may then be struggling a little as more current would be drawn and this means more heat and a little less acceleration, but not much since they will just draw more current. Also these gears are stronger as they are Phosphor Bronze/Steel instead of Nylon for the standard gears used for quietness. I am currently waiting for the drawings and specs to arrive.
Motor mods. Also available are bigger more powerful heavy duty motors that bolt straight up to the standard gearbox housing! GOT to fit a pair of those! It will match my new higher gearing brilliantly!
Also I have a controller box from a "new Pride Mobility Blast 850" powerchair. This one is 100 amps, instead of 80 as I have fitted now. This allows the Pride chair to do 8.5 mph instead of 6 mph. Its not quite that simple however as the wiring and motors all need to be upgraded as well as the gearing to achieve this safely. We dont want a fire do we.

Now after telling me all of this.........

Unfortunately the motor/gearbox manufacturers EMD, are at the moment refusing to supply these parts (taller gearing) as they think I may hurt myself, and/or they can't be bothered. I am a little pissed off with the amount of safety Nazis that I come across since landing in a wheelchair and in the health business generally. It appears that as soon as you become disabled your brain must automatically also become disabled. I know what I'm doing and accept all responsibility but the answer remains the same. So far... Did Rover tell me I couldn't fit their V8 motor into my Ford Sierra? Of course not! It's none of their business...

The refusal letter came from a Phil Batten, technical support director after asking his boss... This guy was previously very helpful and knew exactly what I was talking about and what I needed.

This would not bother me so much other than the fact that the first couple of people I spoke to, offered to send me details and part numbers, and were knowledgeable and helpful, and assured me that they would send me details of all this via post. And they knew exactly what I needed - they assured me!

The offending useless company are:

The Electric Motor Company Ltd.
Incorporating Cetronic, EMD, & Totton Pumps.

Rushington Business Park,
Totton
Southhampton
SO40 9AH

I would suggest you avoid this company, or rather any chairs fitted with their motors and gearboxes, as they will not even supply standard spares!
All that is available is complete motor and gearbox units at major expense via Sunrise Medical when only a cheap part may be needed, and I my case I need complete but different units anyway!

Update.....
Weeks later and after lots of calls still no luck. They are extremely unhelpful, don't call back and refuse to supply me the parts I need.

Another update.......
Someone was going to contact me but several months on the still have not contacted me.
Their choice, but they may well regret it. A little help goes a long way. This company is a typical example of the problem, and not the solution.

Which reminds me - a warning...
Don't use Ashdale Healthcare as suppliers! I have pages of letters, recorded phone calls and the like as their parts and warrantee department is worse than useless. Just a mass of bullshit and lies and they simply do not care once you have bought something. Even when you call up with an exact part number they cock everything up for months and lie about it afterwards! I caught them out on recorded phone calls dozens of times. If I had time I would put a hall of shame page on this site and they would be number one! Another Update! A year and a half later this problem is now resolved, they went bust, and quite frankly I am not at all surprised.

The other companies involved with this chair have all been helpful and courteous once they realised I was actually serious! And that it was for development work rather than as a normal user..

These include Penny & Giles (Controllers, programmers advice etc) and Sunrise Medical UK, who while being large companies have had the time to help. For e.g. The designer of the F55 Donald Brooks at sunrise, is looking around at the moment for some suitable bigger motors for me to send me here to try out. I appreciate good people, sensible people, and companies, and don't mind saying so when they are.

Moving the seat back by 2 inches further than the standard rearmost setting. This is now done and well worth doing by anyone!

Moving the seat back a little allows several advantages due to less weight over the front and more over the rear:

a) It saves lots of battery power!
b) It improves manoeuvrability and turn responses on carpets and uneven surfaces.
c) It gives full control in places that one of the rear wheel used to come off the ground such as when going up street ramps at an angle etc.
d) It allows full speed direction changes and faster progress along cambered surfaces.
e) Best of all it allows wheelies! (Only if 100 percent acceleration is already programmed in) Although to some this may be undesirable! Personally this was the main reason for me doing it.

It may seem stupid, but small wheelies really help on ramps and small kerbs etc.

The reason it has all these very noticeable effects is because normally on the majority of all power chairs far too much of the weight is normally over the front caster wheels for proper control.

When driving along the edge of a road or pavement the surface is not level, it can't be as it has to drain properly.
The weight on the casters tries to roll into the gutter, and the chair would then follow!

To keep the chair straight instead of allowing it to turn towards the gutter, the power is applied asymmetrically to the motors, and in some cases one wheel is having to actually pull BACKWARDS while the other has to both fight this, and also propel the chair. This wastes lots of battery power, for absolutely no reason. This is why your powerchair goes slower along the edge of steeply cambered roads etc. The chair would not head for the gutter at all if it didn't have casters (say normal controllable steering like a scooter or car) but it does!

Exactly the same thing happens when you turn. This is why your chair slows down when you turn even when at full speed.

How often do you turn in a day? This is lots of lost/wasted power and range.

So it steers better, is more responsive on carpets and uneven surfaces and your batteries give you better range as well as making it possible (if you want to) to wheelie!!

Why don't the manufacturers allow this much movement in the seating position? Because if someone tips out backwards then they may get sued...... But most chairs have anti tip bars/wheels anyway so this is highly unlikely.

On an F55 the only thing that stops you moving the seat back further is a small black steel bracket that is triangular in shape with three holes as shown in the picture. You just need two new 1/8 inch (3mm) plates with the holes drilled as shown in the drawing. You can see this bracket or rather my new stainless steel polished multi hole adjustable one in the other photograph just... Should have scanned one before I fitted them!

Above is the standard plate. Below shows the new one with all the extra adjustment holes allowing the seat to be relocated rearwards. In the picture it is using the second to last hole to the rear. This allows controllable wheelies at will.

I DO NOT RECOMMEND ANYBODY TRIES THE FOLLOWING - unless they have a very real understanding of the possible consequences. These include fire, danger to public, danger to users, damage to wiring, controllers or blown motors or gearboxes. Remember a simple thing as a blown gearbox (Nylon gears!) can result in the chair doing a sudden turn off the path and into the traffic! Be warned, there are many other nasty possibilities too.

1) I intend to fit a 100 Amps per channel controller (in place of the stock 80 Amp one) as fitted to the new 8.5Mph Pride "Blast" 850 powerchair. This requires heavier battery and motor cables for fire and safety reasons, and to prevent voltage drop under load. Actually I had already done this for performance reasons.

Theoretically since the only time the chair ever reaches (draws) 80 Amps anyway (read with a clamp over cable type test meter) is when accelerating from a standing start for the first half second when trying to pick up the front wheels, it will not make any real difference to anything other than wheelies. But this is not the real reason for doing it! See other modifications planned later below. This mod is now done, makes wheelies REALLY easy! Otherwise performance unchanged as expected. See 2) below for real reasons...

Picture 1 shows how simple it is to retrofit as they look identical.
Picture 2 shows the simple (and inadequate!) plug in connectors.

2) Fitting much taller geared higher current draw motors. Now you think you know why I want more "power/speed" Now the motors I am looking to fit will be good for approx 15 mph and are much MORE efficient than normal motors. These are the brushless, gearbox less type that actually form the wheel itself. Some need a completely different controller. As yet I have not heard back from the suppliers. But if that fails then there are plenty of other options available. The reason I want no gears, and therefore no gear backlash, and lots of power is because I am currently working on a simple (!) circuit board that is programmable, and has a solid state "heading lock" type gyro, and wheel position/speed sensors. The Gyro is actually looking at pitch - not yaw as in the model helicopter it is designed for. I want to cut off the wheelie/ant tip bars and let the software and the sensors / gyro balance my chair for me! So it will balance on the rear wheels, and let me drive about in this configuration as I wish at up to 6 mph only. The reserve speed and torque is simply to allow it to balance as a reserve of power is needed in case it needs a burst of extra power to keep it's balance. Initially I intend to let my circuit override the control stick, and the Pod will plug into my circuit. Everything is small so will be under the seat and invisible.

When not balancing it will of course now be able to go much faster! Now does anyone have any ideas where I can get some real motors for this project? All info helps!

Advantages of a balancing chair are numerous, but include "laid back" comfort (while at the bar, or watching TV) and pressure relief. Also battery range will increase as the heavy front end will not always head "down" the camber, which requires extra power (lots) to keep going straight. And also when turning, or trying to keep straight you use energy to "swing" the forward weight about. By balancing all this disappears as the Centre of Gravity is directly above the drive wheels point of contact.

Also those horrid uneven pavements and surfaces that make the small front wheels chatter and cause me much muscle spasm is reduced as the big drive wheels travel over these surfaces easier. Plus, going up and down ramps and slopes your seat will remain level - no more falling out the front, or tipping over backwards.

And you can (have to!) cut off those anti tip bars that stick out the rear, as the gyro will not allow you to tip out. This means a shorter chair that can turn in smaller spaces.

I got this Idea of course from the IBOT below. Balancing has LOTS of advantages, and I don't think it is that hard to do. We will see! Right now we have a B.A.E Systems solid state gyro, (Futaba radio control use them!) An electronics guy who is out of his depth we think... And a good programmer, most are useless believe me. ANY suggestions or help or offers of suitable motors (even with gearboxes!) is very welcome at this point, as I am not sure what is available yet.

How about a computer controlled wheelchair that can stand up as shown, or climb flights of steps! Click on the picture.

OK My new controller settings below:

OUT OF DATE! GO HERE >>> My new Wheelchair site! www.powerchair-review.co.uk

Part A - (USER MENU) (parts A and B (ENGINEERING MENU) must both be modified together or you are just wasting your time, and the USER settings used alone have not been tested, and may well make things worse.)		Std F55s settings	My own revised settings (USE AT YOUR OWN RISK)

Acceleration (effects the "5" speed setting end of scale)		40	100 (enough for wheelies in some cases - care!)
Deceleration (effects the "5" speed setting end of scale, when you release the stick)		25	40 (any more can be uncomfortable)

Turn Acceleration (effects setting "5") A control delay, meaning it doesn't turn when you want it to, but does so a few secs later and accelerates!		50	100 (effectively disabled)
Turn Deceleration (effects setting "5") Control delay, meaning it keeps turning after you wanted it to stop!		40	100 (effectively disabled)

Forward Speed (effects the "5" speed setting end)		100 (gives 6mph max)	100 (gives 6mph max)
Minimum Forward Speed (effects the "1" speed setting end)		20 (just too slow indoors)	26 (allows the "1" speed setting to be used indoors)

Reverse Speed (effects the "5" speed setting end)		40	60
Minimum Reverse Speed (effects the "1" speed setting end)		20	20

Max Turn Speed (effects the "5" speed setting end)		40	45
Min Turn Speed (effects the "1" speed setting end)		15	20

Sleep Timer		0	0
Joystick throw		100 all 4	100 all 4
Steer Correct		0	0
Elapsed time		Reads total hours
Read fault Log?		There will be some, ignore it, most are unimportant!
Preset Unit?		NO	NO

Part B - This is far more important! But you WILL need a PP1b programmer or you will not see this option list!

Enter engineering menu?		Yes	Yes

Soft Reverse?		70	75

Current limit? Max	These 4 settings are	80	80 (100 on 100 amp units)
Current limit? Min	designed to "save" your	60	70 (80 on 100 amp units)
Temp Fold back	Controller & motors, if you are	55c	70c
Timed Fold Back	worried leave these ones as stock!	30s CL percentage 50	15s CL percentage 85

Compensation - This one is important, but if its too jerky, drop it back a touch!		40 m/ohm - makes the chair feel "dead"	90 m/ohm - pretty smooth - 115m/ohm - very lively!

Battery Menu - Cable?		40 m/ohm	40 m/ohm
Battery Menu - Gauge Cal		100	100

Park brake trip?		Yes	Yes
Front Drive?		No	No
Fast brake rate		90	100
Soft Stop		Yes	Yes
Set Inhibit (latched, active short)		Yes	Yes
Profiles		0	0
Swap motors?		No	No (you would crash!)

Minimum acceleration (effects the "1" speed setting end)		35	100 (effectively disabled)
Minimum deceleration (effects the "1" speed setting end)		20	100 (effectively disabled)
Minimum turn acceleration (effects the "1" speed setting end)		40	100 (effectively disabled)
Minimum turn deceleration (effects the "1" speed setting end)		25	100 (effectively disabled)

Erase timer		Your choice!	Your choice!
Erase fault log		After repairs	After repairs
Preset Engineering Menu?		No	No

Disabilities Discrimination Act 1995 | Music (Midi Files) | Jokes

John Williamson

Wheelchair page... Sad isn't it!
(My modified Quickie F55s Powerchair from Sunrise Medical)

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John Williamson

Wheelchair page... Sad isn't it! (My modified Quickie F55s Powerchair from Sunrise Medical)

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Wheelchair page... Sad isn't it!
(My modified Quickie F55s Powerchair from Sunrise Medical)