Low Budget Wheelchair Lighting

It seems to be the general opinion that all wheelchair bound folks have got to be home before dark, which is currently in the wintertime at around 4 pm. Otherwise, those intelligent people who design wheelchairs would show a little more concern about the visibility of wheelchairs in the dark and in traffic.

I can’t fathom that hand-operated wheelchairs only have two tiny red reflectors in the back.
With a little luck there may be some reflective lights somewhere or better yet reflective tires.

I find it controversial that no active wheelchair that I know of comes with a reflector to the front, let alone a front or rear tail light.
I wrote about this problem in former articles (click here).

I recently installed a small red LED tail light that flashes when needed, at the rear of my chair frame. The light is quite bright and it is called Froglight.

Frog or Froglights

Froglights are originally made for handlebars and seats on bicycles. They are available in red and white LEDs and they flash.

For us wheelchair bound folks these little lights are great, because the rubber bands can simply be wrapped around the frame tubes and easily switched on by pressing on them.

They are available for a mere 3.00 € and up on EBay or Amazon.

In addition I attached the reflective tape of a 2.00 € safety vest to my backpack and the backrest of my chair.

Click on the image below to watch a small video that shows how bright the Frogligts are.

Translator BW

Low Budget Wheelchair Lighting

It seems to be the general opinion that all wheelchair bound folks have got to be home before dark, which is currently in the wintertime at around 4 pm. Otherwise, those intelligent people who design wheelchairs would show a little more concern about the visibility of wheelchairs in the dark and in traffic.

I can’t fathom that hand-operated wheelchairs only have two tiny red reflectors in the back.
With a little luck there may be some reflective lights somewhere or better yet reflective tires.

I find it controversial that no active wheelchair that I know of comes with a reflector to the front, let alone a front or rear tail light.
I wrote about this problem in former articles (click here).

I recently installed a small red LED tail light that flashes when needed, at the rear of my chair frame. The light is quite bright and it is called Froglight.

Frog or Froglights

Froglights are originally made for handlebars and seats on bicycles. They are available in red and white LEDs and they flash.

For us wheelchair bound folks these little lights are great, because the rubber bands can simply be wrapped around the frame tubes and easily switched on by pressing on them.

They are available for a mere 3.00 € and up on EBay or Amazon.

In addition I attached the reflective tape of a 2.00 € safety vest to my backpack and the backrest of my chair.

Click on the image below to watch a small video that shows how bright the Frogligts are.

Translator BW

Last week it was time again….

Since September 2008 I am back home after my accident.
These are around 1600 days.

I guess that I am rolling in my wheelchair at least 5 times a day into the kitchen and out again.
This results in the following pressure load calculation:

1600 days x 5 rides (kitchen) x 2 (in and out) x 2 (front + back tyres) =

32000 doorsill crossings.

This is hard work for the

aluminium bar doorsill.

To make it short, the bar has had it, and I went to the do-it-yourself store to buy a new one.

They really had the same type still available which makes the replacement very easy, but “just” in the 2 meter version.

Of course I couldn’t reach the bar in the back of the shelf. Probably it was an employees meeting at the same time, because the service counter of the shop was empty.

I didn’t find a do-it-yourself craftsman from the shop who could have given me the bar or even sawn it through.

Another customer helped me to get the 2 meter bar out of the shelf and put it vertically into my wheelchair bag so that I didn’t have to ride through the shop like Don Quixote with the lance.

It certainly looked funny when I rode with the flagpole directly to the cashier at the exit.

Another customer was already served there.

I am still sorry that the cashier woman had to get up to scan the barcode of the bar.

I forbade myself the question if she could possibly help me with the wheelchair flagpole to my car.

No reaction from her side… this must have looked so unbelievable ridiculous,… I had to refrain from laughing so much, but remained dead serious and paid. I was served 100% correctly.

Then she uttered a “security advice” after all, I am sure I won’t hear these words too soon again:

You don’t fit through the door with your size!!!

Correct… good visual judgement…

The other customer grinned, offered his help immediately and brought the bar to my car, thanks again.

Translator BL

A massive deficit with wheelchairs is the missing park distance control which is nowadays part of the standard equipment of most of the cars.

You don’t believe what can be struck (and make it crash) with the anti-tipper at the back of the wheelchair.

According to the latest findings, out of safety reasons drawers should be shut before making a 180° twist with the wheelchair as an unhinging with the wheelchair rucksack is definitely within the realms of reality.

No…

Rather silly if one has already put on his jacket and the wheelchair taxi is waiting outside.

Translator BL

“Die Maus”

(translator’s note: The Mouse, a popular character from German kids TV) escorts me since 2,5 years, already at the time when I was still in hospital, back on my rucksack, in my wheelchair life.

Meanwhile I also have the Mouse as figurehead and a Mouse-toolkit on my hand cycle.

Two people from the Aids foundation have pinned an Aids ribbon on it a couple of weeks ago.

My wife has even baked Mouse muffins and Mouse cakes for me.

The Mouse can witness everything what I have experienced.

It will be 40 years this year.

Because I am also facing the 40 and even Wiki couldn’t reveal to me who is older I went to the homepage and have asked the Mouse itself.

The editorial office has sent a very nice e-mail to me.

According to my opinion the exact age of the Mouse should not be concealed.

Extract from this e-mail:
Because the Mouse has entered the world already on March 7th 1971 while you have set foot on this planet as new arrival only 6 months later, the Mouse is clearly the older one.

Of course I had to report this to you.

I am asking to put the date in your calendars and wish the Mouse a happy birthday on March 7th.

Translator BL

I have got the impression that there is the general opinion that all wheelchair drivers are going to bed before dark.

Otherwise it is inexplicable for me that non of the wheelchairs I have seen has but one reflector on the front side.

This is a striking lack of safety!!!

Safety regulations of that kind are not known to me. One could almost think that we are allowed to be knocked over in traffic.

With luck one has at least a bicycle reflector put in the spokes.

The big discounters every now and then offer silver-coloured

spokes reflectors.

These were not allowed for bicycles for a long time, but are perfect for wheelchairs.

For bicycles it is: front white, side orange, rear red.

My tip:

Paste your wheelchair especially on the front with adhesive reflectors, buy orange bike reflectors, spokes reflectors, or even better reflective

tyres.

Reflectors for arms and legs

for cyclists can e.g. be sewed on the backpack.

With a head light you can see holes in the ground at night

(see older blogpost).

Blinking rear light of a bike, figure something out, be creative, paste reflectors at the inside of the car door so that it is seen from far when it is open.

I don’t have the desire to be run over by a car because of serious safety lacks on a wheelchair which apparently nobody is interested in.

The “Stiftung Warentest” (German product test foundation) is not interested in testing wheelchairs either
(see older blogpost). (My latest status).

Translator BL

Every now and then even I am speechless.
It’s not a secret that I am football fan of Eintracht Frankfurt.
My cousin has given the official

Eintracht Frankfurt Fan Rucksack

to me as a present. Of course I have positively noticed that the rucksack has plenty of reflectors.
This rucksack has additionally two hangers on the side.
The only logically use of these hangers is to be able to hang the rucksack over the handles of a wheelchair.

Simply great, it fits!

Wheelchair hangers

Was it a manufacturing error, or did they have a wheelchair driver as designer?
This rucksack is of course “not“ available for other football clubs.

Translator BL

I have reported already several times about disabled parking places and their frequent misuse.

Here is a particularly nice spot.

Recyclable Disposal Area

Probably a wheeler has emptied his backpack there.

Translator BL

Tuning-Gen

aktiviert wurde, als mir das Auto auf den Kopf fiel.

Seinen Rolli mit zusätzlichen

Reflektoren

zu bekleben, einen

Tacho und Rücklicht
(siehe älteren Beitrag)

nachzurüsten, ihn mit

Stoßdämpfern

auszustatten,den

Kippschutz

zu modifizieren, die

Lager  

auszutauschen, und das

Rückenteil

von 3 verschiedenen Rollstuhlherstellern zusammenzufriemeln, wir wollen ja nicht

Die Maus
(siehe älteren Beitrag)

am Rucksack vergessen, erscheint ja irgendwie noch legitim.
Aus medizinischer Sicht sind sogar noch

Carbonkotflügel

vertretbar,aber mit

 2 Chromleisten,

den

24 Zoll Breitreifen*

*(ok, hoch statt breit)
(siehe älteren Beitrag)

und seiner Lederausstattung in Form meines neuen schwarzen

Nappa-Leder-Sitzkissenbezuges,

nehme ich es jetzt mit meinem Rolli mit jedem

3er BMW

auf.

Ein Stück korrekt Wurzelholz, 2 Plüschwürfel und eine
8er Billardkugel bekomme ich auch noch irgendwie verbaut.
Über die Sorte des Wunderbaumes wird derzeit noch gestritten!!

Ich kann beim Fahren beide Ellenbogen raushängen lassen

When you have motor functions in hands and fingers like the Berlin wall you automatically keep everything tidy, otherwise you will drown into chaos.

My wheelchair rucksack contains more or less everything what you need to survive in the wild.

For me it takes some effort to take down the rucksack from the back of my wheelchair and rummage around into it to search for something which somebody has stuffed in there.

Probably scientists never have thought about:

Where on a rucksack is front and back?

This question should be clarified once and for all.

I have learnt once that on a car the front is always in driving direction when you are sitting inside.
Driving backwards doesn’t count.

Can I apply this to my wheelchair rucksack as well?

The wheelchair transport drivers always have asked me in which pocket of my rucksack was the card to debit the transport charges?

I would have liked to know it myself… Each time in a different place.

Is the small pocket on the front or the back of the rucksack?

This depends probably from the viewer’s perspective.
For me sitting in the wheelchair it is on the back, for some of the drivers it is on the front, or not???

A solution had to be found. At a visit of the regional broadcasting station I had bought

The “Maus”

(translator’s note: the mouse, popular German children TV character) and fixed it on one pocket of my rucksack.
From this day it only went:

With the mouse!

In the mouse pocket!

In the mouse trap!

Basically the result was quite good.
But now more or less everything is stuffed into the mouse pocket, so that there is a big mess now inside.

Will I have to switch to Walt Disney now and fix a whole toy armada to my rucksack to find the remote control for my stairlift?!

Donations of small accessories with key ring to mark the other pockets will be gladly accepted.

Wheelchair rucksack cuddly toys donation account

Some time I will confuse the drivers totally and fix the “Blue Elephant” (companion of the “Maus”) on my rucksack

Translator BL

Trotz meiner Querschnittlähmung habe volles Gefühl in den Beinen und leider einen überempfindlichen Rücken.
Aufgrund meines Rückenmarksschadens war meine „Kraft“ in den Armen mit denen eines Kleinkindes vergleichbar.
Ich erhielt nach 4 Monate leihweise einen nagelneuen Aktivrollstuhl, mit dem ich mich so durch das Krankenhaus kämpfte.
Das gleiche Rollstuhlmodell hat mir die Krankenkasse genehmigt und auf dem sitze ich auch jetzt.
Durch Gute Anpassung ,Einstellung ,Luftdruck ,Zubehör …. .kann man meiner Schätzung nach ca. 30 % der Kraft einsparen.
Diese Schätzung halte ich aus Erfahrung für realistisch.
Ich kam im Krankenhaus kaum vom Fleck, bis man mich darauf aufmerksam gemacht hat, ich hätte zu wenig Luft auf den Reifen.
Seit ich Luft auf den Reifen habe, bin ich

Rollifahrer.

Da ich noch immer wenig Kraft habe, merke ich sofort die kleinsten Veränderung an der Performance (so heißt auch mein Rolli) meines Rollis.
Durch die

Optimale Einstellung

meines Rollis wurde mir das selbstständige Fahren erheblich erleichtert und meine Rückenschmerzen gemildert.
Ich werde folgende

Rollituning-Themen

ansprechen:

Für diese Tipps übernehme ich keinerlei Haftung.
Der Rollstuhl gehört dem Kostenträger und Veränderungen dürfen nur vom Sanitätshaus bzw. dem Hersteller vorgenommen werden.
Nur mit den Augen schrauben.

1. Laufräder
2. Luftdruck
3. Mäntel
4. Lenkräder
5. Lenkgabeleinstellung
6. Kleiderschutz
7. Bremsen
8. Rückenbespannung
9. Sturz
10. Stoßdämpfer
11. Sitzkissen
12. Achsen
13. Sonstiges