I love the rain but getting rained on while on my scooter is deadly. Not deadly for me but definitely for my scooter. It never fails, we have a rain storm, and we at Rollin’ Along get a call “My Power wheelchair / scooter won’t work. I got caught in that rain.”
Electric wheelchairs and scooters have electronics! Electronics, water and dirt don’t play together, and when you add a little electricity from the batteries they react like a bomb … they blow things up and those things are the electronic boards on your equipment. Sometimes you can even hear the sizzle, pop and smell the burning of the boards and wires. It may not happen on the rush back home to get out of the rain it may happen when you plug in the charger…that snap, crackle and pop is NOT your cereal! There goes a minimum of a $200.00 board or worse a $1200.00 joy stick. No joy there. Accidentally spilling a soda just adds sticky sugar syrup to the snap, crackle, and pop.
If you do get caught by a rain shower seek immediate cover, disconnect the batteries and get a ride home. Wipe off all visible liquid. Do not run the equipment use the free wheel lever and push. Do not plug in the charger. Allow the power chair or scooter to dry out naturally.
