Battery upgrade for all-terrain wheelchair
posted by Paula Allchin
Boma7 All Terrain Wheelchair
I have a client who wishes to improve the performance and extend the range of his Boma7 all terrain wheelchair.
At present it is powered by gel type lead acid batteries and his carers have to carry around spare batteries.
We are considering the technicalities of replacing these with LiFePo type units and wonder if any other panels have been involved in undertaking such types of battery upgrades.
Jack Rae
Carlisle & District Panel
tel: 01387380010
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I had a recent Remap project that needed new batteries and did look at Li Fe Po units.
For my project the cost was prohibitive.
These batteries are half the weight of lead acid types which is great but 3 to 4 times the cost.
Your Boma7 uses 2 x 24 volt 22 amp/hour lead acid gel batteries.
The best price I have seen so far for a Li Fe Po 24 volt 20amp hour battery is £399 each. You may know different.
The battery is very complex in that it contains its own power monitoring and control circuitry. This is needed because of the charging requirements a of lipo cells.
Continuous cell monitoring and regulation is essential and is carried out by this circuitry.
Look at Tracer batteries for info as they produce some of the best units.
I have not gone into too much technical detail but if you need more help get back to me.