Stenner stair lift battery and safety sensors.

[ericmark]

I think the battery idea is power cuts will not cause them to fail. However it is also plain one risk assessment does not fit all. It's all well and good saying if the battery is flat flash a warning but for it to stop the lift mid travel is not really what is wanted. Also having an array of LED's to show status is not very helpful when the array has a plastic cover so you can't see them.

OK after finding the circuit diagram and studying what happens I was able to work out it was a battery fault. But a simple transparent window and a list in the instruction manual could have made it easy and I could have rung up the social services and told them exactly what was wrong rather than simply saying it will not work.

More to the point rescue services could also see at a glance what was wrong and it would not be rocket science to have an emergency battery socket so the occupant could be safely brought to the ground floor without needing to transfer on the stairs to a rescue frame.

 

[JohnW2]

I think the battery idea is power cuts will not cause them to fail.

Fair enough but, as is usual in such situations, why not have the 'belt and braces' of mains power with battery backup. It would seem very sensible that way around since the chances of a battery failing (due to under-use, over-use, bad charging, age or whatever) must surely be much greater than the risk of mains failing at the very moment that the stair lift is being used?

Kind Regards, John

 

[ericmark]

Testing the battery is sound would be a problem if mains powered. We see it again and again with emergency lights tested every 6 months but next test we only get a few seconds clearly batteries fail over a short time and unless used you will not know when they fail. It would need to be battery operated with mains back-up to know when battery was reaching end of life.

However to have a sensor which lights a warning light if battery reaches 21 volt and then fail at 19 volt would make more sense.

 

[JohnW2]

It would need to be battery operated with mains back-up to know when battery was reaching end of life.

Yes, it could be done that way around but, as I said, I would think that it would be far more likely (eventually inevitable) that batteries would fail than that the mains would fail at the very moment (I think you said 'once per month', didn't you?) when the stair lift was being used.

I suppose what I'm really saying is that the chances of a mains failure at a critical moment is probably so small that it could be argued that battery back-up was not really needed. Let's face it, the probability of a (mechanical or electrical) failure within the lift itself (which would kill the device whether it was being supplied by battery or mains) is probably at least as high as the probability of the mains failing whilst the lift was being used - so both of those (very improbable) possibilities should be covered with some sort of 'call for help' system.

Kind Regards, John

 

[ericmark]

Yes you have done a good risk assessment and go into lifts in shops often they are only mains powered. However they do have a built in telephone to call for help.

 

[JohnW2]

Yes you have done a good risk assessment and go into lifts in shops often they are only mains powered. However they do have a built in telephone to call for help.

Indeed - and in this day and age, it would presumably not be difficult to have a telephone built in to a stair lift.

Kind Regards, John