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Connecting Bluetooth Technology to Wheelchairs
This is a social clip I wrote a few months ago about how Bluetooth technology can connect to power wheelchairs: https://smanewstoday.com/2018/01/18/connecting-bluetooth-technology-to-power-wheelchairs/?amp. I have this technology connected to my chair, and it’s great for things like sending quick emails and texts.
Does anyone else use this or something similar? It’s pretty easy to install.
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11 Replies
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I have Bluetooth on my Permobil F3 that I got 2 years ago this September. Unfortunately, the rep from Permobil would never call me back to tell me how to set up the Bluetooth. The DME kept saying he was supposed to come to my house to teach me & all I had to do was called to make an appt. I was very frustrated. Well, with life getting hectic & busy, I just gave up and put it down to a loss of money. 😢
I’m going to read the article you posted the link for and see if I can figure out what to do. I hope I can ask you questions if I need to. Thanks for putting this on here!
BTW Kevin, is there any way to keep the Spinraza pop-up from continuously showing up at the bottom of the page whenever we change pages? We already have the ad over on the right side of the page. Do we have to have it pop-up all the time? It’s annoying to have to keep x-ing it out to see that part of the page. 😮
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Sorry to hear that Kelly. Yeah people like that are really frustrating. Do you have a wheelchair service provider you could talk to? The place I go to for wheelchair repairs and services is really close to my house, and I can call them anytime there’s an issue.
And regarding the Spinraza ads, I’ll look into that. It’s a little outside my control, but I can ask our tech personnel.
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Sounds awesome. Is it basically only for Permobile chairs? My chair is 5 years old, but I love it so wasn’t planning on replacing it anytime soon. Do you use a lot of these features Kevin?
Kelly, sounds frustrating not being able to use cool functions on your chair. I would certainly reach out again.
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Good question. I think it’s just for Permobil chairs, but you can ask your service provider. It’s good for things like sending quick texts and emails, reading on a tablet and opening different apps on a phone or tablet.
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Kevin: thanks for checking on the Spinraza ad thing! I can understand it popping up the 1st time you login but not continually every time you go to a different page.
DeAnn: yes, it’s very frustrating. I’m sure I’ll figure it out myself. I’m just not interested in trying to call them again. I am going to the Abilities Expo this weekend in Houston. I try to go every year to see what new things they have. The Permobil people will be there (every year they are there), so maybe I’ll try to catch my rep when I’m there. He can’t avoid me if I’m right in front of him, right?! 😜
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Kelly, the Abilities Expo sounds really interesting. Let us know if there’s anything new and interesting! Hopefully you’ll bump into your Permobil rep too.
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I bought my last “new” wheelchair about four years ago. While I was at the Annual Cure SMA Conference in June, I got to see all these fancy chairs that were so computerized, they could do just about anything. I particularly loved Kevin’s robotic arm. Unfortunately if I had one of those, I’d probably choke a few people I know. (just kidding……I think)
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Do they ever do any of these Ability Expo events in Dallas?
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David – Thank you so much for posting the link for the Bluetooth manual! I might not understand all of it but I think I can work my way through it. My main problem might now is that I have no access to the “Mouse Control” on my LED screen on my chair. I’ll wait until my husband gets home later to see if I can access it. I’m home alone & don’t want to make my chair go into “don’t do anything” mode while there’s no one to help me. 😛
DeAnn & Kevin – I ended up not going to the Abilities Expo. My friend wasn’t able to go because she had to tend to a pressure sore, so I decided to hold off on it. A couple of days before it I had smashed my hand into (or maybe I should say my finger) a parked car in a parking lot. Really stupid human error – didn’t make the turn sharp enough & my hand hit the car at just the right point. I completely tore off the fingernail & the next layer of the nail bed. It was pouring blood, needed bandaging & x-rays. The next day it was completely black and hurt so much that I thought my hand was broken. Thank goodness it wasn’t, not even my finger. Of course, there was nothing to do about the nail. I’ll have to wait for that to heal quite a bit before I can go without any kind of band-aid or bandage. It throbs occasionally but it’s a great story to tell people, especially the parts about the nail ripping off! 😰
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Assuming the device is physically installed, it may still need enabled in a deeper menu in the chair electronics. Or, it might just be listed under a more generic name like “Device 1”. And yeah, I know what you mean about not wanting to mess around without a net!
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