electric shortage and Acorn stairlift - what happens to stair lift when power is out

The ads for Acorn Stairlifts, the thing you sit on to go upstairs, refer to having a battery for an electric *shortage*, not electric outage or failure.

What are they referring to and is this a way to avoid claiming it works during an outage?

I've never heard of an electric shortage, outside of these commercials. It sounds like some electricity is getting into the house, maybe 3, 5,

10 amps?, maybe half enough to run the chair and the battery provides the other half (or less).

A shortage sounds less severe than an outage or failure. If it doesn't work in an outage and you complain, will they say that it works in a shortage but they never claimed it worked in an outage?

Reply to
micky
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Sounds like marketing BS I guess outage would scare people.

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

It's called a brownout.

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Reply to
Idlehands

Oh, yeah, that's what they must mean. We haven't had one of those for decades, so I forgot.

So indeed, they're saying in effect, if there's a power failure, you can't use this thing. It would seem to me a a big (full-size) backup battery ought to have enough that they can get upstairs, or downstairs, at least once or twice, even during a total power failure, like when snow or a storm knocks down the wires.** So the user can go upstairs and go to sleep until the power comes back on, or until morning at least. Even if he has to manually engage some intermediate gear to get the thing to run, just more slowly, on the battery.

When I have time, I'm going to check the competition. This one doesn't sound very good.

**(That we *have* had, several times for a couple minutes but 3 or 4 times for a couple hours or more. Once for 3 days. At the end of 3 days it was getting cold enough in the house so that I had just started looking for a place to stay (since all my close friends were also without power) when the power came back on.)

I have a letter right by my desk that Tuesday, power will be off about 6 hours, starting about 9AM. If I were dependant on one of these things, I'd have to set the alarm to be downstairs before then, or maybe upstairs so I could sleep some more. Who can plan that far ahead?

Do the people who need it get upstairs also need it to get downstairs?

Reply to
micky

I'm sure some people need it because their balance is compromised. Down might be more problematic than up for them.

Cindy Hamilton

Reply to
Cindy Hamilton

You're right. That's certainly true going down a steep hill (outside), compared to going up.

I thought I would find evasive language in other ads but certainly didnt' in all of of them:

"

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› help › frequently-asked-questions › stair-lifts Results 1 - 10 - Because your stair lift is powered by 24V DC batteries, it will continue to operate during a power outage. Depending on the model, your stair lift can get anywhere from 10-40 trips per charge during a power outage." Hoveround

10 to 40 trips. That's more like it.

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› always-active Your stairlift keeps going, even in a power outage. ... Stannah stairlifts don't stop because you've lost power, because they're fitted with batteries that are constantly trickle-charged from an outlet near your stairs. If the main power supply cuts out, the batteries take over and get you safely to your destination.

Weasel words. So you'll finish one trip, but who knows about a full trip?

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The webpage claims no more than the google entry. The difference between this and

10 trips is amazing.

NO particular brand mentioned here oops, later it refers to a "your Handicare stairlift", but it does use the word Outage, not Shortage. Acorn is looking like the worst. Myth #2: A stair lift will stop working when there is a power outage. Contrary to popular belief, stair lifts are not hardwired into your home, but instead are DC battery powered and simply plug into your wall to be recharged. They store a reservoir of power in their batteries so in the event of a power failure, they will be able to move up and down the staircase because they draw on the power stored in their batteries. These batteries typically store enough power for multiple trips up and downs stairs: the exact number of trips will depend on the type (straight vs. curved) and length of your staircase as well as the amperage of the batteries. The batteries recharge when the stairlift is left on a park point. Some stairlifts will charge wherever they are left on their track. This feature is called ‘Continuous Charge’.

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there is a home electrical power failure during a power outage, the DC battery powered chair lift will operate for as long as the batteries last for (typically 20 round trips). A fully charged battery will complete approximately 15 to 20 return trips on an average staircase. The actual number is dependent on the length of stairs, angle of the staircase and the weight of the user. With normal use, the batteries stay good for an average of 3 years. They cost in the region of $70.00 per pair. Typical cost for a 12V battery is $35 each.

I don't expect to ever need one of these things. And there are 2 corners on my stairs so it would be really slow. I think I'd rather crawl up the stairs if it comes to that. But someone else might want one and so far, no Acorn or Stannah.

Reply to
micky

This is beyond stupid. It seems 99% certain that no manufacturer is going to put all the cost of a battery into a product like this for "brownouts". Brownouts are very rare, certainly compared to the power being off. Once you have that design, it's essentially almost the same thing to make it so that the damn thing is actually useful, instead of the battery and added expense being virtually useless. It would be harder to design something that used the battery as an AC power assist, instead of using it to just run the thing. I'll wage money you'll find that it uses a rechargeable battery and it works during power outages.

The company is pretty dumb though, because on their website they don't talk about the battery, beyond listing a 24V one in the tech specs.

Reply to
trader_4

You are called an idiot, dumbass. That is one of the worst companies ever. Highly agressive.

Reply to
Oren
[snip]

We had about a dozen short brownouts one day last month, where every 5 minutes or so voltage would drop to a little over 50V. The only damage I had was to a desktop computer (just the power supply).

BTW, I remember that it was on a Sunday. Apparently this happened over a big area.

Reply to
Mark Lloyd

On 9/15/2019 6:12 AM, micky wrote: ...

You'd need an alarm to be up by 9AM????

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Reply to
dpb

Just Gee Whiz info about what companies will do. The battery back up for a brand new Lazboy $1600 assisted lift chair is good for one maybe

2 up's or downs. Don't forget pop, one down and out. Sit somewhere else. This chair is inoperative in a power outage. It is two 9v transistor radio batteries. I am thinking about hot wiring in a decent Gel Cell and be sleeping at night. I just need to see if that is 9v or 18. Until then I am ready for the call/text to my wife. "I kindly sat in my chair and kept playing on my phone because it still works and I think I may have adjusted my chair too much and now I am stuck".

As for the OP, I am not really following this thread I just wanted to see what Trader was saying. He stays on topic as a rule. I will just say that down here where yankees go to die, Yes my wife used to get calls to the gate in her little HOA compound that there was someone stuck in a stair lift. (power, machine failure, operator error, pick one).

Reply to
gfretwell

Looking at this thread a little, if brownouts are your issue, get one of these.

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will give you what you dial in for an output from pretty much anything you feed it.

BTW The crude electrical work was what I could do with hand tools and a battery drill with stuff I had in the shop after Irma.

Reply to
gfretwell

I think he_4 does OK until his Trump Derangement Syndrome flares up.

Reply to
Mike Hunt-Hertz

They are battery operated AT ALL TIMES - and charge when docked. There is no power cord or connector to the chair when in operation (on any I have seen) They "park" at a charging station. Bad batteries are the most common problem with any chair-lift.

Reply to
Clare Snyder

They virtually ALL run on battery - ALL THE TIME. No extension cord going up and down the stairs to get pinched or damaged

Reply to
Clare Snyder

Generally limmited to about 120% of input voltage UNLESS you get one designer to power 240 volt devices from 110. I have about a half dozen of them floating around of varying sizes.

Reply to
Clare Snyder

When I'm so old I need a stairlift, I might.

Reply to
micky

I built one of these when I lived in NYC. I think for a while 40 years ago they had brown=outs, or they predicted they would.

I had a large (3 or 4 pounds?) iso-transformer with a 100 volt, or 90% tap, so I cannected that to the input and the 100% to the output so I had 10 or 20 volts (I forget which) more than what was coming out of the wall. Mounted it and a receptacle to a small piece of wood. Once I got to Baltimore, I never needed it, but I still have it somewhere.

Reply to
micky

I readily believe that. The problem is that some claim to run up and down the stairs several times on what's in the battery, adn Acorn doesn't say that. And the other company only said it would get you where you were going, iow, it would finish one trip.

I'd be curious if the ones with weak claims are as bad as they sound and if the ones with big claims are as good as they sound. But I certainly wouldnt' buy one that claims only to finish one trip. Or Acorn.

Reply to
micky

An acoen on a fresh battery should give you 8 or 10 straight single story runs with no problem - (4 or 5 round trips) The down trip takes less than half the power of an up trip.

Reply to
Clare Snyder

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