Operating home stairlift controls

November 6th, 2009 by admin, under Anything. No Comments

The stair lift is a mechanical device designed and manufactured for lifting a person up a staircase. Home stairlifts are the most cost effective way to reduce the risk of elderly or disabled people from falling down their stair case due to low visibility and imbalance due to arthritis or other mobility-restricting conditions. For stairs that are wide enough, a rail is mounted on the stairs. A chair, lifting tray, or perch is usually attached to this rail. This rail may be straight or curved to allow for curved stair cases and curved stairlifts. The person will then simply sit on the chair or stand on the perch or lifting tray and be carried up or down the staircase easily and safely. You may hear people referring to stair lifts as different names such as stair gliders, or chair lifts.

Stairlift Controls

Usually a stairlift is operated by a simple switch or joystick or toggle type lever, usually found on the arm of the chair or on the grab rail if it’s a perch or lifting tray. these controls are often made large in size as many disabled or elderly people may suffer from forms of arthritis or similar disabilities. These stair lifts are used all over the world. some stair lifts have infrared or radio frequency remote controls. These allow the user to move the stairlift from the top or bottom of the staircase remotely.

The controls of a stair lift can vary for different models. For example the controls of a curved rail stairlift are much more complex than that of straight rail stairlifts. On a curved rail stair lift the seat remains horizontal as it requires being tilted. When it curves along areas the lift adjusts to the different angles of the inclination. For this technology an additional motor and link system is sometimes required. In curved areas the chair, perch or lifting tray may need to slow down, However, on straight rails the carriage runs at full speed.. The modern controls manufactures makes use of microprocessors. These controls record the number of journeys a stair lift makes and direction of journey in its memory. Hence when service engineers are called for maintenance these records provide important information.

You will find that stairlifts usually have soft start. Hence the user does not feel any kind of jerk when the chair starts to move. The speed at which a stair lift usually moves varies in between 0.07 meters per second and 0.15 meters per second. A bend or curve can cause a slowing down of speed.

To satisfy safety codes the starlifts generally have a cut-out switch which is attached to the safety edges. There are also other protective components in place because whenever something goes wrong the drive power cuts off for safety. The modern are extremely comfortable.